Containment chamber that will be used to contain oil discharge from the Deepwater Horizon spill. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard

<Update: The Washington Post also is reporting on today's attempt to contain the spill.>

<Update: AP reports that the containment vessel has arrived at the scene of the spill.>

In just a few hours, a giant dome—even now being hauled by boat through oil-thick Gulf of Mexico waters—will be in position and ready to lower onto the gushing British Petroleum oil well leak. If it works, the well's 200,000+ gallons will be contained, enabling BP to siphon it into ships.

There is nothing sure about this. It's stricly experimental. Never been tried before. And BP officials are openly crossing their fingers. After failing for two weeks to even slow down the gusher, this is their best hope. If it fails, many more weeks of unrestrained oil flow will pour into gulf waters, adding to a vast, menacing area of oil bigger than Puerto Rico.

Anxious residents of four gulf coast states aren't counting on something miraculous from this dome procedure—they are too busy preparing for what's already spilled and headed their way. BP doesn't have a solution for oil churned by wind and waves into a frothy chocolately mousse that threatens to destroy livelihoods and wildlife linked to the sea.

Area in red shows Canada's Beaufort Sea

Canada's prime minister made a big show this week of insisting his nation—which like the U.S. is allowing offshore oil drilling in the Beafort Sea this summer—would not "tolerate" such massive oil spills as the one now unleashing in the Gulf of Mexico.

How PM Stephen Harper can make such a guarantee is rather interesting, especially when one considers that Canada granted its drilling leases in the Beaufort to British Petroleum, the company responsible for the Gulf oil spill. He assures that drilling won't proceed "unless the environment is protected."

If Harper sticks to his statement, oil drilling in the Beaufort can't proceed, because there is no way to protect the fragile, ice-laden Arctic seas from oil spills—no matter how insistent he is that preventive measures will first be put in place.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA)

<Update: There's only one cure for man-made oil spills, says New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman: man-made legislation that ends our dependence on oil.>

One of three leaks from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been capped, according to news reports, but there is no apparent slowdown in escaping oil, and that report came with a warning that the spill could increase exponentially if containment measures fail.

Oil is flooding from the sea floor at an estimated 210,000 gallons daily since an oil rig exploded two weeks ago at a British Petroleum offshore drilling site. Yesterday, after a meeting with BP executives, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) said they warned him that oil flow could grow to as much as 2 million gallons a day. BP is hoping to put an experimental dome over the leak, a mile below the ocean surface, this week.

Meanwhile, four coastal states were bracing to protect themselves against the main body of oil, amid predictions that it will start coming ashore within three days. <Update: Frantic efforts are being made to protect fragile coastal areas teeming with wildlife and directly in the path of the oil spill.>

<Update: Check out the Gulf Restoration Network website for local reports on the oil spill.>

President Obama promises help against oil spill

<Update: Today, the Obama administration said it would not rule out a reversal of its position on expanded offshore drilling. The administration also is supporting a signficant increase in damage limits for oil spills.>

Like a snake coiling to strike—or as some have said, a hurricane in slow motion—the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has yet to unleash its full potential on the people and wildlife of four coastal states. But it has wrought severe political damage.

Ever since the disastrous potential of the gulf spill became clear, political leaders have been backpedaling from their insistence that offshore oil drilling be part of climate change legislation. Today, that exit door was getting crowded, and as The New York Times reported:

Now there is increasing pressure to scrap those provisions entirely in future negotiations and perhaps replace them with measures that reduce oil usage and lessen the chances for drilling accidents.

But, warned Paul Bledsoe, a climate aide during the Clinton administration, what the legislature ultimately does may well depend on what that menacing mass of oil offshore does:

Senators who thought they could pass a climate change bill by selling our offshore waters to oil drillers may be cringing over their poor timing, if not bad judgment, two weeks into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

As oil from the spill continues to flow unabated at 200,000+ gallons each day—creating a potentially "unprecedented" environmental catastrophe in President Obama's words—there are at least mutterings from Senate leaders over the spill's political impact:

"This terrible event will, undoubtedly, require us to re-examine how we extract our nation's offshore energy resources and will have to be taken into consideration with any legislation that proposes to open new areas to development," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Friday.

"The offshore drilling issue is being reconsidered by many at this point," Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters yesterday.

<Update: the public interest journalism group, ProPublica, is reporting that the chemical dispersants used in the Gulf oil spill are toxic and "could create a new set of environmental problems.">

<Update: Scientist says chemical dispersants can make the oil spill even worse.>

Scientists using oil dispersal chemicals seem to be playing a juggling match with onshore and offshore wildlife in the target zone of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

They are reporting some success in keeping oil away from shore-based wildlife and the extensive complex of wetlands in which they live. But by doing so, they are forcing the dispersed oil into other creatures' habitat—such as deep water seabeds. Is one harm less harmful than another? Here's how the Los Angeles Times reports it:

Scientists don't know much about the oil's ultimate effect in the deep water, but most agree that it will have a much larger biological effect if it reaches the coast, which is teeming with wildlife.

"You're transferring the pollution, if you will, but under the right circumstances it's probably favorable," said E. Eric Adams, who specializes in environmental fluid mechanics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The latest casualty of the Gulf of Mexico offshore oil spill is... offshore oil drilling. At least in California. The state's Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenneger, today withdrew his own proposal to resume oil drilling off California. Swayed by images of the gulf spill, Schwarzenneger said:

"I see on TV the birds drenched in oil, the fisherman out of work, the massive oil spill and oil slick destroying our precious ecosystem. That will not happen here in California, and this is why I am withdrawing my support."

One can only hope that President Barack Obama sees the same images in the same light and reverses his support of renewed offshore drilling—especially in fragile areas like the Arctic Ocean, where Shell Oil is poised to sink exploratory wells as early as July 1... with Obama's blessing.

Female loggerhead heading back to the Gulf of Mexico after laying her eggs. Photo: nps.gov

Although oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill has been washing onto gulf coast beaches since Thursday, the main body of oil—perhaps the size of Puerto Rico and growing by at least 200,000 gallons a day—remains a looming, ominous offshore threat. <Update: Check out this New York Times map graphic showing how the spill is spreading.>

Onshore, clean-up efforts are assembling in four states, preparing for the worst-case scenario of heavy oil invading wetlands and feeding/breeding/birthing areas for more than 400 animal species, including endangered and threatened turtles that come ashore at this time of year to lay eggs.<Update: If there is any good news out of the spill, it is this: a necropsy on 25 dead sea turtles shows no connection to the oil spill.>

But, offshore there is only speculation at this point about what damage is being done to wildlife. The oil is spread across waters where the endangered western Atlantic bluefin tuna breed at this time of year, releasing their eggs to float in the currents. Earthjustice has fought for years to protect both the tuna and sea turtles.

Video of President Obama's remarks after the jump.

<Update: President Obama, on the scene in Louisiana today where oil from a massive offshore drill rig blowout is coming ashore, said "a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster" is occurring.>

<Update: Interior Sec. Ken Salazar said today that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could be worse than the Exxon Valdez ship spill.>

For more than a year, British Petroleum downplayed any chance of a catastrophic oil spill occurring on the scale now threatening the shores and wetlands of four gulf coast states, The Associated Press and Gulf Restoration Network are revealing. As a result, the company had no plan in place to deal with what now is happening. AP reports:

BP's plan filed with the federal Minerals Management Service for the Deepwater Horizon well, dated February 2009, says repeatedly that it was "unlikely that an accidental surface or subsurface oil spill would occur from the proposed activities."

BP's oil rig blew out April 20, and is pouring oil at an estimated 210,000 gallons—some say much more—per day into Gulf of Mexico waters. According to AP:

Oil on the Alaskan shoreline following the Exxon Valdez spill. Photo: Alaska Dept. of Natural Resources

President Obama is heading to the oil-ravaged Gulf Coast tomorrow as his administration tries to catch up with a rapidly developing political and environmental crisis.

What he faces is an uncertain catastrophe that's been building for nearly two weeks since an exploratory oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, unleashing a torrent of oil into gulf waters. The spill's disastrous potential became public Wednesday as authorities revealed that 200,000+ gallons of oil are blasting unchecked from the well hole and can't be controlled for weeks or months.<Update: Today, estimates of the spill grew exponentially, with some sources saying more than 10 million gallons are afloat—akin to the Exxon Valez disaster 21 years ago in Alaska. The reports suggest that leakage is many times more than the most recent offical estimates.>

Oil from the spill first hit Louisiana's barrier islands Thursday night and is being pushed by wind and tide onto a broad expanse of coastline. Assisted by a looping gulf current, the oil is expected to assault Florida's western coastline by Monday. In the last few days, it has tripled in size.

As The New York Times reports, the potential harm could range from moderate to catastrophic. The threat is imminent for two wildlife species that Earthjustice has fought to protect for years: sea turtles and bluefin tuna. But, there are at least 400 animal species that dwell in the gulf's oil-threatened coastal areas.