Green Skeptic Friday LinkFest - 04/22/11

CREDIT: NASA via Ron Garan/Astro_Ron

Earth Day edition of the Green Skeptic LinkFest.

When I worked for The Nature Conservancy every day was Earth Day.  So this day was just like any other. Now it is Earth Day and it seems a tad precious, a bit outdated.

Not to my daughter, who reminded me this morning that it was Earth Day and that it's a good thing we recycle. (I didn't have the heart to tell her what I learned from the folks at Glass Recycling Technologies: that of the 12 million tons of glass in the US waste stream annually, over 9 million tons end up in landfills.)

Here are my links for this week:

GreenBiz.com asked 13 corporate executives to answer the question: What's your company doing for Earth Day? 

Stephanie Pappas on "Why You Won’t Read This Earth Day Article (And Why That Doesn’t Matter)". 

Cortney Fielding of GigaOm suggests that "As Cleantech Matures, So Does Approach to Funding."

David Chen of Equilibrium Capital posits "Invest in B Corps; Invest in Our Future."

One year after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, The Economist offers a reading list for those interested in the catastrophe. 

Not on The Economist list (but it should be) is my pal Wes Leckrone, who writes The American Partnership blog, on  "Federalism and the Gulf Oil Spill."

A spill of a different sort happened on the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon: Pennsylvania Natural Gas Blowout Spills Thousands of Gallons of Toxic Wastewater into Local Community. 

Meanwhile, the US gives green light to Cape Wind project. 

D.R. Tucker of Notes from D.R. and The Urban Right has a compelling post in FrumForum: Confessions of a Climate Change Convert.

Another conservative voice, Jim DiPeso, (The Green Conservative) writes about The Erosion of Conservation as a Conservative Value.

  

Have a great weekend everyone. (And try not to trash Mother Earth this Earth Day; she may just give you a dope slap.)

Beyond Possible: Are the Plumes on Fire?

Live Stream from BP's Deep Water Horizon oil spill. Is that really fire under water?

Live Broadcast by Ustream.TV

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• NOAA Confirms Presence of Subsea Oil Plumes in Gulf of Mexico (shoppingblog.com)
• Salazar to be quizzed on offshore drilling (msnbc.msn.com)
• Do You Feel Lucky, Punk? Well do you? (eschatonblog.com)
• US Confirms Underwater Oil Plume (science.slashdot.org)
• The Different Appearances of Oil in New NASA Satellite Image (spacefellowship.com)
• BP shares tumble as US oil spill pressure prompts dividend fears (telegraph.co.uk)
• Huge Deep Water Oil Plumes Threaten Long-Term Environmental and Health Harm (insidesurgery.com)

BP: Latest Effort Captures 1,000 Barrels of Leaking Oil Per Day

According to a report in yesterday's Environmental Leader, BP successfully connected a mile-long tube into a broken pipe at the Deepwater Horizon well to start capturing some of the leaking oil, which is being siphoned to a ship at the surface.

BP said it is capturing about 1,000 barrels per day in the Gulf of Mexico, a drop in the bucket compared to the 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons/795,000 liters) it estimates to be leaking daily.

Read the full article here: BP Roundup – Latest Effort Captures 1,000 Barrels of Leaking Oil Per Day

The question is, do those estimates underestimate the amount of oil gushing from the sea floor?

Some scientists believe that oil is gushing out at a rate of somewhere between 25,000 to 80,000 barrels a day. The New York Times reported over the weekend that huge plumes of oil -- some 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick -- have been found underwater in the Gulf.

BP has resisted efforts to determine the size of the leak, preferring to focus on containment efforts. They hope to have the leak stopped by the end of the week.

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• BP stonewalls as massive plumes of oil discovered under Gulf (dailykos.com)
• BP: Tube inserted into oil well riser, but no end to leak in sight (trueslant.com)
• BP claims to be slowing flow of oil into Mexican Gulf (guardian.co.uk)
• Massive oil plumes under US Gulf (news.bbc.co.uk)
• BP boasts of skimming 1,000 barrels per day from leak (americablog.com)
• Scientists Discover Huge Plumes in Gulf Spill That Peril Fish, Plants (themoderatevoice.com)
• BP has first success in containing oil spill (nationalpost.com)
• BP Doubles Estimate for Oil Captured in Gulf Spill (Update1) (businessweek.com)