Midterm elections and the ascendancy of the Republican Tea Party is amazing everyone but nothing has actually changed yet.

September 20 BP's Macondo 252 Well is declared killed. The relief well intersected the shaft 18,000 feet below the sea bed and cemented the well closed. Now we just need to get the drilling moratorium lifted before this accident kills the whole industry as well. Oil prices are $75 per bbl.

Although the government says the oil is gone, researchers continue to find massive amounts on the sea floor (deposits two inches thick) and in floating plumes. Eighty miles of oiled shore lines account for only a tiny fraction of the oil.