A Simple Coincidence?

It is disheartening to note that over the past two months, forty-eight dolphins of all ages have been found dead on the beaches of the northern Gulf of Mexico, from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle. Tragically, twenty-nine of these were fetal-size calves, which compares to two of these 'unusual mortality' events during an entire normal year.

State and federal officials and marine scientists have been quick to point out it is too soon to link this tragic occurrence to the BP oil spill. It is appropriate that they should take such an objective approach, and indeed it may be nothing more than a simple coincidence...just like the purported link between cigarettes and cancer, cell phones and brain tumors, crack cocaine and crime, CEO salaries and employee layoffs and a host of other connections that industry mouthpieces continue to deny. That said, sadly there is nothing we can do about it. The oil residue and toxins are out there in those once lovely waters where they will remain for years, and possibly decades, to come.

Meanwhile, BP's profits in the 4th Quarter of 2010 jumped by 30% and the London-based company has announced that it is resuming dividend payouts again for the first time since the oil spill. And while corporate executives and BP shareholders celebrate, baby dolphins will continue to die...