Ol’ Remus of Woodpile Report brought to our attention an interesting article from Rense.com, published on May 15, 2010.

From Remus:

Rense tends to the ultra-sensational, so much so that Woodpile Report regards Rense as mostly entertainment.

That said, this was written two weeks ago and much of it has come to pass.

Remus passes this on for those who don’t mind thinking about the unthinkable.

Synopsis:

This is a description of the steps BP has taken to cap this well followed by a description of what may happen should all attempts fail. The author foresees a catastrophic, uncontained release of virtually unlimited amounts of this oil, gas and crud into the Gulf waters. The release would continue until the geological pressure on the oil and gas was expended. The consequences would be nearly unimaginable.

Some excerpts:

… the amount, the insane volumes, of gas and oil that could be released if this thing blows apart are truly of nightmare proportions

… There will be who knows how many cubic feet of gas released into the atmosphere and the surrounding area with an untold amount of toxins

… the economic implications are dire

… we are talking thousands and thousands of square miles of toxic crud.

… I’m not even sure the well drilling rigs would even be able to operate in the area

… the gas is not breathable and it’s Explosive too … One thunder storm comes by and a lightning strike? … BOOM

… if you live near the Gulf you can make preparations for the possibilities … which could be incredibly bad

… panic evacs or just plain mass panic, badass noxious fumes or worse

… I guarantee that NO ONE knows for sure.

As was pointed out in The BP Oil Disaster is a WAY BIGGER Problem Than You May Think published May 6, 2010, many Americans may be underestimating the ramifications of the spill. There is a reason that the US government has described this as a national security issue and blacked out almost all media coverage of the recent goings on in the gulf. Gag orders abound, and no “real” news is being released to the public.

The public is very aware of the primary leak, but there are reports that when the BP well blew, it may have caused a geological event 5 – 6 miles away, which may be leaking even more oil and gas into the gulf. No one is talking about this. To our knowledge, the government and BP have yet to debunk this secondary leak, so we must assume that this is also a possibility and that the problem is even worse than our own worst-case thoughts on the matter.

In addition to the obvious disaster to the lives of fisherman, restaurant owners, the tourism industry and real estate along the gulf shores, the problem could be much worse, affecting not just those who live on the gulf, but everyone in America.

Consider that the gulf produces about 10% of America’s daily oil usage and what the current moratorium on deep and shallow water drilling will do to the price of oil going forward. From what we understand, there is no offshore drilling happening, and it has been suspended indefinitely.

Couple that with the fact that 30% of the seafood supply of the United States may be wiped out (in the gulf alone, not counting the east coast), and you can see how food security becomes a major issue. As the price of seafood goes through the roof, people will begin to replace their seafood with beef, chicken, pork and vegetables like rice and soy. As a result of the increased demand, the prices of these foodstuffs may rise as well.

As most of our readers know, the economy is already in shambles and we don’t believe, for one second, that we are in any sort of sustainable recovery. Increasing the price of our most important consumption items (energy and food) may very well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

As was suggested in the article referenced from Rense.com, SHTF in the near term cannot be ruled out:

I am telling you all this so that you will understand what we face..and also so that if you live near the Gulf you can make preparations for the possibilities…which could be incredibly bad…panic evacs or just plain mass panic, badass noxious fumes or worse…I guarantee that NO ONE knows for sure.

They really only have one shot here…and that is the top kill, Watch for it and pay attention, be aware what this all means to ALL OF US and I hope I explained things well enough to be understood by anyone. The top kill shot should be coming soon…I hope…as soon as possible….if you hear it failed…or if the well blew itself apart before they can do it…get the fuck ready, because Pandora’s box is about to open wide and the closest thing to the SHTF for real that we will likely see in our lifetimes is about come charging out at full rampant force…and it’s a very large and deep box….

Though Goldman Sachs sold off 40% of their BP stake a month before the rig disaster happened, most would consider this an unforeseen black swan event, an unpredictable variable. Thus, if you were working your SHTF planning off of a timetable based on the Fed’s monetary policy, real estate resets, European bailouts, and debt crises across states within the US, then an event like this may very well speed up the crash, collapse or depression you are concerned about.

Another event, which may not necessarily be a black swan, as we know it’s likely to pass, is war in the middle east, namely with Iran.

Oil is the bloodline of the industrialized world. Do not underestimate the adverse effects that oil related geo-political events may have on our economy and way of life.

If the spill is as bad as some analysts have predicted, and they can’t stop this until Christmas, as some have suggested, then we are looking at significant ecological destruction in the Gulf of Mexico. We may not be hard core tree huggers here at SHTF, but we feel pretty strongly about our food and energy supplies being critical to our survival. Let’s hope that we and other worst-case thinkers are overreacting.

If, however, this is as bad as we think it may be, we direct our readers to the Emergency Preparedness section of this web site. Buckle up – this could have catastrophic effects for our country.