I think tossing oil into the environment is contagious.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_china_pipeline_explosion

Growing China oil spill threatens sea life, water

BEIJING – China’s largest reported oil spill had more than doubled by Wednesday, closing beaches on the Yellow Sea and prompting an environmental official to warn the sticky black crude posed a “severe threat” to sea life and water quality.

Some workers trying to clean up the inky beaches wore little more than rubber gloves, complicating efforts, one official said. But 40 oil-control boats and hundreds of fishing boats were also deployed in the area.

Click image to see photos of China’s oil spill

AP

“I’ve been to a few bays today and discovered they were almost entirely covered with dark oil,” said Zhong Yu, a worker with the environmental group Greenpeace China, who spent Wednesday on a boat inspecting the spill.

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http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-florida-oil-20100721,0,6666372.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+latimes/news/science/environment+%28L.A.+Times+-+Environment%29

In Florida, oil spill seeps into statehouse

Gov. Charlie Crist pushes a constitutional amendment banning offshore drilling, an effort defeated by Republicans. It’s not the only political battle ignited by the spill.

Tribune Washington Bureau

It took Republicans in the state House of Representatives here less than an hour Tuesday to deep-six an effort by Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican turned independent, to push a constitutional amendment banning offshore drilling.

The outcome was not a surprise, but it was dramatic evidence that the massive oil spill is washing over gulf state politics as well as beaches.

Crist, a popular governor who is running for the U.S. Senate as an independent after being flanked by conservatives in his own party, is hoping that anger over the oil spill will propel him to office.

And the actions of the state GOP, while stopping Crist in the Legislature, appear likely to foment that anger further.

Fallout from the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster is seeping through congressional races nationwide. While the spill has emerged as a central issue in the Senate race here, it’s also pitted Gulf Coast Democrats on Capitol Hill against the Obama administration, made conservative folk heroes out of a pair of Republican governors, and handed Democrats something every campaign season needs: a black-hat villain in BP.

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More tomorrow.

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