Illinois is the next state on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)‘s target list for putting the oil industry’s interests ahead of the public interest.

A huge report was published on Oct. 10 by Los Angeles County that’ll likely open the floodgates for hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) for unconventional oil and gas in the Monterey Shale basin. The report, as it turns out, was done by LA County in name only.

As the Los Angeles Times explained, the study found “no harm from the method” of fracking as it pertains to extracting shale gas and oil from the Inglewood Oil Field, which the Times explains is “the largest urban oil field in the country.”

Mary Landrieu and David Vitter, the two Senators from Louisiana, speak out in favor of continuing oil drilling as the Horizon oil slick threatens their state’s environment and livelihood. Lieberman backs them up from his perch in the Senate. Pelosi signals no resistance from the vaunted House Democratic majority.

The latest spill extent graphic from NOAA shows an increasingly staggering area impacted by the Horizon well leak by mid-week. Winds have reversed now, spreading the slick Westward, and temporarily relieving fears that the slick could migrate to the East Coast though Atlantic fisheries could still be impacted.

Mass media, industry, and Washington, DC have begun their inevitable hysteria and gamesmanship as the Horizon slick steadily grows and threatens more and more of the Gulf coast.

The world appears to have finally woken up to the vast and steadily growing disaster that is the Deepwater Horizon spill. We are seeing the start of a slow-motion replay of the Exxon Valdez disaster.

Initial responses from some major environmental organizations one might expect to be very strong have been very tepid indeed. Let’s monitor these various organizations over time and see if they earn their donations and membership fees.