Black Sea Oil Spill Exposes Russia's Oil Problems

As oil-coated dolphins washed up dead on the shores of the Black Sea, Russia is confronting the "uneven distribution of oil wealth," as the Los Angeles Times put it, that has propelled a renaissance in Moscow without adequate protections against spills, or mechanisms to respond to them.

Birds, fish and marine mammals by the thousands are dying, unable to clean themselves.

"(Birds) sat quiet as black silhouettes against the rocks, trying to get warm against the autumn wind and waiting to die," the L.A. Times reported. "Seagulls circled overhead, waiting to feast on their corpses."

Meanwhile, after blaming the corporations for sailing in the severe storm despite warnings, Russia is coming under fire for lax standards meant to protect against just this sort of environmental disasters, as the Christian Science Monitor reported today.

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