May 2, 2010 - Fifty miles offshore and nearly one mile below the ocean's surface oil is erupting volcanically into the Gulf of Mexico. An explosion on April 20th cost eleven lives and sank an oil platform that was connected to a hole that was drilled into the ocean floor. The hole should have closed automatically when the explosion happened. It didn't. There were no back-up plans for shutting the hole. The early attempts to close down the well with remotely piloted underwater vehicles failed. BP, the oil company ultimately responsible for the disaster, says it might be 90 days before the underwater gusher is shut down. The company acknowledges that, in fact, it may be impossible to make it stop at all. In that case oil will spew into the Gulf until the reservoir under the seabed is empty. The amount of crude that has been released into the Gulf over the past 12 days is unprecedented in US waters. This is becoming, if not already, the worst environmental disaster in US history. It will get worse. The long term environmental and economic costs will be staggering.
Marshlands that protect New Orleans and other areas along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida are threatened. Able to withstand small amounts of oil, the grasses will die off if oil washes over them for months unabated. When grasses die the land underneath them becomes mud and washes away. Erosion accelerates massively.
With oil covering the ocean's surface fishing boats are unable to fish. Oil on the beaches are a turnoff for tourists. And the fixes, chemicals that help the oil break down, may make sea food at the bottom of the food chain toxic.
There's even speculation that some of the oil could flow out of the Gulf, into the Gulf Stream and make its way up the East Coast. Little blobs could possibly show up on Cape Cod beaches some time later this year.
Eventually, in 20-50 years, the coastal areas affected by this mess will be fine. That's a short time in the life of earth but very long indeed for the people and creatures who live by the sea.
