Glad This Oil Spill Nightmare Is Ending
The White House finally has some good news to report regarding the oil spill, and despite their previous “do nothing” approach (which was infuriating to say the least) it looks like the gulf of Mexico may return back to normal within my lifetime.
Today, a panel of government scientists released a report which said that the vast majority of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has either evaporated or been burned, skimmed, recovered from the wellhead or dispersed much of which is in the process of being degraded. A significant amount of this is the direct result of the federal government’s aggressive response to the spill. [...]
These interagency findings were generated using a scientific tool called the Oil Budget Calculator, which employs a combination of direct measurements and the best scientific estimates available. The calculator is based on 4.9 million barrels of oil released into the Gulf, the government’s latest estimates of the flow rate from Monday. More than 25 of the best government and independent scientists contributed to or reviewed the calculator and its calculation methods. Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE), as well as academic scientists are continuing to work to refine these calculations. (Official White House Blog)
Although there still is a large amount of oil in the gulf (as you “lying eyes” will inform you), the fact that nature is dissolving the oil in spite of our pathetic attempts (or rather lack their of) gives me hope for friends and families in the gulf.
I probably still won’t eat any shrimp, fish, lobster (which I acquired a taste of) or seafood from the gulf for a few years/decades (depending on how fast BP and Obama clean up the gulf), although I do appreciate the fact that this whole fiasco is coming to an end.
