On April 20^th , an explosion followed by a fire on one of BP’s a drilling rig left 11 workers missing and presumably dead, and created on of the greatest environmental disasters in history.  The oil is leaking at the rapid rate of 5,000 barrels a day and the wind might push the oil into the coast of Louisiana.  The situation is dramatic and there is an urgent need to implement a rapid and efficient plan to protect the wildlife. President Barack Obama has promised that things would return back to normalcy. Yet, as long as BP is in charge of cleaning up, there is a growing sentiment of distrust and desperation in the local and national population.

“According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a small portion of the slick has entered the so-called ‘loop current’, a stream of faster moving water that circulates around the Gulf before bending around Florida and up the Atlantic coast. Its arrival may herald a wider environmental catastrophe affecting the Florida Keys and tourist-dotted beaches along that State’s East coast. There is the growing risk that the spill could reach farther south”. (source:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1279881/Gulf-Mexico-oil-spill-NASA-images-slick-spreading-Florida.html). In a pre-emptive manner, U.S. officials have initiated talks with Cuban authorities in order to help them respond effectively to the spill should it reach the island’s northern coast.

On May 19,  Bobby Jindal,  Gov. of Louisiana has declared that sheets of crude oil from the offshore spill have entered deep into the marshland around the entrance of the Mississippi River. The governor has been putting a considerable amount of pressure on the Federal government to approve a plan to build sand berms   to protect the remaining wildlife. Mr. Jindal has accused BP, the Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers for not moving quickly enough in order to implement the Sate’s proposal of building 80 miles of sand berms along the coastline.

Ken Holder, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers, said in a statement “that the Army Corps was still evaluating the potential environmental impact of the sand-berm plan”.  “The Coast Guard was also still reviewing the plan”, said  spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Tony Russell. Tom Mueller, a spokesman for BP, said “The company had several questions about the proposal, including whether the berms would be effective or cause unintended damages to the environment”. (source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/us/20spill.html?ref=science).

The risk is that the process of evaluation becomes too long and daunting while the disaster continues to worsen.

On Monday, May 14^th, the President visited Mississippi and Alabama in order to reassure local residents that “the government will leave the Gulf Coast in better shape that it was before”. Yet, as long as the cleaning task is in the hands of BP,  there is a sentiment of desperation and total distrust amongst the local community and scientists. Public opinion holds no faith in the company’s genuine desire to restore the Gulf and take full on responsibility for its actions. After the latest investigations on the dramatic incident, BP’s image and reputation are highly at risk. According to B. Skoloff and M. Daly from Associated Press, investigators found out that BP was terribly late on the project and was suffering from losses of hundreds of thousands of dollars daily. In order to respond, the company made a series of money-saving shortcuts including  well design to the installation of key safety devices. One of the world’s largest energy companies, BP, in order to save time and money, made decisions that increased tremendously the risk of a blowout.

(source: http://www.onenewsnow.com/AP/Search/US/Default.aspx?id=1050566)

“A 2003 report by the National Research Council predicted that the oil in a deepwater blowout could break into fine droplets, forming plumes of oil mixed with water that would not quickly rise to the surface. That prediction appeared to be confirmed Saturday when the researchers aboard the Pelican reported that they had detected immense plumes believed to be made of oil particles”

(source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/science/earth/20noaa.html?ref=science).

The results were not confirmed as final, and came as a surprise to the government.  The greater worry is that unique sea life concentrated in those areas could be exposed to a heavy amount of toxic materials as the plumes flow through the sea.

With evaluations, research and investigations still on-going, it is impossible to fully evaluate and comprehend the real dimensions of the spill and the continuous damage it is causing to the wild life and local economies.  The clock is ticking and a rapid solution needs to be found. The Obama administration has to promote greater transparency on this issue and to work closely with BP in order to coordinate an efficient and rapid plan of action.  People demand the truth, as the nation is nurturing a sentiment of exasperation.