Oil tar balls seen in Key West

[macpappy]

Obviously I'm a retired Coastie. I worked quite a few oil spills from various sources during my 21 years of active duty, include the Ixtoc Pemex rig blowout in 1980. There is a 99 percent chance that the tar balls in the Florida keys have absolutely nothing to do with this rig accident and spill. If you have a beach, you have tar balls washing ashore. As previously stated, oil seepage on the ocean floor does occur naturally.

Here's one thing I've learned. The damage from a major oil spill is always a lot less severe than what the news media and environmentalist/anti-oil/anti-drilling fanatics want you to believe. History has proven this time and again. Think about all the oil spilled during World War II because of U-boat activities. Read up on the Torrey Canyon spill off of England and the recovery of the affected coast line. Even the damage from the Exxon Valdez while extremely bad in the short term was not as bad in the long term as expected.

The media reports the way it does for one reason. They make more money. The anti's latch onto anything like this for one reason - to further their cause.

Originally Posted by macpappy

Here's one thing I've learned. The damage from a major oil spill is always a lot less severe than what the news media and environmentalist/anti-oil/anti-drilling fanatics want you to believe. History has proven this time and again. Think about all the oil spilled during World War II because of U-boat activities. Read up on the Torrey Canyon spill off of England and the recovery of the affected coast line. Even the damage from the Exxon Valdez while extremely bad in the short term was not as bad in the long term as expected.

The media reports the way it does for one reason. They make more money. The anti's latch onto anything like this for one reason - to further their cause.

I agree completely that the media blows it completely out of proportion, but the one major difference from the Valdez to this one is the waters they are in. I know that Alaska waters are very diverse, but I don't believe that there were reefs up there like there are in the Gulf that could be affected by this spill. Obviously the currents and containment measures affect things as well. Haven't read up a lot on either one lately, though.

I hope that they get this thing capped off soon, and that the damage is not as bad as potentially expected. Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.

[macpappy]

Actually, the Exxon Valdez was worse from the standpoint that it didn't happen in open waters. This meant it hit land faster and affected the birds and wildlife more because it was more contained.

The government should have insisted that BP concentrate on shutting off the well instead of giving them a month to try and figure a way to capture the oil. Unfortunately that's where politics come into play.