What is going to happen with this oil spill long range.... is it going to haunt us for years to come, with environmental issues,...marine life,(ultimately some of our food).....the wet lands...... the beaches????........Do we really know all the facts.......I saw one news entry on this that, it might be considered a crime scene on the bottom of the Gulf floor {They're going to do an investigation ......what does this statement mean}??????..... Is there something we should know????...... Might this be more Devastating than we think????....... Why did BP pull out so mysteriously fast once they said it was plugged permanent....are they going to faulter, on liability long range on this catastrophe??????? There is a whole lot of .....QUESTIONS .... on this are we going to get all the STRAIGHT ANSWERS??????...... I certainly hope so!!!!!!

This spill is unique in history and no one knows muc of how it will affect the swamps or the fish in the Gulf.

All the fear and uncertainties you enumerate will occur. It might be just the fear part but we'll have to keep watch and monitor things to know what fear is a reality and what fear is just that, fear and nothing more.

We the common man will never know the full extent of this disaster, and I am not so sure we should know. What I don't want is another Exxon, where they got off with a slap on the hand and 25 years to pay for it. The mess is still there and Exxon is totally gone from the picture. I hope the government holds BP's feet to the fire to get as much of this as humanly possible cleaned up before they are let go, but I have my doubts that it will happen.

River

The gulf has as much natural oil seep as the rest of the worlds oceans combined so there is a natural ecosystem that feeds off of the hydrocarbons. An estmated 22 milllion gallons are naturally absorbed with little effect so some of te latest fearmongering may be just a way to keep it in the news since there is no oil to be seen.

The quiet catastrophe of all the pollution that comes down the Mississippi to my state from the midwest is a much larger problem for us but few seem to care. We are upset over the spill but outsiders are really hurting us because energy is such a large part of our economy and dwarfs the fishery/tiurism economy of my state.

We have many friends suffering from this moratorium on drilling and is a double slap in the face as we come out of a recession.

River. So long as democrates control the white house I don't think there will be an issue as to holding BP's feet to the fire. SHould the GOP take over next election cycle then yes you would be absolutly correct in your assumption. Most if not all of the GOP members believe (In private) that President Obama extorted 20 billion dollars from BP. If the GOP had their way they'd make sure to give it all back with interest. But that's not the point that I want to make here.

Mother nature is incredible she has ways of dealing with things such as this disaster that we humans could never comprehend I'm sure there is tiny animal that eats oil and craps oxygen (So much for my take on the Rocky Movies) The gulf is already on the mend, I'm in no way infering that Mother nature doesn't need our help, she does. She'll just let us know what we need to do and how to do it in her own sweet way (PLease don't read too much into what I just said) With what appears to be a complete dispersion of the oil it may all settle to the bottom and be reabsorbed by the planet or it may coagugulate again and rise to the surface. One thing is for certain it will effect marine life and it may render large areas, Vast areas of the gulf that will be unfishable due to contamination. BP will have to pay for testing of seafood stock we already know that eating too much seafood can be dangerous due to Heavy metal contamination (Mercury)

Lets just hope that Mother nature moves faster than our government in the rehabilitation of the gulf.

The last time I checked it was not our government that spilled the oil.

You might be right about the gulf being on the mend and if that turns out to be true, that is fantastic, but before I rubber stamp it as all better humor me and lets give it some time say 20 years or so and look at it again and every year in between.

You are right about the GOP if they get in power they will let BP off the hook. The party of big business and special interest will be spending your money like crazy to help the people that they feel need help the most, THE RICH.

River

I never meant to insinuate that our government was at fault. You are absolutly right in saying give it twenty years or so. This is not something that will go away over night no matter how many times I click my Ruby slippers and hope so (All the slippers do is make feel sexy, That and take me back home!) It might not happen in our lifetime and that scares me.

UNIVERSITY STUDY CONTRADICTS GOVERNMENT ESTIMATES,UP TO 79% OF OIL COULD REMAIN!!!!!.....The group showed that it was impossible for all the dissolved oil to have evaporated, because only oil at the surface of the ocean can evaporate, into the atmosphere and large plums of oil are trapped in the deep water!!!!!!!>>>>>>>>We are still far from a complete understanding of what its impacts are,........THERE ARE STILL A LOT OF DISCREPANCY..........BP is to stop handling most gulf claims!!!!!!!!!!

smoothie (imported) wrote: Fri Aug 20, 2010 4:35 pm UNIVERSITY STUDY CONTRADICTS GOVERNMENT ESTIMATES,UP TO 79% OF OIL COULD REMAIN!!!!!.....The group showed that it was impossible for all the dissolved oil to have evaporated, because only oil at the surface of the ocean can evaporate, into the atmosphere and large plums of oil are trapped in the deep water!!!!!!!>>>>>>>>We are still far from a complete understanding of what its impacts are,........THERE ARE STILL A LOT OF DISCREPANCY..........BP is to stop handling most gulf claims!!!!!!!!!!

I understand that SWAMP THINGS (http://www.filmbaby.com/films/2372) thrive in polluted waters.

This may be how we got Dick Cheney. Get them out of the swamp, shave off the hair and the scales, teach them some stuff and presto! ...a Republican Vice-President.

No, I do NOT know if Sarah Palin ever was in Prince William Sound...

one marine toxicologist said if she lived in the area with kids she would leave.......dispersants used, some say that is deceit and a big cover up.....John Laseter {retired toxicologist and forensic chemist} said that oil...solvent mix sticks to biological tissue....independent scientists report hazardous levels of oil and dispersant in the gulf, ashore and-in the air include carcinogenic benzene.....volatile organic compounds..voc.....the only absolutely safe concentration of benzene is zero.......after the Exxon Valdez disaster, most workers and others exposed to dispersant's and oil died young...50 yrs...none of this sounds good