Norm Schultz: Sunday was the fourth anniversary of the explosion aboard the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The passage of time might be fading the memory, but it shouldn’t be forgotten. The rig sank and, two days later, 5,000 feet below the surface, oil began pouring into the Gulf of Mexico from the blown-out wellhead. It continued for 87 days, making it by far the worst environmental disaster in our nation’s history.
To put it in some perspective, the infamous Exxon Valdez disaster dumped 11 million gallons of oil, a drip compared to the estimated 206 million gallons the BP/Horizon spewed out. It impacted five Gulf States, thousands of businesses, including boat dealers, marinas, charterboats and many more. And the effects continue to roll in.
For example, in March hundreds of tar balls washed ashore on Florida’s panhandle beaches. Reportedly, some 37,000 tar balls were picked off those beaches last year. Similarly, globs of oil continue to wash up on Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama beaches.
Fish are being impacted in a variety of ways and the long-term future is unknown. For example, scientific research has identified a huge die-off among tiny creatures that form the basis for the food chain. Gulf corals have died. Anglers have been catching fish with tattered fins and lesions. Dolphins in southeastern Louisiana’s Barrataria Bay are suffering from severe health problems. The mangroves on Cat Island that once were nesting grounds are all dead. And on it goes.
According to government scientists, severe defects in the developing hearts of Gulf bluefin and yellowfin tunas and amberjack have also recently been identified. It has been labeled “a significant cardiac injury” by Stanford University professor of biology Barbara Block, one of the authors of the study. The heart defects likely mean an early death.
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