Week 3- BP Oil Spill Needs to Not be Forgotten

It really bothers me that the oils spill seems to be almost forgotten.  Now since most on the oil is out of sight, it is also now out of most people’s minds.  The National Incident Command put out a report that said only 26% of the originally 205 million gallons of oil is left.  That 26% is bellow the water surface, deep in the sand, or evaporated in the atmosphere.  It hasn’t gone anywhere; it is now just “out of sight.”  One of the main problems with people not caring about the oils spill anymore is the lack of research that come from people giving up on the issue. These isn’t the first oil spill in our history and unfortunately, due to a lack of concern after the initial clean up, I don’t think it is going to be our last.  It also worries me that we don’t know the full multitude of the consequences we are going to face because of this spill.

After reading many articles on the cleanup efforts, I realized that there is not enough government involvement and research on oil spills and their clean up procedures.  I think this is in part due to the amount of government officials being closely affiliated and supported by big oil companies like BP.  I hope the public and media don’t forget about this issue to fast and demand more education on clean up and prevention of oil spills.  Unfortunately, both government officials and big oil companies are not trying to research ways clean up oil, instead they are counting on it not happening again.  That’s where I believe we come in as an environmental university.  I think it is our responsibility to step up where others have fallen flat, and conduct our own research on methods of oil clean up and research on oils consequences on our environment. 

There is still around 50 million gallons of oil left from the spill.  I hope this problem and it’s affect on Florida’s economy is not soon forgotten.  I believe we as a nation, especially Floridians (because of how much it was affected) are the ones responsible to make sure we don’t let oil companies get away with leaving 50 million gallons of oil and cleaning up the initial oil with chemicals.  More research and restrictions need to be implemented immediately.  We need to learn from our mistakes; otherwise they are destined to repeat themselves.