Hello Researchers!
Although my summer research on the oil and gas industries of the past has concluded, I felt it necessary to tie up some loose ends regarding current events. The relief well is still being dug in the Gulfwater Horizon oil leak from this Spring. Depending on whose accounts one trusts, it is estimated that roughly 5 million barrels spewed forth into the Gulf. A majority of this oil has either evaporated with the help of ocean surface bacteria, been skimmed by thousands of auxiliary vessels (you know, the ones that would normally be shrimping or fishing this time of year), or washed onto shore in the hundreds of miles of Gulf marshlands. Still, much of the heavy oil remains in the ocean and could do untold damage to lower tropic level organisms such as plankton, which will affect all the local ecosystem, including our friendly seafood vending. Amazingly enough, though, the 5 million barrels of crude leaked into the Gulf of Mexico represent less than one day of American domestic oil production. This fact should make us pause and rethink the progress of alternative energies.