Now that the hole in the ocean floor has allegedly been plugged and no more oil is gushing into the Gulf waters, the time has come to assess the damage and determine how to best allocate money and resources to minimize negative long term effects on the natural ecosystem, wildlife, and coastal residents and industries.
As with many environmental catastrophes, much of their impact cannot be truly measured until years later and in-depth studies of a complex web of cause and effect. Therefore, I think it's premature for either doomsday scenarios or celebrations of nature's instant miracle cleanup. What we can and should do, however, is to remember that the BP gusher in the Gulf and all its yet to be determined effects was not an isolated incident: as long as we don't fundamentally change the way we use energy, these "accidents" are going to continue to happen.
continued at Daily Kos...
