7 Long-Term Effects Of The Gulf Oil Spill (PHOTOS)

The oil spill in the Gulf Of Mexico, resulting from the explosion at a BP offshore drilling rig that tragically left 11 dead, is quickly growing to become the biggest ecological disaster this country has ever experienced.

Here are 7 long-term consequences we must expect from this catastrophe.

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Families Of The Fallen

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Amid the frenzy of attention over the disaster, the media seems to be giving the smallest mention to those 11 men who tragically lost their lives from this awful accident. They traveled from Louisiana, Mississippi, and even Texas to work hard and provide for their families. Unfortunately, these families now have to suffer the unimaginable sadness of having lost their loved ones.

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Amid the frenzy of attention over the disaster, the media seems to be giving the smallest mention to those 11 men who tragically lost their lives from this awful accident. They traveled from Louisiana, Mississippi, and even Texas to work hard and provide for their families. Unfortunately, these families now have to suffer the unimaginable sadness of having lost their loved ones.

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Comments

[Brutus76]

09:33 AM on 06/25/2010

No better place than here, no better time than now. Breaking addictions are never easy but we MUST break our addiction to oil. Force it if we have to because we are going to run out sometime so we better be ready. I fear if we wait any longer it will already be too late and we'll be killing ourselves along with our planet.

[Overtone]

01:24 AM on 06/24/2010

THE LONG TERM EFFECTS OF THIS DISASTER MAY INCLUDE A WIPEOUT OF MILLIONS OF LIVES!

The dire dimensions of the gushing oil may prove much worse than has so far been grasped.

Can a thin film of oil on the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans accelerate Global Warming toward a Tipping Point that may endanger much life in the entire Northern Hemisphere?

A scientist has suggested the answer is yes!

Can the oil gusher be capped? Some qualified observers believe the answer may be no!

There is little evidence the White House or anyone else is developing contingency plans adequate to meet what may call for a massive emergency response.

See today's updated: What to Do? at http://www.aesopinstitute.org

The truly bold actions needed may create a huge number of jobs - and drive down unemployment in a manner resembling what happened in World War II.

Little known, and less believed, breakthroughs in energy could take us off of gasoline, oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear power far faster than might be imagined. See for example the work of BlackLight Power that claims a barrel of water can replace 200 barrels of oil - I agree.

We need voices like those of FDR and Churchill to move the nation toward a truly adequate response to what may prove to be as great a crisis as humanity has ever faced.

Survival may be at issue. There is little indication that this risk is understood. Wake up folks!

Check out the possibilities!

[wassilij]

05:25 AM on 05/12/2010

Whats needed is a corporate death penalty.......If any corporation like BP or Halburton causes a disaster to occur.....The entire corporation including all assets are dismantled and all assets liquidated to pay for the cleanup and economic losses felt by those whose livelihoods they have destroyed.........making it RETROACTIVE!!!.......NO more Halburton...or BP or whatever CORPORATIONS were involved!!!
Not a single one of these Rat B@stards could man up and take responsibility for this disaster that has ruined the entire southern coast of the US...How much longer are WE the people going to allow these CORPORATIONS to destroy our life support system?.......DESTROY THESE CORPORATIONS....Starting NOW !!....No second chances....no 75 mile limit BS,,,,
If this was the policy from the beginning....Safety measures and plans ABC and D would be in place.....the only plan they had was called GREED
.......One coast down ......Two to Go.....Are you willing to take that risk? Make them pay...with a CORPORATE DEATH PENALTY!!!....RETROACTIVE!!

[2good4u]

12:51 PM on 05/11/2010

This has been a monumental failure of the republicans who let companies police themselves. They are still preaching deregulation and drill baby drill. ( I hope this completely gets rid of Palin for good) She really has been irrelevent anyway, just annoying. Please, please, people do not put republicans back in office in the upcoming elections in November. Remember, they have not in any way admitted their culpability in anything that has happened to this country (we even teach our children to take responsibility), they have been total obstructionists in getting people in place in our government and in passing much needed legislation, and they have no new ideas of how to fix any of our huge problems or even want to help fix them. They want Pres. Obama to fail an thus we the people fail. Please, please rethink your positions if you are thinking about voting republican. They follow like lemmings, they do not lead. Nothing is perfect but the democrats are for the people. Vote democratic, local, and state wide.

[2good4u]

12:38 PM on 05/11/2010

I have a question. I heard that this may be carried up the shores of Florida up to as far as the Carolinas. Now, if the oil is simply blocked or pushed off shore won't it get caught in tides and the gulf stream and possibly not only effect this country but others and much more widespead fish and birds? I don't know anything about the gulf stream so I am asking, can this eventually affect other countries? Can it be carried way out into the ocean and maybe further? I hope not but can't get this scenario out of my mind and need someone to clarify this for me. Thanks.

[leroysgame]

10:01 AM on 05/11/2010

Why is BP not sharing underwater pictures?
I have heard reporters’ using the term “sheen” like this is a good thing. It is not! When oil is introduced to the surface of water, it instantly spreads out until it is only a blue haze. This does not mean the oil is any less in volume. Crude oil starts to sink within hours of being spilled into water. It then “blups” to the surface over the next 2 years and arrives on our beaches as “tar balls”. While it is on the bottom, it destroys that environment and contaminates all marine life that manages to escape the initial onslaught. As the oil is sinking, it is settling on and near the bottom of the ocean so that the clouds you see from aerial and satellite photos are just a glimpse of the clouds settling near the bottom. That cloud is thousands of times bigger than the ones near the surface. BP does not want you to see this nor the dead and dying marine life down there.
There are products that would have prevented all of the damage to the environment, but BP would not make billions off of them. Check out the demonstration in the background of this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5oZ8baaBOY

[anothervoice]

07:48 AM on 05/11/2010

Good morning, HuffPosters -

I need your help. There's a question that's not being asked and I'm hoping some of you will pick up this question and help it spread until someone in the media steps up and asks...

In the midst of one of the largest environmental disasters in history, WHERE are the oil companies? We see ad-nauseum, commercial after commercial soft-focus eyewash about how they are so community oriented, building schools in Africa, part of the community, finding ways to be more environmentally responsible, volunteering, waving the flag, the hard-working, steely-eyed oil workers of the steely-eyed oil industry.

Where are all the OTHER oil companies now? This is THEIR industry. You'd think they would have ponied up just about every tool that wasn't tied down to help fight this oil spill but I'm not seeing anyone chipping in. They sure manage to pool their efforts when there's legislation to be watered down or a clandestine meeting with a certain Vice President. Where ARE they?

As an analogy, if this was a cruise ship sinking, every vessel within any range would be racing to help. We sink or swim together.

Where are the OTHER oil companies? It can't be just about the MONEY, can it?

Thanks much,

AV

[leroysgame]

10:15 AM on 05/11/2010

Dispersants are petroleum chemicals which the oil company blows onto or into the spill to do exactly what the term implies, disperse the crude so that it sinks and thins more quickly and therefore is less visible and thereby less offensive to onlookers. In situ burning is the term oil companies use to describe the practice of blowing highly flammable chemicals (gasoline) onto the spill in great enough volumes to maintain combustion on the water. Not all of it will burn off and it will not burn the crude which is floating slightly below the surface, but it also acts as a dispersant!! It reduce the impact or volume of oil but it looks to the unknowing public like the oil company is doing something and the company supplying the chemicals is raking in huge profits from the insurance companies and taxpayers, and that company would be THE OIL COMPANY!! Will we survive long enough to learn not to leave the fox in charge of the hen house? There are products that would have prevented all of the damage. Check out the demonstration in the background of this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5oZ8baaBOY

[langej]

02:12 AM on 05/11/2010

A nice attempt to cash in on the sensationalism of the spill, but all except 1 and 4 so-called effects seem to be "we don't know".

[Aimleft]

08:27 AM on 05/11/2010

You really think this is "sensationalism?" I think this article is tiny, compared to the huge damage that is yet to come. We don't know? You're right on that - we can't possibly know just how bad the damage will be. But for those who wish to belittle this damage and coverage of it as "sensationalism," I can only hope they will reconsider their attitude. For far too long, people who are not of the "drill, baby, drill" mindset have been vilified as tree hugging nuts, and "environmentalism" has been made a dirty word. What is happening now in the gulf - in so many areas, from wildlife to tourism to peoples' livelihoods, is exactly what those horrible tree huggers were worried about. Now it's coming to fruition. And yet, as the horrors of such an accident have come to light, some people call it sensationalism. Amazing.

[Zeroes]

11:58 PM on 05/10/2010

No fishing...cheap fishing boats...oily tourist.

[1Sparky]

09:51 PM on 05/10/2010

c'mon guys, 'fox news' is republikan crap! put on a 'for entertainment purposes only' disclaimer or get a real news feed in the page!

[tssent]

08:30 PM on 05/10/2010

1. Raise the dome.
2. Weld a huge propeller inside it (horizontally)
3. Resubmerge it adding pipe to the top side funnel as it's lowered
4. The sheer pressure of the well head is probably enough to turn the propeller,
but it could be electrified as well, in case
5. The moving propeller should offer far less resistance, perhaps allowing
the dome to be successfully placed over the top of the wellhead.
6. But even if this doesn't work 100%, it should at least allow some (maybe most
or even all?) of the oil to be contained and maybe even saved, although that's
not the main purpose of this solution (which is to save the environment).

[maxfax]

10:38 PM on 05/10/2010

Put the BP execs to sea.

[Ohsherri]

08:17 PM on 05/10/2010

Hey America.

I think I'll pass on that beach vacation.

Signed
Canada
(but mabey you want to start visiting ours instead)

[Clayton139]

09:20 PM on 05/10/2010

You have a good but at the same time sad point !
Our beaches are done for decades or for century's !!!

[tuberider]

07:42 PM on 05/10/2010

This is not the greatest of all of the Cheney/Bush catastrophies. The coming third world war will be their coup de gras.

[steve-annie]

07:25 PM on 05/10/2010

"BP will also suffer long term damage to their reputation, as they have been considered the oil company with the most 'environmentally friendly' image."

Nothing but greenwashing from the get-go.

[sonoffestus]

10:22 PM on 05/11/2010

I never believed any of that from the "get go".

[bipolarcat452]

06:54 PM on 05/10/2010

re: "New information also reveals that BP is using 100,000 gallons of dispersants (1/3 of the world's supply) on the oil, further contaminating the ocean with harmful chemicals. Unfortunately, the true environmental ramifications of this catastrophe won't be known for years to come."

Now you dear readers know why I will not be eating any domestically produced seafood anywhere, anyplace, anytime for the forseeable future. Here is another fact to ponder - Do not forget all that crude oil and dispersant chemicals on the surface of the warm Gulf of Mexico being evaporated (vaporized) up into the atmosphere then carried aloft by the low pressure systems that develop over the area which are then carried a thousand miles into the Ohio Valley and Northeast USA by clouds with rain and thunderstorms dropping BP's wonderful dirty oil and chemicals in vaporized colloidial form onto all the food plants and orchard growing areas East of the Mississippi, further contaminating the food chain. Look for a cancer spike of monmuntal proportions as the result for decades to come. Sleep well.

[Lefty08]

09:07 PM on 05/10/2010

Man, I thought the same thing... I hope we're wrong.

[Silentdances]

10:15 PM on 05/10/2010

There is also the problem with any aquifers that occasionally get salt water contamination.