Worst environmental disaster in US history: Oil slick in Gulf of Mexico is set on fire

There is a hole in the ocean floor that is spewing crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of five thousand barrels a day. Powerless to stop the uncapped remnants of the fallen Deepwater Horizon oil rig, scientists and engineers have set the crude ablaze.

The surface burn is an effort to slow the catastrophic damage to birds, dolphins, whales, estuaries and other wildlife in the path of the toxic crude. The tourist and fishing industries are also expected to suffer a devastating blow, since the spill cannot be contained.

According to the Washington Post, “The crisis in the gulf is likely to get worse before it gets better.“  The report added, “A BP official said controlled burns can get rid of 50 to 99 percent of oil within a limited area, but Robert Bea, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California at Berkeley who worked on controlling the damage of the Santa Barbara spill, warned that in open seas, companies have generally captured less than 10 percent of oil spilled.“

What makes the Deepwater Horizon disaster worst than spills in the past, is it’s close proximity to land. The annihilation from this disaster may top the Exxon Valdez spill and earn the title of the worst in US history.

While touring the Gulf waters by helicopter, Governor Charlie Crist, who is also a candidate for the US Senate, said he was considering withdrawing his support for off shore drilling. “"It's clearly not clean enough after we saw what we saw today -- that's horrific -- and it certainly isn't safe enough. It's the opposite of safe."

By the time this well runs dry, Governor Crists’ words may be the greatest understatement of our time.

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