EPA and the Oil Spill
I had the chance to hear a director from the EPA’s Gulf of Mexico program speak on June 14, 2010. His name is Dr. Byron Griffith.
He was very happy to speak to the meeting I was at because it was a sea kayaker’s monthly meeting. Big relief for him to speak to us paddlers rather than the grueling meetings he’s probably been at for the last couple of months. I had just been paddling in Tampa Bay a few days before and at Honeymoon Island on the 13th. So all us locals are quite concerned with the spill.
After speaking for almost 90 minutes, the bottom line is that no one seems to know what the extent of the oil spill is going to have on the Gulf and surrounding coastlines. A leak this large has never happened before.
He assured us that the chances of the oil coming to the west coast of Florida were slim but hurricanes this summer have the potential of creating unseen happenings. I didn’t really need an EPA expert to tell me hurricanes are unpredictable!
The most interesting thing to me was when he said that millions of gallons of oil naturally seep out of the ground in the Gulf every year because there’s just so much oil down there. Because of that, the Gulf has developed a microcosm of oil eating bacteria that have the ability to clean up. As Dr. Griffith said now though, these bacteria are seriously overfed.
There isn’t anything we as individuals can do right now to help with this spill. My heart goes out to the people whose livelihood’s depend on a healthy Gulf and of course to all the wildlife that are dying. I just hope that this disaster will create a new set of safety rules for all companies drilling in the water.