NEW ORLEANS — Oil company engineers on Sunday finally succeeded in keeping some of the oil gushing from a blown well out of the Gulf of Mexico, hooking up a mile-long tube to funnel the crude into a tanker ship after more than three weeks of failures.
I assume BP gets to keep and sell this oil, which doesn't quite seem fair to me. The remaining oil from this disaster should be donated to an independently-held "Gulf Clean-up Trust" to finance the long term effort. Crazy, I know. But the amount of oil being sucked up is only about 20 percent of the oil that's leaking right now.
And now, the bad news. The oil is likely to be swept around Florida, through the delicate coral and up the east coast.
A researcher told The Associated Press on Sunday that computer models show the oil may have already seeped into a powerful water stream known as the loop current, which could propel it into the Atlantic Ocean. A boat is being sent next week to collect samples and learn more.
William Hogarth, dean of the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science, said one model shows oil has already entered the current, while a second shows the oil is 3 miles from it – still dangerously close.
And finally, they're still planning to use golf balls and rope to plug some of the leaks. Of course, I think they should just get a drilling supporter to use their fingers to plug the holes...
