Federal Budget Cuts Left Scientists Unprepared For BP Oil Spill

BP's ability to convince the public that it has the Gulf oil spill under control disappeared weeks ago. Multiple attempts to stop or even slow the flow of oil from the undersea well ranged from laughable to obvious, but all have failed.

Oceanographers and marine scientists, who could have been helpful in assessing the spill and offering up ideas for minimizing the damage have either been brushed aside by BP or handicapped by more than a decade of quiet budget cuts.

The NY Times reports that oceanographers studying the Gulf of Mexico have continually requested federal funding for a network of radar, buoys and other sensors that would provide the equivalent of a weather forecast system for the area. Instead of responding favorably, especially in the years following Hurricane Katrina, federal funding for these programs has dropped by half or more in recent years.

As a result, oceanographers have been forced to rely on satellite snapshots and imperfect models to guess where the oil will travel, dragged by underwater currents that they can't accurately track.

Various media outlets are reporting that oil is already washing up on beaches in Alabama, and officials on Florida's west coast are waiting with baited breath as some rumors spread that the oil is only four miles away from their beaches as well.

Researchers at National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. report that if their computer modeling is accurate, the strong loop current "could propel the oil to Florida's Atlantic coast within weeks, with the spill spreading as far north as Cape Hatteras in North Carolina by July or August before turning east" (NY Times Green Blog).

Although BP has been slow to accept help from conservation experts and federal scientists have been forced to keep their mouth shut about many of the initial air and water quality findings, the scientific community isn't waiting for approval to take action.

Non-Federal scientists met at Louisiana State University on Thursday to discuss the urgent issues involved with both short-term response actions for the spill and long-term monitoring of the environmental and human health impacts.

"As the efforts continue in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, we need to ensure that we bring the full capabilities of the nation's research community to deal with the short-term and long-term impacts of this incident," said Robert B. Gagosian, President & CEO of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership in a press release.

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Source: Care2