Link to Original AOL News Article.
(May 19, 2010) -- The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has focused a white-hot light on the problems faced along the country's coastal zones. Even as experts are struggling to staunch the spill, Americans are struggling to find the best path to secure our nation's energy future.
(Will the "Loop Current" takes this oil up the East coast?)
The political ramifications from the spill came to a head this week with the announcement that the U.S. Department of the Interior plans to split the federal Minerals Management Service, which is supposed to supervise the country's renewable resources in eco-friendly ways. This new plan will divide the MMS section that ensures that energy companies comply with federal safety and environmental regulations from the section that gets billions of dollars in drilling royalties for the federal government each year -- second only to federal taxes among our nation's most important revenue streams.
The move, according to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, was designed to guarantee "there is no conflict, real or perceived, with respect to those functions." But there's already a real political conflict on how best to proceed with energy policy in the wake of this environmental disaster. The "Drill, baby, drill" cheerleading of Sarah Palin and John McCain during his 2008 presidential bid, as well as by Newt Gingrich, the de-facto intellectual guru of the GOP, has lost nearly all of its cachet.
In a new CBS News poll, more than a third of all Americans say the spill is "an indication of a broader problem with offshore drilling." Yet a recent Pew survey also shows just 38 percent approval for the president's handling of the oil leak.
So both political sides are covered in sludge over this spill, leaving even more uncertainty over how best to proceed. That makes it one of the most complex and pervasive coastal policy challenges ever seen. It will leave a much more lasting impact than Katrina.
And it's only going to get worse according to Joanna Gyory, Arthur J. Mariano and Edward H. Ryan, some of my colleagues at Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center. They are now tracking the Gulf of Mexico currents that swirl east. Those currents take material from the Gulf to the Florida Keys, along the southern tip of Florida, and then into the Gulf Stream, which runs north along the entire U.S. coast and then past Ireland and England. This flow is indicated on the map below.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
According to the scientists, The Loop Current (1) feeds the Florida Current that transports significant amounts of heat toward the North Pole; (2) transports surface waters of tropical origin into the Gulf of Mexico; and (3) is fed by the Caribbean current and the Yucatan Current.
This could add to the enormous political firestorm that has already exploded over oil drilling offshore and in the environment. For the Republicans, this is bad news up and down the oil-threatened East Coast, with repercussions also felt across the country.
Should we stop offshore drilling?
We can't. Our dependence on carbon-based fuels is so huge that we will be struggling with how to make coal, oil and natural gas environmentally friendly for many, many decades. But just where do we drill? After this disaster, many coastal states may take a not-in-my-backyard (or-not-along-my-beaches) position.
One thing's for sure. After this spill, "Drill, baby, drill" will not be the bumper sticker of any political party anytime soon.
Steffen Schmidt teaches coastal policy and is an affiliate at the Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center in Dania Beach, Fla. He is a professor of political science at Iowa State University.
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