http://www.keysnet.com/2010/08/04/244520/resource-managers-give-oil-spill.html
By KEVIN WADLOW
kwadlow@keynoter.com
Posted – Wednesday, August 04, 2010 11:00 AM EDT
Surface oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster may never reach the Florida Keys, but effects of the estimated remaining 172 million gallons of crude oil that flowed into the northern Gulf of Mexico remain unknown.
“No one knows with any level of confidence what’s going to happen in the Gulf,” said Paul Johnson, a former Reef Relief president now working as a marine consultant to the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Just because [BP] has capped the leak does not necessarily make all that oil go away.”
At 6 p.m. Aug, 4 in Key West, several marine experts will talk about possible ramifications to the Keys from the spill, apparently the largest in U.S. history.
“The Gulf Disaster and the Florida Keys: What Are the Environmental Impacts and How to Help” is the topic of the open seminar at the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center, at the Truman Waterfront at the end of Southard Street in Key West.
Conservation groups Oceana and the Natural Resources Defense Council host the event, intended to discuss “potential impacts on Keys habitats and wildlife.” Billy Causey, southeast regional director of the National Marine Sanctuaries Program, will make opening remarks.
Other experts scheduled to speak include David Vaughan, director of the Mote Center for Tropical Coral Reef Research; Jim Fourqurean, a marine biologist at Florida International University; and marine scientist Patrick Rice of Florida Keys Community College.
On Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the latest analysis of the spill extent indicates “Southern Florida, the Florida Keys and the East Coast are unlikely to experience any effects from the remaining oil on the surface of the Gulf as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.”
A current eddy in the Gulf of Mexico appears to have contained most of the oil and kept it from reaching the Loop Current that many experts feared would bring the oil to the Florida Straits and the Keys.
For the foreseeable future, NOAA said, “There is no clear way for oil to be transported to southern Florida or beyond. At that point, it is expected that the majority of remaining surface oil will have dissipated.”
The nearest point of the visible oil spill remains an estimated 425 miles from the Keys. However, the biological effects of dissipated oil in the water column, along with chemical dispersants, remain unclear.
“All we can do is continue to monitor it, look at what kinds of impacts we might expect, and what we can do about it,” Johnson said.
Lessons from the Deepwater Horizon disaster may prove useful if Cuba expands oil exploration and drilling in its territorial waters, he said.
“It’s an example for our community on how vulnerable we are to drilling off our shores,” Johnson said. A federal panel reported Monday that the Deepwater Horizon spill off Louisiana may have dumped more than 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP managed to recover an estimated 33 million gallons, but the balance remains in gulf waters.
In other recent oil-spill developments:
•Monroe County businesses may be eligible for emergency loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration, under a July 24 declaration. Proof of economic loss will be required. Loan applications can be downloaded from www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance.
•Singer Jimmy Buffett, a former Key West resident, in July donated a specially designed boat to the Friends of the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, in Alabama. The shallow-draft boat allows rescuers to reach marshy areas affected by the spill to perform bird and wildlife rescues.