NOAA: Remote chance of oil here

By Steve Estes

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration last week issued a statement that the possibility of heavy surface oil landing on Keys’ beaches, or interfering with sport and commercial fishing in Keys’ waters is now remote.

Scientists still maintain that the Keys could be the recipient of tar balls from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded and sank off the coast of Louisiana April 20. That infiltration of toxic oil and possibly chemical dispersants used to break up the surface oil over the 100-plus days the well gushed millions of gallons of crude daily into the Gulf of Mexico will probably happen later in the summer at the earliest.

Those prognostications come on the heels of a counter-clockwise eddy current that formed in June on the eastern edge of the Gulf Loop Current, trapping the heavy oil plumes and surface sheen.

The Loop Current itself, a saltwater river of sorts that runs in a clockwise loop through the Gulf and meets the Gulf Stream near the Keys, has pushed westward, dragging the trapped oil away from the sea life rich waters of the Keys.

Commercial and recreational fishermen have spotted what they believe are under-surface oil plumes in several locations south of the Keys in recent weeks, and beach combers have continued to report tar balls that wash up on local beaches. None of those events, however, have been tied specifically to the Deepwater Horizon spill.

The rig was owned by BP Oil. The giant multinational corporation has pledged to fund all the clean up efforts needed to return the Gulf to its former condition, as well as any shoreline clean up efforts like the ones currently underway on beaches in Louisiana, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

The company has also agreed to pay for lost revenues to local businesses that suffered an economic downturn during the time the spill was headline news around the world.