Oil Spill

If it is not one thing, it's something else that is causing issues in the Gulf of Mexico. It was hurricanes a few years ago (with a lack of federal response that worsened the situation). Now it's an oil spill caused from a exploded rig owned by British Petroleum. BP is working around clock to find answers as to why the rig caught on fire and why the fail-safe mechanism failed to operate in order to avoid the exact disaster we are in currently. Several attempts to cut the oil flow have failed. Is enough being done to stop this oil leak? Polls say Americans do not consider the BP oil spill President Obama's "Katrina" in the Gulf. And with BP working on solution after solution, it has not swayed Americans opinion on oil drilling off seas.

However, as the spill continues to leak oil for the third week at around 5,000 barrels a day, ramifications will extend outside the Gulf. Here is why: The Mexico Loop Current.


The Mexico Loop Current is the dominant flow of water that moves in a clockwise rotation. It also feeds water to the infamous Gulf Stream along the east coast. As the water in the Gulf moves in the anti-cyclonic (or clockwise) motion, it runs along the west coast of Florida, funneling down between the Florida panhandle and Cuba and finally sweeps into the Gulf Stream. With all the working motions of the Mexico Loop Current, coupled with the fact that the Loop Current is the fastest moving current in the Atlantic, it makes it a prime candidate to transport lets say, oil, to different locations. So with 5,000 barrels of oil being injected into the Gulf per day mixed with one of the fastest moving currents on earth...you can see where this is going. The East coast is not clear from repercussions of the Gulf oil spill. I overheard that if the spill moves up the Atlantic coast into regions of the Northeast, the people who live in the Hampton's will definitely take the action required to extinguish this environmental disaster.