More than 800 viewers tuned in to watch Duke experts talk about the impact of the oil spill in the Gulf. Questions in the Q&A session on Wednesday ranged from the impact on sea turtles to the impact the spill will have in the White House.
"We'll be carrying the effects of this spill for decades -- not months -- so it will not be cleaned up by November," said Tim Profeta, who is a policy expert for Duke's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy. "If the oil spill hasn't been dealt with in some way that's politically acceptable ... it could have grave consequences for the president and his party. And I think that's what a lot of the political minds in the White House are concerned about."
Duke Professor of Marine Biology Larry Crowder said, at this point, getting the correct measurement of how much oil is pouring into the Gulf is a key issue.
"This isn't a finite spill like the Exxon Valdez: 11 million gallons. This is a hemorrhage from the sea floor that's going on day after day," Crowder said via video conference from the North Carolina coast. "Every time there's an estimate, the estimate seems to go up. We're now capturing more oil in the partial captures than what people thought was coming out per day."
Crowder said we are talking about tens of millions of gallons of oil already in the Gulf of Mexico with no end in sight for when that spill will stop.
"It's unprecedented in the history of drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico," he said. "I think impact is often judged by the public by how many oiled birds show up on the evening news. That's only the minor impact here."
"At this time of year in the Gulf of Mexico [everything] is reproducing. The fish are spawning, the sea turtles are nesting. There's not a good time for an oil spill, but this is the worst time for an oil spill in the sense that it's the annual season of reproduction in keeping life going in the Gulf of Mexico."
He also warned that even though the government is getting more involved, there might not be an immediate fix.
"We do have to recognize that the capability of the military in this situation is pretty limited because the military doesn't have experience with drilling in a mile of sea water," he said. "I think they can help focus the efforts and keep people on track. They can be a great line of communication between the public and the government and BP. But to a certain degree this is a problem which characterizes some of the issues with managing the oceans."
"We have a confluence of private industry, ocean regulators with various levels of effectiveness and various arms of the government dealing with different parts of this issue. Success depends on communicating with each other effectively and making good and fast decisions."
This is the first time Duke's topical television program called "Office Hours" featured the Gulf oil spill in discussion. To see the full episode, click here.
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