With many questions still unanswered about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Earth Institute staff have been providing perspective to the public and press on many aspects, from the spill’s magnitude and spread, to the technologies available to abate it, and its long-term policy implications. Marine geophysicist Tim Crone was one of the first to openly question official estimates of the oil’s rate of flow (first on NPR, then in a New York Times op-ed)–and those estimates have since climbed accordingly. Then, writing for CNN.com, deep-sea oceanographer Andreas Thurnherr helped introduce the grim idea that the oil could be spreading not just on the surface, but in difficult-to-track undersea plumes–a scenario now also confirmed. Proposals for halting the flow have gone all the way to planting a nuclear bomb on the seafloor–an idea discussed (and savaged) by oil geophysicist Roger N. Anderson, with public radio host Leonard Lopate. As Earth Institute executive director Steve Cohen told a BBC reporter: “Probably [this] will go down in history as the worst environmental disaster that America has ever had.” Beyond the glare of media, many Earth Institute scientists now are starting up research projects to measure the spill and its effects, and they expect to be in the Gulf during coming months. Stay tuned.
Read our press advisory on Earth Institute oil spill experts.
Below, some media featuring perspectives from the Earth Institute. (Updated frequently.)
Low Oil Spill Estimates Rested on ‘Untested Assumptions’ USA Today, Oct. 6, 2010
New Gulf Spill Oil Flow Estimate Released PBS Newshour, Sept. 23, 2010
Gulf Spill Volume Estimated From Video BBC, Sept. 23, 2010
Gulf Oil Spill: Study Suggest U.S. Estimate Was About Right Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 23, 2010
Gulf Spill May Have Been Bigger Than Feds Estimated Science News, Sept. 23, 2010
Degraded Oil From BP Spill Coats Seafloor LiveScience, Sept. 21, 2010
Needed: Real Discussion of the Impact of Regulating Offshore Drilling (by Steve Cohen) Huffington Post, Aug. 17, 2010
Where’s the Oil? The New Yorker, July 28, 2010
Exploring the Geology of Gulf Oil NPR Talk of the Nation, July 23, 2010
The Gulf: What Should We Do Next? WHYY, July 22, 2010
The Long-Term Political Impact of the Oil Spill (by Steve Cohen) Huffington Post, July 19, 2010
How Will a Hurricane Affect the Gulf Oil Spill? Scientific American, July 15, 2010
BP Cap in Limbo Over Government Questions Associated Press, July 14, 2010
How a Rare Mix of Geology Created Riches, and Danger Washington Post, July 13, 2010
Six Lessons From the BP Oil Spill Christian Science Monitor, July 10, 2010
How to Kill a Well Science, July 2, 2010
Researchers Consider Impact of Hurricanes on Oil Spill The Record, June 24, 2010
The Oil Spill’s Worst-Case Scenario? Newsweek, June 23, 2010
The Gulf: Obama’s Bay of Pigs Moment (by Steve Cohen) Huffington Post, June 17, 2010
The Spill’s Impact on the Politics of Sustainability (by Steve Cohen) Huffington Post, June 14, 2010
Gulf Spill’s Environmental Impacts, in Three Dimensions Wall Street Journal, June 12, 2010
Feds May Have Low-Balled Oil-Spill Flow Rate NBC Nightly News, June 10, 2010
BP Pins Hopes on Relief Wells to Stop Gulf Spill Scientific American, June 9, 2010
Top 10 Unanswered Questions on the Oil Spill ABC.com, June 9, 2010
The Spill, the Scandal and the President Rolling Stone, June 8, 2010
Can There Be Global Oil Spill Accountability? BBC/PRI’s The World, June 7, 2010
Dangers of Deep-Sea Oil Drilling Philadelphia Inquirer, June 7, 2010
Changing Obama’s Style Will Not Prevent the Next Catastrophe (by Steve Cohen) Huffington Post, June 7, 2010
What the Spill Will Kill Newsweek, June 6, 2010
Obama’s Crude Awakening (by Jeffrey D. Sachs) New York Daily News, June 6, 2010
One Oil Spill Solution: a Nuclear Bomb WNYC, June 3, 2010
The Spill as a Breach of Our National Security (by Steve Cohen) Huffington Post, June 1, 2010
Our Fix-It Faith and the Oil Spill New York Times, May 30, 2010
‘No Idea’ Where Deep Water Oil Is Drifting CNN.com, May 28, 2010
Infrared Images Show Oil’s Vast Extent CBS Evening News, May 28, 2010
Move Resource Regulation Out of the Interior Dept. (by Steve Cohen) Huffington Post, May 27, 2010
Preventing the Next Environmental Catastrophe (by Steve Cohen) Huffington Post, May 24, 2010
The Measure of a Disaster New York Times op-ed, May 21, 2010
Gushing Oil Far Exceeds Estimates KPCC, May 17, 2010
The Spill and Effective Management of Regulation (by Steve Cohen) Huffington Post, May 14, 2010
Spill Could Be Far Worse Than Believed NPR All Things Considered, May 14, 2010
The Oil Spill Will Change the Politics of Energy and Environment (by Steve Cohen) Huffington Post, April 30, 2010
Yes but how to stop the spill? Why is bp still in the picture?