Oil Spill

President Obama announced on Thursday the government's toughest response yet to BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but the environmental and economic damage from what scientists are now calling the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history is turning into a political albatross around the president's neck. In his news conference, Mr. Obama said he had ordered a temporary halt to drilling on nearly three dozen existing wells in the gulf pending the findings of a presidential commission, as well as a six-month moratorium on new wells in the region.

For those of us from Louisiana, the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe is not really a spill. It's a gusher. It is a deep wound in the minds, hearts and, yes, the pockets of anyone whose life has been enriched by the beauties of the Gulf Coast. The wildlife, the natural waterways, even the alligators: All those things we love are under dire threat. My home town is Sulphur, La., a relatively small place with a powerhouse football team and a heavily oil-dependent economy. My father, uncles, grandfather and some cousins have all put in time working the oil fields of rural Louisiana, the rigs along the coast or the refineries that dot our cities.

With oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill now reaching major ocean currents, Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday to assess the threat to the Chesapeake Bay and the waters off Maryland. "The immediate impact on the communities closest to the spill is obvious," the Maryland Democrat wrote in a letter to NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco. "But my constituents are also asking – will they see oil on the beaches of Ocean City?

In his op-ed, "Gulf spill a lesson nation must heed" (May 10), Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin makes the argument that environmental groups have been slow to articulate: The BP oil spill is not just a failure of the oil companies or federal regulators — it is a failure of our energy policy to shift to clean energy sources. The recent string of energy disasters — the fatal natural gas plant explosion in Connecticut in February; the deadly Massey mining collapse in West Virginia in April; and the ongoing BP oil geyser in Louisiana — represent more than just the physical risks of the energy extraction.

Oh, BP says it's responsible, and they're willing to take their "lumps." But I think it's entirely possible we'll be the ones priming the pumps. Peg McAllen

The catastrophic oil spill ravaging the Gulf of Mexico and bearing down on coastal states is another reminder: America's current energy policy is a disaster. We need to break our dangerous addiction to oil and promote safe and clean sources of power and fuel — and we need to begin today. On Tuesday morning, I'll co-chair a Senate hearing on protecting America's coastal health. In the afternoon, that same Senate committee will meet to assess the damage the BP oil spill is doing to one of the most ecologically complex regions of the country.

AQUASCO — A decade after 140,000 gallons of oil leaked into a Patuxent River tributary and became Maryland's worst spill, the water doesn't show a hint of the environmental devastation. But wedge a stick into the bottom of Swanson Creek and it comes up slimed with oil. Oil from that April 2000 spill fouled 20 miles of shoreline, devastated water-dependent businesses and killed hundreds of turtles, fish, muskrats and other wildlife. Those who helped clean up acknowledge that the process was chaotic, and that remnants of the slick remain buried in the Southern Maryland river bottom.

President Obama has called for an "all hands on deck" response to the Gulf oil spill, but what does that mean? Similar to the Apollo 13 incident, outside-the-box thinking is desperately needed to solve this disaster. The president needs to get outside the industry experts from leading schools and companies: MIT, Cal Tech, Los Alamos, NASA, NOAA, Navy Seals, anybody with brain power, to come up with a creative solution, now! Relying on BP and the Coast Guard to solve this is a joke. Geoffrey S. Baker

The oil that began washing ashore Friday in Louisiana could devastate one of the richest coastal ecosystems in the country and cripple a major source of the nation's seafood, a top Maryland scientist warns. But Donald F. Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, said a rush to clean up oil smothering sensitive wetlands could risk further damage if not done right. Fish and shellfish, shorebirds and waterfowl, sea turtles and a host of other wildlife are at risk from the more than 200,000 gallons of oil pumping daily out of the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico 50 miles off the Louisiana coast.

Within a matter of hours on Wednesday, three announcements concerning U.S. energy policy held deep ramifications for the future of the Chesapeake Bay: The disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is even more disastrous than originally thought; the wind farm project off the shores of Cape Cod has won federal approval; and Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell is sticking with his endorsement of oil exploration and drilling off Virginia's shores within...