Remember that "giant sucking sound" Ross Perot predicted we'd hear if we passed the North American Free Trade Agreement?
I'm hearing it again. Only this time it's not jobs headed to Mexico, it's the hot air that's being blown around by the folks who insist that the tens of millions of barrels of oil that boiled out of the seafloor into the Gulf of Mexico are evaporating, dispersing and otherwise disappearing on their own — but don't worry, they're going to clean up whatever doesn't clean itself up.
To put a fine point on it, the U.S. government says only 26 percent of the oil that spilled remains. You can believe this or not, but I recommend you reflect on the government's decidedly minimalist estimates on how much oil was flowing into the gulf in the first place before you bet the family farm on this figure.
Nor would I wait for BP to set the record straight.
As Paul Sammarco of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium told the Times-Picayune of New Orleans, "The oil might not be easy to see, but there's still a lot of it out there."
I am reminded of President George W. Bush's "mission accomplished" declaration in Iraq, and I ask myself, "Is this when things really go to hell?"
So maybe that's why I'm a little more in line with Jefferson Parish, La., Councilman Chris Roberts, who said, "I hope the report is accurate, but I wonder why all of a sudden there's so much interest in wrapping this up, putting a bow on it and declaring victory."
Amen. Fact is, if you want somebody to believe, believe Willie Davis, harbormaster over in Pass Christian, Miss. "I'm losing trust in the whole system," he told the Associated Press. "If they don't get up off their behinds and do something now, it's gonna be years before we're back whole again."
Thank you for your time.
Jerry Fraser
Editor & Publisher, National Fisherman
www.nationalfisherman.com
