Homework #1, GEOL 220, Summer 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Due by 3 pm on Thursday, June 10

In late April 2010, a drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico experienced an explosion and sank. Huge amounts of oil have been leaking into the Gulf of Mexico ever since. Based on class discussion and on web sites such as http://www.eoearth.org/article/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill, please

(1) explain how our knowledge of the oceans has been or will be used to monitor and recover from this disaster and

(2) discuss the economic, ethical, and political ramifications that you feel will emerge in the next couple of years due to this event.