OIl Spill Gulf of Mexico 2010 Oil Leak Update - Florida Beaches

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico rages on. One of the saddest parts of the Gulf oil spill is perhaps the beaches in the Florida panhandle that have been negatively impacted by the spill.  Tar balls are even washing up along beaches along the eastern side of the state, which could indicate that the oil spill has reached the loop current.

Tests results on the tar balls that have washed up will tell if the oil is from the spill or if it is from a boat or ship that is located off the coast.

In addition, BP has lowered a new containment cap onto the spewing well head. It's not certain whether or not the cap will contain 100% of the spilling oil or not, but the engineers and teams involved in the oil spill containment are hoping that it will.

One thing that many people are kind of upset about is that BP Is "profiting" from the oil that is coming out of the leaking well.  We wouldn't say that BP is profiting from the spill per se - but they are selling the oil that they collect from the leaking well head. However, BP needs to continue to make money in order to pay for the claims.

The company has lost a considerable amount of market share - which is a direct result of their mismanagement and corner cutting. In addition, they have incurred a considerable amount of claims from the spill - again no one's fault but their own.

Efforts to drill relief wells are supposed to be ahead of the game.  Hopefully, that is the case.  Once the relief wells are in place, the spill can hopefully be stopped once and for all.  Then, the company can focus their efforts on stopping the spewing water into the well.

BP Oil Spill Gulf of Mexico Map and Oil Leak 2010 Update

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico caused by BP and the oil leak map are still things to keep an eye on. Although it's been almost three months since the oil started leaking in the Gulf, things aren't looking any better. In fact, on most days there's more and more bad news to share with the world.

Most of the time, the "good" news is actually bad news that is "justifiable." For instance, marine robots are working to remove the containment cap off the leaking well. This means that millions more gallons of crude will enter the seawater in the next days.

The trade off? There's hope that a new seal will contain 100% of the leaking oil.

While I'd like to believe the claims, this is the type of "news" we have been hearing all along. The spill has worsened with every step taken - even with the best of intentions at hand.

Click here to view an interactive oil spill map.

And even if the newest measure DOES completely shut off the flow of oil into the Gulf - we are still a LONG way from the tragedy being over. There's millions of gallons and barrels of oil in the waters right now, and it needs to be cleaned up. The quicker that the oil is cleaned up, the less that the spill will impact our nation's most beautiful beaches.

Cleanup will involve likely everything from burning oil off the surface of the water to using mats made out of hair and nylons to using state of the art oil separation technology from Kevin Costner's company.