According to my much-loved father-in-law, this is the beginning of the end of the world. Although his theory does not encompass nuclear warheads, it does involve a much more immediate and real threat to our ecosystems.

Thursday marked the one month anniversary of the BP-owned oil well that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and starting a massive and uncontrollable flood of crude oil into the aqua water. Now, weeks later, the oil continues to spew unchecked from three significant leaks in the rig far under the sea.

To compound the explosion, protocol safety equipment, which had been previously reported as faulty on the rig, failed to function to stop the flow. Evidently, the underwater blowout preventer was leaking before the explosion occurred, and wasn’t strong enough to stop the leak once the accident happened.

So as millions of gallons of crude are been dumped in the sea there’s a whole lot of finger pointing and deflecting the blame. BP sputters innocence, as do their subsidiaries Transocean Ltd. and Deepwater Horizon who owns the rig involved in the explosion. American citizens are blaming the Obama administration for failing to release information fast enough and not holding BP responsible for a more timely reaction to the spill. No one, it appears, want to be held accountable for this catastrophe.

BP is releasing low-ball figures on the volume of the spill, which are being disputed by the Nation Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Their website (www.bp.com) posts a tranquil image of the Gulf and brags about how they are capturing oil at the ocean’s surface. The NOAA figures are also considered low, according to other scientists studying the track of the spill from satellite images.

Estimates vary widely on how much crude has leaked into the water thus far, depending on the source of information. The numbers range vastly from 42,000 gallons per day (according to BP officials) up to one million gallons a day (according to scientists). Either way that’s a astronomical amount of oil, making even the Exxon Valdez disaster pale in comparison.

As predicted, the spill has now reached the coast of Louisiana, and is starting to infiltrate the fragile marshlands along the coast. The destruction, it seems, is just beginning to show its ugly head.

When the oil tanker Exxon Valdez hit an undersea reef, it released an estimated 10.8 million gallons of crude into the Prince William Sound in Alaska. Pictures are still vivid in my mind of oil-covered birds, fish, turtles and other wildlife struggling to survive that spill. Until now, the Exxon Valdez spill was ranked as one of the worst human-caused environmental disasters of all time.

It’s impossible to wrap my mind around the scope of destruction the newer spill has and will cause. As the oil continues to pump into the water, new reports state the very real possibility for the oil to travel around the Florida coastline and up along the eastern seaboard.

You know, where we call home.

In the meantime, entire fishing industries around the Gulf states are systematically being wiped out indefinitely. Americans are losing their livelihood because of a disaster that is neither their fault or within their control to fix. Entire ecological systems are being poisoned or annihilated. Tourist industries are feeling the pinch.

To make matters worse, thousands of gallons of chemicals are being shot thousands of feet below sea level as an attempt to ”˜break up’ the oil and prevent it from surfacing. One of the chemicals being used is known as a health hazard to humans, causing such effects as skin and eye irritation and potential respiratory problems.

In a vain attempt to stem the flow, BP engineers have started pumping shredded tires and golf balls into the leak at high pressure. A containment dome has been lowered to the sea floor, but BP representatives are already throwing out disclaimers that there’s no guarantee it will work, citing difficulties working so far below sea level.

BP is also attempting to drill a second, relief well near the sight but construction won’t be complete for another 80 days.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but does trusting a company who disregarded safety reports threatening to cause a major oil spill to drill another well, in a big hurry no less, just sound crazy?

I sincerely hope we, as Americans, see this giant assault on our oceans, fishing industries and ecosystems as a wake-up for our reliance on oil to survive. With the scientific advances in alternative fuel sources we’re within arms reach of severing the ties with companies like British Petroleum. Lets hope this will bring us one step closer.

”“ Elizabeth Reilly can be reached at elizabethreilly1@yahoo.com.