It has been a month and a half now since the BP oil well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana began spewing crude oil into the water and threatening coastal areas.
It's now the biggest oil spill in U.S. history, and is continuing.
Many strategies to block the leak have been tried, all without success. And now it is reported there may be no solution till August -- if then! -- as the oil spill spreads.
Florida and its white beaches of the Panhandle area are now being threatened -- just as the beach season normally gets under way, with many thousands of tourists.
So big economic problems are being added to the environmental disaster, such as the threats to sea life and the fishing and shrimping industries.
It is impossible to guess how many billions of dollars of economic losses may occur.
It's really amazing that oil wells can be drilled in nearly mile-deep water to access huge quantities of the oil that fuels so many purposes in our country and the world. There are thousands of oil wells producing without problems in the Gulf of Mexico and off U.S. Atlantic and Pacific Ocean coasts.
But just one oil well spill is causing damage that surely will continue to be felt in many ways for many decades -- even after the spill is finally stopped.
Mankind can work countless amazing technical wonders -- but still cannot control many of the wonders of nature.