Has anything changed since the Gulf oil spill?

What, if anything, has actually changed since the Deepwater Horizon exploded and caused the country’s largest oil spill?

Watching the burning oil rig on television from Bushwick was surreal. The images of oil-coated wildlife, contaminated marshes and barrier islands and tar balls on beaches from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle were horrifying. The partisan back-and-forth over the response to the disaster was infuriating.

There was some concern that oil from the Deepwater Horizon could potentially reach Fire Island if it were to enter oceanic currents. Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy stressed to the Fire Island News last June that his administration was preparing for the “worst-case scenario.” This “worst-case scenario” thankfully did not come to pass on the beach. The Gulf Coast was obviously not so lucky.

One can certainly make the case that the disaster proved the need for this country to further invest in renewable energy sources—although the Japanese earthquake and tsunami clearly demonstrate the calamitous potential of nuclear power. It is crucially important to acknowledge, however, that the Deepwater Horizon explosion killed 11 people. The subsequent oil spill also dramatically disrupted a way of life along the Gulf Coast. This legacy could last far longer than a country’s collective memory.