Cleanup: Santa Barbara Blowout, 1969
During the 1969 Santa Barbara blowout, dedicated volunteers did their best with straw, wooden booms, detergents, rakes, and their own ingenuity. Fast forward to the Macondo response: stockpiles of tested dispersants and plans for applying them most effectively, fire boom and research data to support burning oil in situ, an armada of skimming vessels, boom deployed by trained personnel, a scientific support team, and a pioneering subsea collection system. Without a doubt, every effort is being made to minimize the damage associated with this spill.
There are 2 suggested improvements that I have alluded to previously. These relate to information that is being provided to the public.
- The data on the volume of oil/water mixture that is being collected would be more useful if we knew the oil fraction. Without this information, the effectiveness of the response and the potential for environmental impacts are difficult to assess. Based on the collection figures provided to date, weather conditions, the seafloor release point for the oil, and the estimated flow rate, I would assume that the mixture is mostly water. If no chemical analyses are available, perhaps an estimate (range) of the oil percentage could be provided.
- Very little specific information is being provided on the important subsea intervention operations. A weekly summary of these operations would be helpful. For each attempt, the procedure and outcome could be provided.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 
Amen, Bud. I strongly support the need for the regulatory agencies to provide the public more information on the oil-water ratio, even if it’s only an estimate. And, similarly, a fuller description of ongoing attempts and plans to intervene would be useful. I would add that it would be useful for an environmental scientist to explain how we might interpret the sheen visuals as related to thickness, toxicity, and important impact factors.
Tom R