It was truly the worst of times. The days, weeks, and months after the Deep Water Horizon incident that happened in the Gulf of Mexico. For Louisiana residents it was first about a loss of life. Since so many of our citizens make their living coaxing oil from the ground this was personal. Then came the environmental impact of gushing oil intruding into the Gulf of Mexico. Finally there was the unkindest cut of all, a moratorium  on oil production put in place by an uniformed President.

Our men and women of the oilfield did what they always do, they paid their respects to the deceased, said a prayer for the safety of all, and went back to work. Of course after an uninformed President finally was persuaded to remove his head from his down hole.  What was left was the environmental impact on the very land and waters that we in Louisiana love so much. There is finally better news to report on that front.

The vast majority of the areas have shown a dramatic movement from a horrible mess in 2010 to a more or less normal coastal marshland in 2015.

The words of LSU Chemistry Professor Edward Overton . Dr. Overton says that  biologist who have been studying the impact of the BP spill have reported some very encouraging news. . Overton's remarks were published in a story by the Louisiana Radio Network. 

Overton compared the spill to an automobile accident. The worst damage occurs on impact, the rest is a story of recovery. That is what the Louisiana coastline and the rest of the Gulf South is slowly experiencing.

With the help of human intervention and mostly by Mother Nature’s own devices, those compounds that caused the damage in 2010 have been degraded away and the environment is returning to normal.

By no means are we diminishing or dismissing the damage that was done to the coastal area and coastal wildlife. The impact was tremendous, that is an understatement. What has also been tremendous has been the areas quicker than expected recovery from the spill.

It’s fairly remarkable that five years after the largest oil spill in US marine history that we’re having trouble finding areas that have been heavily impacted by that oil.

That is good news that is getting better. Louisiana will still play a huge part in America's energy needs. We will also be leading the way in protecting our environment with information that we have learned from the spill and its subsequent cleanup.

While the courts are still trying to assign blame all we know is that it happened. We now know more because it happened and we know more about how to prevent such an incident from happening again.

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