Almost all energy news these days is centered on the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform and subsequent gusher of oil pouring from the wellhead a mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico. Nearly forgotten are the tragic deaths of 11 workmen on the oil platform.

If I were the CEO of BP, I would assemble teams of engineers from BP and all other corporations that have drilled wells in deep water to figure out how to stop the leak. Each team would be told that it should expect all other team’s attempts to fail, so it must find the solution. From all appearances, BP has done exactly that. Several attempts to stanch the flow have already been made, and more are on the drawing board.

I have not seen any data on how much oil they have been able to retrieve.

I saw a video (http://www. wimp.com/solutionoil/) proposing a solution to the problem of oil fouling the beaches.Aman poured some crude oil into some big pans of water, and then put some hay on top. After some agitation, the hay had collected almost all of the oil, and could be skimmed off. The people who made the video said that some boats already exist for collecting seaweed that could be used for skimming the oily hay. I have my doubts that there is enough hay around to be of much value, but the procedure might protect some beaches. Presumably, some furnaces could use the fuel, though handling it would be a messy proposition.

In any case, the solution to the oil spill will involve some kind of equipment lowered a mile to the sea floor. The solution will not be laws, regulations, letters to the editor, speeches to Congress, or Congressional or Administrative diatribes against BP executives.

There may or may not have been some warnings from the deep that there was trouble afoot. There may or may not have been a decision by BP executives to use less than the safest procedures. We cannot change one second of history, so we must deal with the problem at hand. The overwhelming majority of us will not be able to offer any expertise.