Better prepared next time

Thursday, September 30, 2010 - 03:14 in Earth & Climate

If the lessons of this year’s massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are heeded, it should be possible to drastically reduce the chances of a repeat occurrence, according to MIT faculty members and other experts who spoke on Tuesday at an MIT symposium on the oil spill. And if there is another such occurrence, they said, responders should be able to deal with it much more rapidly and effectively. The symposium, co-sponsored by the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, the Department of Urban Studies and Planning and the MIT Energy Initiative, brought together three panels to address what happened, what can be learned and how the event affected people and ecosystems.Among the speakers, Department of Mechanical Engineering Emeritus Professor Jerome Milgram questioned the usefulness of oil booms in this cleanup effort. He said that in some situations booms can be helpful, such as for collecting oil...

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