The Oil Vent in the Gulf of Mexico

It started as an explosion which burned the rig until it sank, which turned into an oil spill, which now has turned into an oil vent which appears to be increasing in flow every day.

So, I think it is more useful to call what is happening now an oil vent than an oil spill. An oil spill is a finite amount of oil spilling from a container of some kind.

Whereas an oil vent is something that even though it was started by man by a deep water oil drilling rig may or may not be able to be stopped or recapped at this depth.

However, maybe BP can with the use of the funnel recapture some of the oil and be able to sell it for some useful purpose and thereby reduce the spill from the oil vent in the Gulf. I don't know.

So what I'm trying to say here is that what was started by drilling for oil is becoming a geologic event like the Iceland volcano or "Old Faithful" in Yellowstone. It takes upon an entirely different meaning when viewed in this way which actually might be much more useful than the way people are thinking about it now.