O n April 20, a thunderous explosion rocked the Deepwater

Horizon drilling rig, positioned

50 miles off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.

The blast claimed 11 lives, and the ruptured 5,000-ft pipe spewed an estimated 56,000-68,000 barrels of oil each day through mid-July, when it was finally capped.

It would be mid-September, however, before the largest man-made disaster in American history was ultimately contained when the well was permanently sealed.

For nearly five months, talks of blowout preventers, sweet crude, top hats, containment domes, heavy fill, dispersants, dead zones, air quality, water quality, food safety, claims processes and permanent solutions dominated local, national and international conversations.

During that course of time, mucky masses of oil and fear assaulted the sugar-white sands of the Gulf coast – significantly sullying the summer season and changing the region, and perhaps the world, forever.

The oily remnants of the June 23 inundation of Pensacola Beach have mostly been removed. But how long will the economic and environmental effects of the oil spill continue? What did it reveal about man’s relationship with the nature? Scott Page/Gulf Breeze News Here's a recap of the area's, and possibly the world's, biggest story of 2010:

‘Forever Changed’

Local, state and federal officials began feverishly preparing a response to the leaking giant immediately following the April 20 explosion.

In those early weeks, they scrambled to devise a plan of action and gather the necessary resources, as millions of gallons of oil began to drift ever closer to the Gulf coast.

Town hall meetings were held to inform the public on the looming threat, and thousands of residents turned out to express their fear, anxiety and anger to local, state, federal and BP officials.

The “volunteer navy” poses with GBPD Chief Peter Paulding after receiving the 2010 Community Policing Award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) for the Coastwatchers program. Scott Page/Gulf Breeze News No one knew what the effect would be – there was only speculation. Would giant mats of thick oil coat our beaches and ruin our resources? Or, would we get a thin layer of oily sheen, merely keeping us out of the water for a few weeks?

Whatever the case, Gulf coast residents were assured that the responsible party would see them through any necessary cleanup and recovery efforts.

“BP is responsible for this, and we're going to be here to see this through,” said BP spokesperson Liz Castro at a meeting held at Pensacola Beach in early May.

Over the next few months, BP's “commitment” would be questioned, assaulted and mocked by journalists, government, businesses, environmental experts, cartoonists and residents alike.

Cleanup crews are still using heavy machinery to thoroughly sift the sands of Pensacola Beach for any remaining bits of oil. Lisa Newell/Gulf Breeze News Remember Tony Hayward?

The City of Gulf Breeze took proactive measures, enlisting a “volunteer navy” to perform 24- hour monitoring of Gulf Breeze shores and the surrounding waters. It also deployed thousands of feet of boom material and purchased a skimmer to protect the city.

As all awaited the approaching threat, the specific effects were unclear, but the big picture was already apparent.

“We'll be forever changed,” predicted Gulf Breeze Mayor Beverly Zimmern at the May 3 city council meeting.

The Sinking of the Banana Boat

As images of the thick, brown oil coating the coastlines of Louisiana and Mississippi began to circulate during the month of May, Florida beaches remained clean and clear – perhaps too clean and clear.

National media reports created the perception that all Gulf coast beaches were contaminated, and the regular flow of tourists ran dry – leaving the beaches without oil and vacationers.

The futility of the on-site response only escalated the negative perception, as engineers struggled to plug the gushing riser pipe. The spreading oil also forced the closure of thousands of square miles of prime Gulf fishing waters.

A half-sarcastic retort to the misleading coverage best represents the mildly optimistic, yet hopelessly frustrated feeling that most area residents felt.

“The only oil on our beaches is made by Banana Boat,” folks in Northwest Florida were screaming at the petro-fueled perception that kept tourists away.

The tanning oil quip was true enough, but everything changed on June 23.

Pensacola Beach residents had a very "crude awakening" that morning, as thick globs of the brown gooey mess began washing up on the white sands over the night of June 22-23. The impact coated an area of sand approximately 10 yards wide and several miles long.

Frustrated tourists and residents, cleanup crews and media professionals swarmed to the huge mats of oil, which were littered with shoes, bottles, cans, light bulbs and other trash.

Gov. Charlie Crist witnessed the scene as he was making a scheduled visit to the area. As Crist prodded the thick, brown goo with a stick, he told reporters, “(Oil) in such a beautiful place is unbelievable. We've seen tar balls, but never this kind of stuff.”

Keep Your Thumb on the Garden Hose

In mid-July, oil stopped flowing into the Gulf

All area beaches were open for swimming and fishing and the success of the cap on the wellhead was a sure sign of optimism. But challenges were still plenty for the continued response effort.

“We won't be done until we actually know that we've killed the well and we have a permanent solution in place,” President Obama said at the time.

For lack of a better analogy, the situation resembled that of a person plugging a garden hose with a thumb. Sure, no water was coming out, but eventually the pressure would build and the flow would not be contained.

As engineers vehemently continued to develop a permanent seal for the pipe and vessels of opportunity collected oil, another disaster was mounting.

Emergency grants, BP damage claims payments, urgent marketing and advertising campaigns and pleas from area business owners aimed to plug the surge of economic devastation.

Visitors were offered various incentives to vacation along the Gulf coast. Studies were expedited to confirm the safety of Gulf seafood, providing a type of life support for the area's fishing industry. Gulf Breeze Chamber of Commerce, and others, worked harder than ever to provide information to assists struggling businesses. President Obama even visited the region.

Still, negative economic effects continued to flow.

Individuals and businesses expressed widespread dissatisfaction with BP's handling of economic damage claims – forcing it to set up a $20 billion fund to cover damages. It has since been reorganized as the Gulf Coast Claims Facility.

Questions remained about the safety of the region's seafood, and the majority of Gulf coast residents were affected financially, in one way or another, by the historic disaster.

At least one Gulf Breeze couple, Austin and Tara Sharp, benefited during the adverse economic conditions. The Sharps - creators of the “Crude Life” franchise – sold hats, tshirts, bags and other merchandise bearing the spill-inspired catchphrase. They gave a percentage of revenues to the recovery effort.

The total economic effect, however, is still unknown. The same can be said for the damages sustained by Gulf ecosystems.

The images of pristine beaches and wetlands inundated with crude oil and those of birds, marine mammals and sea turtles immobilized in thick orangebrown mats were some of the most disconcerting illustrations of the negative effects of the spill.

These environmental affects are likely to continue, to a lesser extent.

“If there are any more of the preserved oil pockets in the sediment of the bays and the oceans, an event called upwelling will most likely uncover and possibly start breaking up these pockets and bringing this product to the surface,” said Heather Reed, environmental consultant for the City of Gulf Breeze. “The upwelling events are crucial to our fisheries because it bring the cold nutrient rich sediment to the surface and is vital to primary production which is essential to the food chain of the seafood industry.

“We may not know of the impacts until next summer when the water warms up and allows this product to become more viscous and melted.”

The deluge of economic and environmental effects from the oil spill continues to flow as we move forward into 2011. It seems we are still holding our thumbs over the hose.

A Crude Awakening

As the case may be, the most significant results of the BP oil spill are the revelations about the Gulf coast community and modern human society in general.

Less than two months after the rig exploded, concerns arose about the potential negative emotional and psychological effects Gulf coast residents might endure.

Dr. J. Steven Picou, Professor of Sociology at the University of South Alabama, has studied the emotional and psychological effects of the 1989 Exxon-Valdez spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska for 20 years.

In June, Picou told Gulf Breeze News that Exxon-Valdez victim's prolonged anger, frustration and suffering bred severe distrust and depression that led to increased suicide deaths and devastated communities.

Those fears became a reality here just days after the News' article, when an Orange Beach, Ala. boat captain committed suicide.

What was ultimately revealed, however, was something wholly positive about the mentality of Gulf coast residents. Instead of turning against each other, locals came together and fought a common enemy - whether it be BP or the actual oil on the sands.

From candlelight vigils on the Pensacola Beach Fishing Pier to the "Hands Across the Sand" demonstration, Gulf coast residents fought hard, and continue to fight, to protect and restore the land and way of life they treasure.

In fact, oil never soiled the Gulf Breeze shoreline thanks to the efforts of the volunteer Coastwatchers – the "volunteer navy" that patrolled area waters in the Gulf Breeze Police boat and reported any oil sighted.

The GBPD was awarded the 2010 Community Policing Award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) for the program.

Without the Coastwatchers, City Manager Edwin “Buz” Eddy says city shores, which have not been impacted to date, likely would have been oiled.

“The impact of that program really can't be overstated,” he said. “(Oil impacts) would have happened had the Coastwatchers not been out there.”

Local residents' dedication to environmental recovery cannot be questioned, but the spill forces us to evaluate modern man's overall relationship with the natural world.

How long can we sustain our current rate of resource consumption and pollution?

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin visited Pensacola Beach in July. The Mobile, Ala. native told Gulf Breeze News that we need to reevaluate our relationship with the natural world.

“We need to be good stewards of this earth,” Benjamin said. “We should adopt the mentality of Native American culture, which considered how every action would affect nature for the next seven generations.”

On Dec. 1, the Obama administration announced it will not allow offshore oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico or off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as part of the next fiveyear drilling plan. The ban remains controversial because of the economic impact.

Meanwhile, a gas-guzzling machine scoops sand from Pensacola Beach and pours it into another gas-guzzler that sifts it for tarballs.