article_snippet.sent: (CNN)Five years after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and unleashed the largest marine oil spill in the nation's history, we are still experiencing -- yet only beginning to truly understand -- the nation profound environmental and economic repercussions.
article_snippet.sent: The immediate aftermath of the largest marine oil spill in the nation's history has been well documented, with declines in tourism and the seafood industry, as well as the significant destruction of wildlife in the region.
article_snippet.sent: Since then, the amount of oil in the area has dissipated and communities have started to show signs of recovery.
article_snippet.sent: However, profound challenges remain, in part because so many questions about the long-term consequences remain unanswered.
article_snippet.sent: To this day, it's still unclear where all of the oil went, exactly how much remains or whether the reappearance of wildlife is a result of adaptation or a signal that the crisis is truly abating.
article_snippet.sent: Yet in the aftermath of the spill, changes to crustacean communities in the area were quite apparent to the naked eye.
article_snippet.sent: we are still working to determine whether these changes impact these changes ability to survive and reproduce.
article_snippet.sent: Research on different species and other aspects of the regional environment is starting to show that there could be long-term effects resulting from the oil spill and the response to the oil spill.
article_snippet.sent: This not only has consequences for the Gulf area, where oil drilling continues, but also for communities along the Atlantic Coast, where the Obama administration has recently announced a plan to open unprecedented oil and natural gas exploration.
article_snippet.sent: (BP's vice president of communications, Geoff Morrell, told CNN that wildlife species in Gulf have "bounced back and "there is no data that suggests there are any long-term population-level impacts to any species.")
article_snippet.sent: With the virtual certainty of more spills, we need a lot more information on the consequences of these disasters and how we can combat these disasters effectively and efficiently.
article_snippet.sent: The U.S. Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency are making some progress.
article_snippet.sent: In coming months, The U.S. Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency are releasing changes to regulations and response plans based on the early lessons learned from the oil spill.
article_snippet.sent: But government agencies cannot just rely on the short-term data to determine the best response for the next oil spill crisis.
article_snippet.sent: Instead, the government and oil companies should work together to support ongoing, long-term ecological research so that we have a better grasp of what "normal" looks like and what factors are important in maintaining those conditions even after a disastrous oil spill.
article_snippet.sent: Only then will we truly understand the impact of offshore drilling and the best ways to respond to crises to protect our most important natural resources.
highlights_snippet.sent: Five years after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, we are only beginning to understand the Deepwater Horizon rig effects on the Gulf .
  