The Deepwater Horizon blowout is the largest oil spill in US history, but its ecological impact need not be the worst. It all hinges on the amount and composition of the oil that reaches the Gulf of Mexico's most sensitive habitat: its coastal marshes. If they can be protected, the region could bounce back in just a few years.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico exposes the risks of ignoring safety regulations in offshore oil drilling. (Editorial)

With no end in sight for the oil gushing from the explosion site at the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, anxious US officials are looking to researchers who study the Gulf of Mexico and its idiosyncratic currents to help determine where all the oil is and where it might be heading.

As oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, the question remains: how big an environmental disaster is this?

With oil still gushing from an offshore well in the Gulf of Mexico, some scientists and environmentalists worry that US federal agencies have not done enough to gather precious data on the spill, now into its second month.

At the time of this writing, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has continued unabated for one month. On April 20, 2010, the Mississippi Canyon 252 Deepwater Horizon oil well exploded, killing 11 people. The rig sank on April 22.

US agencies have moved too slowly in gathering key data on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. (Editorial)