The PB oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a tragic event that is watched around the world. It was reported the European satellites had noticed the first wisps of oil sheen as of May 19, 2010 were entering the Gulf loop current that could take the contamination toward southern Florida and perhaps up the East Coast of the United States.

Special websites were quickly constructed to follow activities at the site. The EPA built special pages to follow the sampling results they gathered. The U.S. Coast Guard took the lead in government oversight and was joined by 16 other federal agencies to provide support as needed. State agencies from Texas to Florida sent people to monitor and become involved. It was reported that BP reached out to 500 engineers they had working relationships with to become involved in providing suggestions to stop the leak and cleanup the damage. The Congress threw together special hearings to investigate the problem within a week of the incident. President Obama ordered Secretary Chu from the DoE to put together an elite team from a special think tank to provide advice and oversight. Obama also ordered a special investigation panel be formed through the administration to investigate the causes and solutions.

There is an old cliché that reads, "too many cooks spoil the soup." From my research, it appears this saying comes from a 1575 proverb that "the more cooks, the worse potage." Apparently, there is concern that BP is ignoring some very good suggestions from the public. The news outlets are reporting that hundreds of solutions have been submitted and the company is not responding. The federal government additionally posted two additional websites that are broadcasting or streaming live video showing the leak. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is hosting a live online feed. "The broader scientific community and our university experts need to see all this so they can add to our knowledge of what happened and why." Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said in a statement, "this video will allow the world to see the damage that is occurring in our oceans, and reinforce the urgency to end this disaster,"

The websites were reacting slowly on May 20 as the traffic was overwhelming. Click here to visit Nelson's page and now here to go to the other government supplied camera feed.

Now, put yourself in the shoes of BP. This situation has to be like sitting in a folding metal chair in the middle of the 50-yard line in a professional football stadium filled with people. Everybody there is yelling their suggestionsat the same time of what BP should be doing.

I have seen a few of the suggestions. Some are totally ridiculous and some may be feasible but would need to be evaluated. The EPA approved one such suggestion to use a dispersant under the water surface but above the leak to break up the oil. However, the solution was not completely evaluated before implementation and it has since been found that the chemical chosen could be more toxic and cause additional problems. Is it better to be hasty or should additional evaluation be required? If they spend too much time evaluating, how much damage will result?

The pressure on the principals involved has to be more than can be imagined. Having the government post the live feeds in the name of transparency to solicit more public suggestions will only result in additional confusion. Maybe the think tank experts should be assigned the task of wading through all of the suggestions and evaluating them or maybe Markey and Nelson would like to come down to wade through them.