Today’s oil spill roundup: Mon., July 19

+ Oil may be seeping from somewhere beneath the ocean floor near the Macondo Oil Well, prompting a strongly worded letter from National Incident Commander Thad Allen and making BP’s investors nervous.

+ Sen. Bill Nelson warned about this weeks ago.

+ The cap remains on.

+ Kenneth Feinberg has begun working to sell BP’s compensation process to the spill’s economic victims (more after the jump).

+ The legislature’s special session to discuss banning offshore drilling in state waters begins tomorrow at noon (more after the jump).

+ The Unified Command wants you to be on the lookout for tagged birds rescued from the spill.

+ Will the ongoing disaster cause us to change our measures of economic well-being?

Unwanted uncertainty
Officials from Thad Allen to Charlie Crist have said efforts to contain the spill will extend well into the fall. But the damage could linger for years.

It is still clear that the bulk of the damage happens quickly, and that nature then begins to recuperate. After a few years, a casual observer visiting a hard-hit location might see nothing amiss. Birds and fish are likely to have rebounded, and the oil will seem to be gone.

But often, as Dr. Short and his team found in Alaska, some of it has merely gone underground, hiding in pockets where it can still do low-level damage to wildlife over many years. And the human response to a spill can mitigate — or intensify — its long-term effects. Oddly enough, some of the worst damage to occur from spills in recent decades has come from people trying too hard to clean them up.

Meanwhile, Kenneth Feinberg is encouraging people and businesses affected by the spill to accept money from BP’s $20 billion compensation fund, telling them, “You are crazy if you don’t participate.” But 90 days after the well gets capped, taking lump sums of compensation cash will require claimants to agree not to sue BP in the future.

Over at The Washington Independent, Andrew Restuccia explains:

In other words, beginning in November, oil spill victims will file a claim covering all expected future damages from the disaster. They will then be offered one flat payment, likely before they (or scientists) understand the full damage the spill will cause to the Gulf economy decades down the road. And, if they accept the payment, they will be barred from suing BP at a later date for more damages.

Politics as usual
Important matters like where Florida gets its energy are bound to be overshadowed at this week’s special session by one “profoundly unserious matter, the continuation of Governor Charlie Crist’s (I-Charlie) political career.”

Crist has put no pressure on the federals to mobilize more skimmers or other equipment to protect the beaches and littorals he claims to care about. In fact, he’s the only Gulf governor to describe the Obama administration’s flaccid response to the oil spill as “a good job.” He’s recommended no economic policies to assist Floridians damaged by the spill. His only response to BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill has been a near continuous photo-op. The special session promises to be more of the same. At least one Republican Florida legislator has filed a resolution to censure Crist for calling the useless session.

The call came a day after a poll (Rasmussen) showed Crist trailing conservative former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio by two points in the Senate contest. Those of you who think this sequence is a coincidence really need to get out more. (Crist leads Rubio by a few points in other polls.)  Florida Republican legislative leaders have called Crist’s move a political stunt and may well adjourn shortly after the session begins without taking any action.

Howard Troxler, for one, doesn’t buy that.

Of course, doing nothing this week means no immediate help for the Panhandle and Floridians already hurt by the spill. Maybe later, the Legislature says.

It also means not using the opportunity to talk about alternative energy or Florida’s energy future. We have been bizarrely paralyzed on this subject for years.

Most of all, it means Florida voters will not get to vote in November on whether to amend our state Constitution to ban drilling in Florida waters.

See also: How Florida House members plan to vote on the drilling ban.