Oil Spill Local Effects
By: Ben Manning
Updated: May 1, 2010
ALTOONA, BLAIR COUNTY - The effects of the oil spill in the Gulf could soon be reaching us in Central P.A.
Brian Black is a History and Environmental Studies Professor at Penn State Altoona. He says this oil spill is so bad because it's still pumping out of the ground and not just a tanker spilling its contents, so there is no way of knowing how much oil is involved. But he says it is good that it's happening in the deep ocean because it isn’t having an immediate impact on the coastal environment. But he says that is going to happen.
Nick Castellucci spoke with his seafood vendors. They’re telling him it isn’t a major concern right now. Castellucci says that’s probably because they have a stockpile of frozen fish. But they also told him that prices would go up. He says Jethro's isn't going to be affected too much. Because they sell a lot of New England fish like haddock and cod, salmon and tuna from other parts of the ocean, and he can get shrimp from other places. He says you have to be flexible in the restaurant business.
Black says gas prices will also take a hit. He says the actual oil spill isn't big enough to affect prices. But it's enough to worry people, and just that worry is enough to make gas prices go up.
Both men say we're just going to have to wait a couple of weeks to see just how much those prices are going to be affected.
Brian Black is a History and Environmental Studies Professor at Penn State Altoona. He says this oil spill is so bad because it's still pumping out of the ground and not just a tanker spilling its contents, so there is no way of knowing how much oil is involved. But he says it is good that it's happening in the deep ocean because it isn’t having an immediate impact on the coastal environment. But he says that is going to happen.
Nick Castellucci spoke with his seafood vendors. They’re telling him it isn’t a major concern right now. Castellucci says that’s probably because they have a stockpile of frozen fish. But they also told him that prices would go up. He says Jethro's isn't going to be affected too much. Because they sell a lot of New England fish like haddock and cod, salmon and tuna from other parts of the ocean, and he can get shrimp from other places. He says you have to be flexible in the restaurant business.
Black says gas prices will also take a hit. He says the actual oil spill isn't big enough to affect prices. But it's enough to worry people, and just that worry is enough to make gas prices go up.
Both men say we're just going to have to wait a couple of weeks to see just how much those prices are going to be affected.
