Michael Banovsky

This will cause a real environmental problem. The wetlands around the Gulf coast act as the first line of defence against tropical storms.

Healthy wetlands limit coast erosion – but oil from the spill could kill off vegetation from the roots upwards, trashing coastal defences west of the Mississippi Delta and leaving the coast prone to flooding. If Tony Hayward thinks he’s unpopular in the US at the moment – just wait and see what happens should this nightmare come to pass.