Gulf states fear long-term fiscal effects of oil disaster

The Gulf Oil Spill is a terrible environmental and financial disaster for the Gulf Coast Region which will have ripple effects across the country for years to come. An oil rig operated by British Petroleum exploded on April 20 killing 12 people. Since then, an ungodly amount of oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico hour after hour, day after day, week after week and month after month. With no end in site, the cost of the disaster remains unimaginable. What will be the financial impact on Gulf Coast counties in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi Louisiana and Texas? No one know for sure. Stateline.org (Pew Center for the States) begins to put the disaster into perspective.