A “level playing field” sounds inherently fair, so why should domestic solar manufacturing have to suffer for the sins of legacy energy production?

While NOAA is publicly backing down from the press reports of giant plumes of oil below the surface in the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon spill, it is interesting to look at the research plans that NOAA previously put into place for dealing with oil spills. The most recent five year research plan from NOAA (pdf) has some interesting tidbits that relate to the ongoing spill and NOAA’s response, especially when it comes to the question of oil below the surface.