Give me the best case and the worst case cost of the spill

In a more sane world, some busted oil well spewing some 60,000 barrels a day of noxious crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico off the coastlines of Louisiana and Mississippi would mean everyone...and I mean everyone would want to stand in the line to get a turn kicking the responsible parties in the ass. 

That there are some Reps. Joe Barton and Michele Bachmann who are apparently more concerned about whether BP executives will be getting their Christmas bonuses than they are about the millions of folks who rely on the Gulf for their livelihood is mindboggling.

But if there's anything at all good that could come out of this mess it's a national consensus on one, making sure no drilling ever occurs again in locales where accidents can't be immediately remedied and two, beginning a full fledged commitment to eliminate carbon based energy sources.

But it seems that, even with the Gulf fouled beyond our imaginations, we're a long ways from that consensus.

One thing that's been missing from the coverage of the Gulf spill is scale.  Yeah, we know BP has spent something close to a billion dollars at this point, but what about the rest of the costs, both in terms of the economy and the ecology?  What will it mean to the Gulf coast (and other effected areas) if the well is finally plugged at the end of August?  How many fisherman, resort hotel workers and oil rig workers will be out of work?   Add their families to the list of effected, not to mention the folks that work at the grocery stores where they shop and the McDonald's where they sometimes have lunch.  How much lost tax revenue will there be as a result of people losing their jobs or working fewer hours? 

What does it mean if half the shrimp fisheries of the Gulf are poisoned?  What if all the Gulf is so polluted that the shrimp, oysters and fishing areas are off limits for years?  How much is that worth?  What happens to all the other marine life in the area?

What happens when the hurricane season begins and the storms spew oil inland.  How many are effected then, either by their businesses closing or their crops being destroyed?

Now what happens if the well isn't repaired in late August?  Do they just give up and wait for that well to eventually empty?  How much oil is there?  How long would it spill?  What would that mean?

I have a feeling the costs of both scenarios are unimaginable.  I have a feeling there would be a whole lot more consensus if we knew those costs.