Why the Gulf Oil Spill Isn't Going Away

[Generic Other]

Buried crude and undersea plumes suggest oil will persist.

But the discovery of widespread oil on the seafloor and studies of remnant undersea oil plumes suggests that the debate over the ecological impact and ultimate fate of the Gulf oil spill—which released an estimated 4.9 million barrels of crude—is just warming up. (One barrel equals 42 gallons, or 159 liters.)

In early August, a high-level U.S. government official asserted that more than three-quarters of the oil from the Gulf spill was "gone"—based on preliminary National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates. Since then a fiery backlash has erupted from independent scientists who have been tracking and studying the spill.

"The oil budget NOAA came out with was just a joke, a fairy tale scenario," said Samantha Joye, a marine biogeochemist from the University of Georgia and one of the first researchers to detect and measure the deep plumes of oil.

"I understand why people want it to disappear, but who in their right mind would believe that? It makes absolutely no sense."

more
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/09/100915-gulf-oil-spill-bp-top-kill-science-environment/

[Swamp Rat]

1. k&r

:hi::hug:

[Generic Other]

22. deleted threads all over!!

I leave you in charge and look what happens!!! WTF?

I can't believe how many people want to make this oil spill go away by closing their eyes and plugging their ears.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[lob1]

4. They're still finding oil from the Valdez.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Nostradammit]

5. OK, I'll play - Where do you think that oil went?

[bherrera]

28. Where the oil went according to the experts

1. A significant fraction of the oil spilled evaporated when it reached the surface.
2. Bacteria, which are in the environment, voraciously ate another significant fraction.
3. Another fraction became heavy as the bacteria ate the lighter components, and fell to the sea floor, where it is gradually becoming covered with biogenic detritus and fine particles carried by the Mississipi river into the Gulf of Mexico.
4. Another fraction is found in a layer of contaminated water, which contains small oil drops. These are being consumed by bacteria, and researchers have observed zones of contamination disappear as they made measurements.
5. Another fraction is found in marshes and beaches, where it remains. Some of this has to be cleaned, and the government of President Obama continues to have more than 17 thousand workers cleaning this oil - but this is paid by BP.

I hope this helps you understand. I should add, I live in Spain, and I am interested in this case because I have been assigned this task by my employer. We want to be prepared to clean an oil spill because we have many nice beaches. I do recommend you become informed by visiting the government website

http://www.restorethegulf.gov/

This is a site prepared to inform you. There is a lot of bad information which is distributed by the enemies of President Obama, which want to cause panic in the population and lack of satisfaction with the government effort, which I think has been excellent. This guy who posted the information in this thread does this periodically, I suspect he is a Republican agent.

[Generic Other]

40. National Geographic is a far more credible source than you!

You by your own admission post your opinions here because you "have been assigned this task by (your) employer." And who might that be?

You say the only sources we can trust are the government websites. Yet many of us tell you that we doubt their credibility at this point as they have been in damage control mode since day one deliberately underplaying the extent of the problem. Without independent verification from scientists defending the government line (which has not been forthcoming), I don't trust your sources or you. The scientists studying the spill do not agree with BP or the government's rosy conclusions concerning the extent of the damage.

Additionally, all YOU do is call me a Republican agent. And all that does is make me post more information. No one pays me to post here. And no one is going to stop me with McCarthyesque tactics aimed to silence me. If you want to find GOP operatives, go to FR where they laugh at the miseries of people living with this disaster, where they mock the destruction of the environment and those who express concern, where they only believe in drilling for oil at any cost.

Don't come here day after day and call me a GOP agent. I voted for Obama. I campaigned for him. Did you? Oh I forgot. You aren't even an American. You don't vote for anyone here or have any say in how my government operates. Yet you have the gall to question my loyalties to this country. I have chosen to ignore this constant personal attack, but it is getting old. I have voted for Democrats my whole life. I have never supported a Republican. Your attempts to slander me in this fashion are laughable to me.

Also, in all the posts I have made on the Gulf disaster, I have never once mentioned Obama. I don't consider this a partisan political issue. It is a life and death issue for my loved ones who live on the Gulf coast. I know people who are experiencing symptoms, who are sick because they have been poisoned by their proximity to the oil contaminated water, to the corexit being sprayed. Do I believe them or you someone who "has been assigned" to mouth off on the subject?

[L0oniX]

44. LOL ..you trust info from a .gov site? LOL ..I suppose you believed there were WMD's in Iraq too.

[Generic Other]

47. Actually he beieves we all bought that because we are gullible

but that we now should trust the government.

Just as we should trust that his employer has hired him to study the oil disaster by repeatedly posting that we are all lying about it on every thread discussing the issue. Because we are GOP agents, doncha know? You betcha.

:crazy:

[lunatica]

7. And you know this because...?

[Angry Dragon]

8. You do not seem to grasp the correct amount of oil

that gushed out of that hole in the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico

In your world how much oil came gushing out??

[dipsydoodle]

14. may have got decimal place wrong somewhere

I worked it out in meters to a c. 415 metre cube based on cube root 4,500,000 x 0.158987294928 m3

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

13. Lavoisier FAIL.

[xchrom]

3. Recommend - every year that goes by is going to leave

Some people very surprised at the extent of the damage.

[bherrera]

29. it depends on what one expects

I followed this in detail. The damage will be less than I expected. This is also the opinion of many experts, who are very happy to see the action of bacteria become so efficient in devouring so much of the oil.

[Urban Prairie]

9. "but who in their right mind would believe that?"

Those who stand to profit or in status if they sweep this calamitous disaster under the proverbial rug, both in the media, and online. Gonna be a lot harder and very expensive to shut everyone up who can help reveal the extent and project any long term negative effects to the environment and the health of marine and mammal life that has, is, and may continue to be exposed, to not only the remaining crude, but the lingering dispersant chemicals from Corexit as well.

[dipsydoodle]

12. "lingering dispersant chemicals"

will eventually dilute to 1 part / 20,000,000 of water which is probably considerably less than the concentration found in household cleaners etc including some baby wipes.

[DrDan]

10. no one in their right mind DID believe it . . . clearly recognized as spin

[Ruby the Liberal]

11. K&R. We have no clue as to how damaging this was. nt

[dipsydoodle]

16. or wasn't whichever the case the case may be

Your words - "we have no clue".

[Ruby the Liberal]

17. Please, do sit comfortably in England and pretend that Corexit has had no lasting effects

on our coasts.

I would have thought more of you.

I thought I remembered you cautioning on Corexit this summer. Must have been mistaken on that...

[dipsydoodle]

25. Yes - you must have been mistaken

Contrary to what some idiot said / was published in the early days days the only issue here with Corexit is use on rocky shores because the detergent prevents limpets etc attaching to rocks making them prey to other species. Wasn't found to be harmfull to marine life out at sea. Generally speaking Corexit is a combination of products in almost daily household use. There is no reason of which I can think that it will have lasting effect given that the amount used in Gulf will eventually dilute to 1 part / 20,000,000 of water.

The above isn't a defence of either BP or Corexit - just a fact of life.

[Urban Prairie]

30. "Wasn't found to be harmfull to marine life out at sea"

Provide your proof of that please.

The EPA tests on organisms in water tanks from the GOM had a 96 hour limit, and all test subjects were dead after two weeks.

Much of the crude oil that was treated/injected into the gusher itself with Corexit chemicals sank to the Gulf seafloor, where the lack of strong currents and surface wind/wave action prevents it from being rapidly "diluted" eventually throughout the GOM, as you posted.

"Recent studies have also raised the issue of much-increased concentrations of PAHs (polyaromatic hydrocarbons) in the water column caused by the use of dispersants. These studies also show increased toxicity as a result of the PAHs. Long-term effects of chemically-dispersed oil are poorly-studied and relatively unknown at this point in time. Again little has changed from the first review in 2002, but it is very clear now that the toxicity of dispersed oil is greater than that of physically dispersed oil, primarily because of the large increase (5 to 50 times) the amount of aromatics and PAHs in the water column."


http://cleanthegulfnow.org/archives/review-of-oil-spill-dispersant-literature/

http://www.youtube.com/v/1FxfYqnlQ50&rel=0&hl=en


http://www.pwsrcac.org/docs/d0053000.pdf

[bherrera]

32. Indeed, Corexit is chosen because it is benign

There seems to be an almost religious zeal in some people regarding this Corexit. This was fueled in part by media in the USA, which was driven by misinformation given to them by the competitors of the Corexit manufacturer. These competitots wanted THEIR chemicals used, and therefore gave bad information to the media, which created a crisis where there was no crisis. The most pernicious of these businessmen was the maker of a chemical called Seabrat, who was able to convice a guy called Anderson in CNN that his chemical was better. But we know because the results are discussed in the EPA website, that Seabrat is not as good as Corexit.

[Desertrose]

15. K&R to keep this in front of people's faces......

the oil will not go away as quickly as the news about it did...




Thanks for posting this. :)

[Edweird]

18. Because oil and water mix like oil and water.

[bherrera]

33. Oil and water do mix, in the form of emulsions

Crude oil and sea water, under the right conditions of stirring, pressure, concentration, and temperature, will form an emulsion, which is similar to mayonaise. Some of this emulsified mixture becomes degraded by bacteria, and forms what the people of the Gulf Coast have designated as "peanut butter". This is partially degraded oil in an emulsified mixture with sea water. It is a very messy substance, difficult to clean.

[Edweird]

39. Bravo. I can't tell if you're arguing with me, agreeing with me, trying to 'correct' me or what.

That's awesome. It's oil and water. Anybody that's ever tried to wash oil based paint off a paintbrush with water understands how it works.

[bvar22]

19. "I understand why people want it to disappear,

....but who in their right mind would believe that?"
Plenty on DU,
but the clause "in their right mind" would exclude most of them.

[glitch]

20. Depends on how you define "right"

The politically right are more than happy to have something to believe, irregardless of basis.

[bherrera]

34. The interesting fact: the US government never said all the oil disappeared

One large piece of misinformation being discussed by ignorant Americans is the idea that the government said all the oil disappeared. This is a falsehood. The government at the website http://www.restorethegulf.gov/ reports on the actual conditions, and they have never said this, that the oil disappeared 100 %. But facts never enter very well into these discussions. And this is the reason why Americans are so easily driven by falsehoods to do things such as vote for Republicans or support the war in Iraq. Too many of you are too lazy to study the facts, which is something you should do before you form opinions.

[anarch]

21. where's that one guy to tell us all how this is just an exaggeration?

Or whatever it is that one dude always says...because we shouldn't be talking about how badly the Gulf has been damaged or whatever.

[Generic Other]

23. The BP guy from Spain?

I think it's his night off.

[bherrera]

35. The BP guy from Spain

That's very funny. I, on the other hand, think you are the GOP guy from a red state who is using these subtle posts to attack President Obama.

[Urban Prairie]

38. GOP Guy?

The poster that you are accusing of being a Republican subversive here, has a profile indicating that "he" is a she, has almost 15,000 posts, has been a member of DU since 2001 and is a member of the DU Activist Corps.

On the other hand, you have only been a member of DU since 08/01/10.

I doubt it very much if the intent of the OP was to attack President Obama, when she merely quoted a statement from Dr. Samantha Joye, a marine biologist from U-GA, who herself has been very deeply involved and outspoken while researching the GOM catastrophe since its outset.

[blindpig]

48. I am seeing a trend...

where any attack upon Capitalism or a capitalists entity is construed as an attack upon the party or administration.

I very much doubt that this is the intent of the vast majority of posters, but mebbe these paranoids are on to something....

[L0oniX]

42. Enjoy your short stay here ...I hope you like pizza.

[L0oniX]

41. +1

[depakid]

24. Why the administration prematurely released a report that was bound to destroy it credibility

on the issue is beyond me.

[bherrera]

36. The report was not premature, and the administration remains right

But the fact is the report was credible. And there is little information to counter what they said. The latest information arising from the investigation of the blow out preventer, which is examined for the criminal case, provides support for the government case. There is also another interesting possibility from the analysis of the valves they tried to use to close the well - the oil flow may have eroded the valves. This implies the oil flow was lesser in the beginning, and increased as the valves became eroded. This also implies the total amount of oil spilled was slightly less than estimated by the government panel.

[maryf]

26. K&R

the scar will be eternal...

[bherrera]

37. Very doubtful you can recognize a scar in 10 years

I very much doubt a scar will be recognized in about 10 years. Eternal is not real.

[maryf]

46. I've had a scar for over 25 years...

and it will last my lifetime...the damage to the planet from this will likely last at least the rest of my life...some lifeforms may never be able to recover their numbers...

[SammyWinstonJack]

27. K&R

[highplainsdem]

31. K&R

[Generic Other]

43. Kick to educate the naysayers

:hi:

[stuntcat]

45. kickety rec

reckedy kick :kick:

[Odin2005]

49. KICK