The University of Georgia provides a gloomy observation:
Athens, Ga. – A report released today by the Georgia Sea Grant and the University of Georgia concludes that up to 79 percent of the oil released into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon well has not been recovered and remains a threat to the ecosystem.
The report, authored by five prominent marine scientists, strongly contradicts media reports that suggest that only 25 percent of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill remains.
“One major misconception is that oil that has dissolved into water is gone and, therefore, harmless,” said Charles Hopkinson, director of Georgia Sea Grant and professor of marine sciences in the University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. “The oil is still out there, and it will likely take years to completely degrade. We are still far from a complete understanding of what its impacts are.” (emphasis mine)
Everything is going to be just fine. Seriously, we’ve overcome much worse disasters. I sense that people are enjoying all the doom and gloom, the sky is falling bullshit. Yea, it sucks, but we have technology for cleaning it up. It will take time, but it will get done. I have a couple of friends that have been cleaning up toxic waste for years and it is amazing the technologies we have for dealing with the junk. But the media and some bloggers seem to love the drama and hyperventilating, they seem to get off on it in some weird way.
Thank you for your post. The clean up crews have done an outstanding job in the GOM and continue to do so. Shrimp season opened and that is wonderful
I don’t know if the marine scientists are using theory. They don’t seem to be using practical experience.
Of course the oil will be around for a long time. We know that. What we don’t need is the pessimistic nonsense to keep us from making progress.
Mother Jones points out that Gulf Seafood may not in fact, be very safe much longer.
I wish I could share your sunny outlook, but the reality is that 20+ years after the Exxon Valdez spill, the ecosystems of Prince William Sound have not recovered.
On the plus side, salmon runs are recovered; they don’t spend much of their life cycle there, of course, a few months as juveniles, and a few months as returning adults.
On the minus side, a lot of critters that do spend their adult lives in the sound and are high on the food chain show zero recovery or are still recovering 20 years later. Harbor seal, cormorant, herring. Orca, mussels, sea otter.
Clams are recovering, 20 years later. So maybe gulf oysters will recover in, what? 5 years? 10 years?
Yeah, doom and gloom bullshit, that’s me all right. But send your two friends up to Prince William Sound, they can just clean all that 20-year-old subsurface oil right up.
-Jay-
Thanks Manny!
Out of sight, out of mind…
A minor quantity of the oil reached the surface and has since evaporated in the Gulf summer conditions. Most of it, however, is dissolved in water or submerged as plumes.
BP wants the story to die, government as well. The media is busy with non-mosque – not at ground-zero. A dream scenario for deniers.
Man Eegee linked to a report from the University of Georgia.
Here is a different source altogether; from the University of South Florida – via CNN
Tulane researchers are finding oil in blue crab larvae. Not only do people eat blue crabs but many other creatures eat the larvae and immature crabs. It’s not just going to affect New Orleans restaurants.
Unless I missed something, I don’t believe the post or any of the comments so far have mentioned the natural process of biodegradation of oil by microorganisms. That is a serious omission, because bioremediation, not “dissolving,” is necessarily the key to recovery, whether anything is done or not. But things can be done to aid the process.
I attach a link that explains how one firm has developed a technique to enhance the process. I have no connection to this firm or to the industry, and of course the film was made by the company itself. Nevertheless, the picture is distorted unless we try to understand the process of biodegradation of oil.
It is hard to understand why BP and the US government itself has not put more emphasis on biodegradation instead of chemical dispersants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNiCcW8Ama0&feature=related
Here’s another video on the same subject. The only thing I’m not sure of is whether it is even necessary to introduce these (harmless) microorganisms into the water because from what I hear the Gulf is already rich in them, due to naturally-occurring oil seepage. What is needed is nutrients to help the organisms mutiply.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VfypUzx1tI&feature=youtube_gdata
Whatever federal official released that report about 75% of the oil being “disappeared” is either an idiot or an industry pawn.
See here for a small sample of the continuing poisoning of coastal ecosystems.
Let’s remember that a small spill off Massachusetts 40 years ago is still causing degradation.
Plenty of oil still floating in coastal waters.
But let’s pretend it never happened.
And so on