Wednesday, December 22, 2010
The Oil BP Tried To Hide Has Been Discovered, In Thick Layers On the Sea Floor Over An Area of Several Thousand Square Miles
BP and the government famously declared that most of the oil had disappeared.
But as I've noted, as much as 98% of the oil is still in the ocean.
I have repeatedly pointed out that BP and the government applied massive amounts of dispersant to the Gulf Oil Spill in an effort to sink and hide the oil. Many others said the same thing.
BP and the government denied this, of course.
But the oil is not remaining hidden.
Indeed, as the Wall Street Journal noted on December 9th:
A university scientist and the federal government say they have found persuasive evidence that oil from the massive Gulf of Mexico spill is settling on the ocean floor.
The new findings, from scientists at the University of South Florida and from a broad government effort, mark the latest indication that environmental damage from the blowout of a BP PLC well could be significant where it's hardest to find: deep under the Gulf's surface.
***
Scientists who have been on research cruises in the Gulf in recent days report finding layers of residue up to several centimeters thick from what they suspect is BP oil.
The material appears in spots across several thousand square miles of seafloor, they said. In many of those spots, they said, worms and other marine life that crawl along the sediment appear dead, though many organisms that can swim appear healthy.
***
Tests now have started to link some oil in the sediment to the BP well could add to the amount of money BP ends up paying to compensate for the spill's damage.
***
The test results also raise questions about the possible downsides of the government's use of chemical dispersants to fight the spill.
***
Under federal direction, about 1.8 million gallons of dispersants were sprayed on the spilled oil in an effort to break it up into tiny droplets that natural ocean microbes could eat up. At the time, officials said the dispersants shouldn't cause oil from the spill to sink to the seafloor. However, more recently, a federal report said dispersants may have helped some spilled oil sink to the sediment.
Scientific teams have reported in recent months finding a strange substance on the Gulf floor, in some cases as far as about 80 miles from BP's ill-fated Macondo well, which blew out in April and spilled an estimated 4.1 million barrels of oil into the Gulf before it was capped.
***"The chemical signatures are identical," said Mr. Hollander, who found the contaminated samples in an area of the Gulf floor off the Florida Panhandle. Although it's conceivable the tests could show a false match with the BP oil, "the statistical probability of something like that is unimaginable," Mr. Hollander said.
The federal government also has found oil matching Macondo oil in Gulf sediment, Steve Murawski, a top National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist, said in an interview. He declined to disclose how much sediment contamination the government found, or exactly where in the Gulf it was, saying experts still are analyzing the test results.
***Samantha Joye, a University of Georgia oceanographer, also has found what she believes to be evidence of BP oil in Gulf sediment. She is awaiting lab results tracing the chemical fingerprints of sediment samples she took.
On a research cruise in the Gulf that ended Friday, she saw worms that crawl along the Gulf floor "just decimated," she said. But eels and fish, which can swim away, often appeared fine, she said.
The Journal noted on December 18th:
Oil from BP PLC's blown-out well has lodged in the sediment of the Gulf of Mexico at levels that may threaten marine life, according to a federal report released Friday.
***
There is no practical way to clean up the spilled oil that has settled deep in the Gulf, officials said, adding that microbes in the water could eventually eat it up.
The massive application of dispersants to hide the amount of oil spilled has caused major problems to the Gulf:
- The use of dispersants prevented clean up of the oil by skimming, by far the easiest method of removing oil from the water
- Dispersants make the toxins in crude oil more bioavailable to sealife, and scientists have found that applying Corexit to Gulf crude oil releases many times more toxic chemicals into the water column than would be released with crude alone (and see this)
- Dispersant might have caused some of the chemicals in oil to become airborne (and see this and this)
- The crude oil which does not become aerosolized sinks under the surface of the ocean, and can delay the recovery of the ecosystem by years or even decades (see the Wall Street Journal article quoted above)
- The overwhelming majority of studies find that dispersants slow the growth of oil-eating microbes
- Dispersants may bioaccumulate in seafood
- Blood tests show elevated levels of toxic hydrocarbons in Gulf residents
Extend-And-Pretend Will Fail
As I noted in May - shortly after the spill started - the responses of the government to the Gulf Oil spill and to the financial crisis are remarkably similar, as both have focused on covering up the problems, instead of actually fixing them. Because the financial system was never really reformed, the next financial shock will send the economy reeling. Because the oil was never properly cleaned up, the next hurricane will stir up immense quantities of oil now lying on the sea floor.
Extend-and-pretend is being attempted in both cases, and - in both cases - it will fail, because nothing has been fixed, and the fundamentals can only remain hidden for so long.
Moreover, in both cases, the government used "highly toxic" measures to try to hide the real problems. The government has used "emergency measures" and virtually all of its resources to prop up the giant banks instead of using the proven methods of restructuring insolvent banks and prosecuting the criminals who caused the crisis, which has caused major problems for the real economy.
Similarly, the government applied close to 2 million gallons of highly toxic dispersant to hide the amount of oil instead of using it's resources to deploy tried-and-true clean up methods, which has caused significant problems for the Gulf.
Finally, new and potentially bigger crises will take place, because regulation hasn't been put in place to prevent them. Regulation of the financial system - including international agreements like Basil III - have been gutted (and see this). And as Time magazine notes:
Congress never managed to pass legislation that would have overhauled drilling safety.
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Thanks in advance for allowing me to drop this link...scientific data that BP and Corexit is possible responsible for the breakage of the North Atlantic Loop Current.
ReplyDeletehttp://logisticsmonster.com/2010/12/22/did-bp-break-the-north-atlantic-loop-current-and-are-we-entering-an-ice-age/
Pathetic isn’t it? The government or Big Oil is not any more prepared to clean up an oil spill before it spreads than they were before the oil disaster. Their intent has never been to contain and clean up the oil. If another oil disaster happened tomorrow they would use more Corexit to disperse the oil instead of cleaning it up.
ReplyDeleteBig Oil should be required to file a Gulf oil clean up plan for deep water salvage and surface salvage to contain and control a similar oil disaster.
Like old Scrooge they are to cheap to buy a supertanker like A-Whale and rig it for deep water salvage and station it in the Gulf. The ship could be working today to remove the oil from the water, especially with all the leaks that are reported.
BP and their government lackeys have not responded responsibly to the Gulf oil disaster and should be removed as custodians.
Thank you for continually reminding us of this travesty and its ongoing nature. If we could just find a way to extend the attention spans of our countrymen long enough to remember the oil spill, bank fraud, and the casualties of our foreign excursions, we might have some hope at some faint semblance of a real public response.
ReplyDeletehmmm.. Of course the oil is still in the ocean.. What better place for it to be than on the ocean floor.. Out of sight.. out of mind.. Are we really proposing that we clean up the ocean floor now? Do people realize how much junk is on the ocean floors of the world? I say leave it there and move on..
ReplyDeletehmmm.. Of course the oil is still in the ocean.. What better place for it to be than on the ocean floor.. Out of sight.. out of mind.. Are we really proposing that we clean up the ocean floor now? Do people realize how much junk is on the ocean floors of the world? I say clean it up and move to a class action suet take all assets of BP and Hallaburton then move on..
ReplyDeleteAnd we have not yet started looking at the oil seeping through the faults and open fractures deep beneath the sea floor.
ReplyDeleteRobert and John Sartwell said....
ReplyDeleteAnd dont forget folks, the Government has a multi-billion budget to control the information/propaganda in every media outlet, including 'blog agents'. That's YOUR hard earned money being used to keep you in the dark, Citizen. So, do yourselves a big favor and don't eat any seafood from the gulf. And let's get some Class Action suits going, asap.
The Gulf Stream Current Loop is damaged, perhaps beyond repair. Therefore the owners of BP, England, are one of the first to experience one of the very dire consequences of their recklessness and greed, perhaps their land will permanently lose its temperate weather. Hypocrites, every last one! They have the nerve to try to carbon tax us for our pollution by breathing, yet their irresponsible and even evil cover-ups and refusal to clean up their mess immediately and appropriately is changing the global weather forever.
ReplyDeleteI CAN'T SEE IT SO IT DOESN'T EXIST.
ReplyDeleteLOVE ALWAYS,
AMEЯICA
Is this why we in the UK are experiencing freezing weather and snow, not usually experienced until January, if at all in the south.
ReplyDeleteHave they stalled the gulf stream?
Mother Sharon, I thought the same thing about UK experiencing freezing weather and snow. I live in So. California and didn't even know that it could snow there. The Gulf most likely is one of the major reasons for the terrible weather and the second is the Chemtrails. When they have changed the weather by blocking the sun's rays in one area, it is going to make a differece in another. Governments tell us that they don't know anything about the Chemtrails, but they sure can shake a fingure at us and say the weather changes are our fault.
ReplyDeleteThe old wealthy money put Bush in place to fuck up everything and Pres. Dover in place to make repair by the government impossible since the top people appointed to 'assist' Pres.Dover are all practicing fools who primarily wield their power to indulge themselves. The CFR news media gave them all the unearned favorable press they could, which is why I wish to send them all, including the CFR, straight down. And they need be told that the devil does not share his toys. What stupidity.
ReplyDeleteWhere the first family is vacationing for Christmas in Hawai'i, they can't go swimming because heavy rains caused a massive sewage overflow. They should be forced to drink overflow for a year. Let them do their stupid satanic hand signals with shit running out of there mouths. No mouthwash or toothbrush for 10 years. Prison until death.
I can only suggest a remedy. These fools work with America's blessing. My people lost the elections. It's just like the pope was back in charge and cretinism ruled. With sick sado-masochism the ethos. This is why they think Christ died. Entertainment.
Guantanamo is still open crucifying innocent people 24-7 for Americans' soulful benefit. This ain't Christianity and the military used to hang our own soldiers for such disgusting unchivalrous behavior. This situation certainly begs for immediate no-nonsense correction. I need help with this. Sartwell above gets no argument from me.
Merry Christmas.
Know thee that four of the largest deep ocean oil rigs (at a million dollars a day EACH!!) are clustered near the salt dome where BP is said to have fractured the sea floor.
ReplyDeleteThey are alleged to be pumping copious amounts concrete and mud in an attempt to repair the damage and stop the ongoing leaks. Also, i have heard that Warren Buffet's company Nalco is still delivering thousands of gallons of corexit which is being used to mask the expanding disaster...the petroleum equivalent of "quantitative easing."
As for the loop current causing the pending ice age in GB, doesn't BP sell a lot of heating oil over there? Hmm. The Atlantic Haline does appear to be having a wimpy year.
As for covering it up and "moving on"...one can only sweep just so much dirt under the carpet before they create a tripping hazard. We may even see the Gulf pollution affect the rest of the oceans because it is at the center of the entire global circulation pattern.
What if the hundreds of millions of tons of plastic particles in the Pacific and other "gyres" hook up with BP's poisonous cocktail? I was once a maintenance person for the shrimp fleets in Tampa, Florida and have made the crossing to Brownsville.
As there are at least 27,000 wellheads and hundreds of miles of pipes down there, odds are we will witness more catastrophic consequences.
Just like the natural gas barons who are fracking the whole continent and contaminating the water tables, BP execs, imo, probably have reservations in the underground cities for when TSHTF. If they don't, they're even dumber than i thought.
Bottom Line: Find an obscure, but happy place, as far as possible from Big Brother's martial law enclaves and be quiet. Perhaps then, after the dust settles (providing it's not chemtrails + anthrax) you may be welcome to help clean up.
We have become so passive and submissive to what we are subject to.
ReplyDeleteWe watch big money get away with murder as the planet is slowly picked apart and drained of it's resources. We watch big money slowly kill our lands and pollute our waters and air. We quietly and passively watch our own deaths due to big money.
..Meanwhile most prople are too concerned with "the entertainment world" and get on with ignorant lives that bring them no closer to intelligence nor enlightenment.
There has been sufficient proof presented to us many times about the Gulf Disaster. Proof of irresponsible government and corporations (both of the same)and showing very little if any true concern to the planet and the occupants of it.
Being conditioned to accept money and material objects as our goal in life and fill the rest with "entertainment", has caused a blindness that blankets much of the population.
Perhaps in time we will all awaken and do something about this and what is still to come. After all...is it not OUR planet?
I fear that it is now almost too late and the slumbering masses will not even stir.
Truth is something that we are seldom allowed and must fight to attain it.
It doesn't seem right does it?
I say shut BP down immediately. This is now a world-humanity problem, not a careless corporation problem.
ReplyDeleteThere were a couple guys who discovered that Alfalfa and straw, absorbed oil out of water, and floated to the top to be disposed of. What happen to that plan?
BP is still spraying Corexit even now, to hide their disaster. They should be brought up on crimes to humanity and genocide.