WASHINGTON — The government is expected to announce on Wednesday that three-quarters of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak has already evaporated, dispersed, been captured or otherwise eliminated — and that much of the rest is so diluted that it does not seem to pose much additional risk of harm.
A government report finds that about 26 percent of the oil released from BP’s runaway well is still in the water or onshore in a form that could, in principle, cause new problems. But most is light sheen at the ocean surface or in a dispersed form below the surface, and federal scientists believe that it is breaking down rapidly in both places.
On Tuesday, BP began pumping drilling mud into the well in an attempt to seal it for good. Since the flow of oil was stopped with a cap on July 15, people on the Gulf Coast have been wondering if another shoe was going to drop — a huge underwater glob of oil emerging to damage more shorelines, for instance.
Assuming that the government’s calculations stand scrutiny, that looks increasingly unlikely. “There’s absolutely no evidence that there’s any significant concentration of oil that’s out there that we haven’t accounted for,” said Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the lead agency in producing the new report.
She emphasized, however, that the government remained concerned about the ecological damage that has already occurred and the potential for more, and said it would continue monitoring the gulf.
“I think we don’t know yet the full impact of this spill on the ecosystem or the people of the gulf,” Dr. Lubchenco said.
Among the biggest unanswered questions, she said, is how much damage the oil has done to the eggs and larvae of organisms like fish, crabs and shrimp. That may not become clear for a year or longer, as new generations of those creatures come to maturity.
Thousands of birds and other animals are known to have been damaged or killed by the spill, a relatively modest toll given the scale of some other oil disasters that killed millions of animals. Efforts are still under way in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida to clean up more than 600 miles of oiled shoreline. The government and BP collected 35,818 tons of oily debris from shorelines through Sunday.
It remains to be seen whether subtle, long-lasting environmental damage from the spill will be found, as has been the case after other large oil spills.
The report, which is to be unveiled on Wednesday morning, is a result of an extensive effort by federal scientists, with outside help, to add up the total volume of oil released and to figure out where it went.
The lead agency behind the report, the oceanic and atmospheric administration, played down the size of the spill in the early days, and the Obama administration was ultimately forced to appoint a scientific panel that came up with far higher estimates of the flow rate from the well. Whether the new report will withstand critical scrutiny is uncertain; advocacy groups and most outside scientists had not learned of it on Tuesday.
The government announced early this week that the total oil release, from the time the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20 until the well was effectively capped, was 4.9 million barrels, plus or minus 10 percent. That estimate makes the Deepwater Horizon disaster the largest marine spill in history. It is surpassed on land by a 1910 spill in the California desert.
As the scientists did their calculations, they were able to rely on direct measurements of the fate of some of the oil that spewed from the broken well. For example, BP and its contractors succeeded in capturing about 17 percent of it with various containment mechanisms, the report says.
The outcome for much of the oil could not be directly measured, but had to be estimated using protocols that were scrutinized by scientists inside and outside the government, Dr. Lubchenco said.
The report calculates, for example, that about 25 percent of the chemicals in the oil evaporated at the surface or dissolved into seawater in the same way that sugar dissolves in tea. (The government appears to have settled on a conservative number for that estimate, with the scientific literature saying that as much as 40 percent of the oil from a spill can disappear in this way.)
The aggressive response mounted by BP and the government — the largest in history, ultimately involving more than 5,000 vessels — also played a role in getting rid of the oil, the report says. Fully 5 percent of the oil was burned at the surface, it estimates, while 3 percent was skimmed and 8 percent was broken up into tiny droplets using chemical dispersants. Another 16 percent dispersed naturally as the oil shot out of the well at high speed.
All told, the report calculates that about 74 percent of the oil has been effectively dealt with by capture, burning, skimming, evaporation, dissolution or dispersion. Much of the dissolved and dispersed oil can be expected to break down in the environment, though federal scientists are still working to establish the precise rate at which that is happening.
“I think we are fortunate in this situation that the rates of degradation in the gulf ecosystem are quite high,” Dr. Lubchenco said.
The remaining 26 percent of the oil “is on or just below the surface as light sheen or weathered tar balls, has washed ashore or been collected from the shore, or is buried in sand and sediments,” the report says.
Some fishermen in Louisiana are worried about the buried oil, fearing that storms could stir it up and coat vital shrimp or oyster grounds, a possibility the government has not ruled out.
Testing of fish has shown little cause for worry so far, and fishing grounds in the gulf are being reopened at a brisk clip. At one point the government had closed 36 percent of federal gulf waters to fishing, but that figure is now down to 24 percent and is expected to drop further in coming weeks.
States are also reopening fishing grounds near their coasts. The big economic question now is whether the American public is ready to buy gulf seafood again.
The new government report comes as BP engineers began pumping heavy drilling mud into the stricken well on Tuesday, with the hope of achieving a permanent seal or at least revealing critical clues about how to kill the well before the end of the month.
Through the afternoon, in what is known as a static kill, engineers pumped mud weighing about 13.2 pounds per gallon at slow speeds from a surface vessel through a pipe into the blowout preventer on top of the well. If all goes well, cement may be applied over the next few days. But officials said they could be confident the well was plugged only when one of two relief wells now being drilled was completed, allowing the well to be completely sealed with cement.
“The static kill will increase the probability that the relief well will work,” Thad W. Allen, the retired Coast Guard admiral who is leading the federal spill response effort, told reporters on Tuesday. “But the whole thing will not be done until the relief well is completed.”
The static kill operation could last for close to three days. After it is completed, work can resume on the final 100 feet of the first relief well, which officials say should be completed by Aug. 15 unless bad weather intervenes.
08-04-2010
boutons_deux
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
BP's willful, repeated negligence killed 11, but that's the Repug OSHA-hating, unregualated free market at work. Dead employees are just an externality that BP writes off as a business expense.
08-04-2010
FromWayDowntown
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
At long last, this bloodlust for a good and righteous paragon of unfettered capitalism can end!!
08-04-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by boutons_deux
BP's willful, repeated negligence killed 11, but that's the Repug OSHA-hating, unregualated free market at work. Dead employees are just an externality that BP writes off as a business expense.
Did you drive anywhere today?
08-04-2010
George Gervin's Afro
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrinS
Did you drive anywhere today?
Oh boy here we go..
WARNING:
the onslaught of right wing talking points soon to follow!
08-04-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by George Gervin's Afro
Oh boy here we go..
WARNING:
the onslaught of right wing talking points soon to follow!
Why do you guys so disappointed that this isn't turning into the environmental disaster it was feared?
08-04-2010
George Gervin's Afro
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrinS
Why do you guys so disappointed that this isn't turning into the environmental disaster it was feared?
Oh right.. this charge comes from the "we're hoping this is Obama's Katrina" crowd ..:lmao
08-04-2010
FromWayDowntown
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by George Gervin's Afro
Oh boy here we go..
WARNING:
the onslaught of right wing talking points soon to follow!
I think what this whole "episode" proves is that any regulation of off-shore drilling is entirely unnecessary. Any environmental problems will only take us a couple of months to deal with and can ultimately be solved by Mother Nature.
Any impact on the entrepreneurs who depend upon those waters simply hastens the consolidation of their work in larger entities that can perform those tasks far more efficiently.
It's the circle of Free Marketism!
08-04-2010
George Gervin's Afro
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by FromWayDowntown
I think what this whole "episode" proves is that any regulation of off-shore drilling is entirely unnecessary. Any environmental problems will only take us a couple of months to deal with and can ultimately be solved by Mother Nature.
Any impact on the entrepreneurs who depend upon those waters simply hastens the consolidation of their work in larger entities that can perform those tasks far more efficiently.
It's the circle of Free Marketism!
Well surely you're disapointed that there wasn't an ecological disaster.
08-04-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by George Gervin's Afro
Oh right.. this charge comes from the "we're hoping this is Obama's Katrina" crowd ..:lmao
like this guy?
08-04-2010
boutons_deux
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
This disaster isn't over, yet.
Stick around, the shit is still hitting the fan.
And BP will screw over Gulf residents and businesses and fight compensation just like Exxon did successfully, and like Chevron is doing in Ecudor/Amazon, probably successfully.
Just because one drives a carbon-fuelled car doesn't mean one accepts and cheers the oil/gas companies corporate/environmental crimes.
08-04-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by FromWayDowntown
I think what this whole "episode" proves is that any regulation of off-shore drilling is entirely unnecessary.
Wow. As if anyone is arguing this.
P.S. It is regulated
08-04-2010
boutons_deux
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
There are regulations, but they aren't enforced.
btw, the Senate just failed to pass the Oil Spill bill. fucking Senate, what a bunch of disgraceful assholes. They know the dumbfuck Americans will forget all about the BP spill in about 15 minutes, so there's no chance of the Dems bringing up this bill again.
08-04-2010
ElNono
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrinS
P.S. It is regulated
You mean regulated by the Minerals Management Service in which several of the officials “frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relationships with oil and gas company representatives.” just two years ago?
08-04-2010
Marcus Bryant
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
The White House wants this thing gone yesterday, so naturally this will be trumpted across the land. The media and most of the population will accept that and forget about it. Many supporters of the administration will also downplay the issue as it is seen as a big negative for the heroic great leader. Whatever political impetus there is to actually have BP held to account will fade away, except on the Gulf Coast.
08-04-2010
FromWayDowntown
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
I heard a report this morning that the 25% that remains is still 500% of the amount of oil spilled in Valdez, Alaska some 20 years ago.
08-04-2010
rjv
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
and now, because they are in the red due to the expenses of the cleanup they can get a tax write off to the tune of almost 10 billion.
and how darrin decides to leave out the human variable as part of the environment is beyond me. but the fact is that hundreds of thousands of peoples' lives were put in jeopardy as a result of the spill.
also, be very leery of any EPA studies on the toxicity of dispersants. how any conclusions can even be extrapolated on such a limited body of short term effect studies is beyond me. and , what leads the author of the article to assert that oil evaporated? 75 %of it? where did we get this value from? is it possible that there is more oil at the bottom of the gulf or even that a greater amount was consumed by microbes (which would then have an impact on oxygen levels) ?
what is odd to me is that darrin knocks the overzealousness of science on one side while he embraces that very same trait when it is on the other side.
08-04-2010
Parker2112
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by rjv
and now, because they are in red due to the expenses of the cleanup they can get claim a tax write off to the tune of almost 10 billion.
and how darrin decides to leave out the human variable as part of the environment is beyond me. but the fact is that hundreds of thousands of peoples' lives were put in jeopardy as a result of the spill.
also, be very leery of any EPA studies on the toxicity of dispersants. how any conclusions can even be extrapolated on such a limited body of short term effect studies is beyond me. and , what leads the author of the article to assert that oil evaporated? 75 %of it? where did we get this value from? is it possible that there is more oil at the bottom of the gulf or even that a greater amount was consumed by microbes (which would then have an impact on oxygen levels) ?
what is odd to me is that darrin knocks the overzealousness of science on one side while he embraces that very same trait when it is on the other side.
On the Money.
Darrin is a fraud, btw :lol
08-04-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by FromWayDowntown
I heard a report this morning that the 25% that remains is still 500% of the amount of oil spilled in Valdez, Alaska some 20 years ago.
I heard a report that apples differ from oranges.
08-04-2010
Marcus Bryant
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
How there is actual sympathy for BP, as if it is anything other than a legal construct, is incredible. Naturally this fake sympathy is an outgrowth of the mindnumbing partisan circlejerk that is American politics. Opponents of the current administration reflexively take the side of any one and any thing that is seen as opposing the administration, including a company well known to operate haphazardly and with less regard for safety than other majors.
When you define your political views by opposition to everything the other side does, you end up standing for nothing and making yourself look like an idiot.
08-04-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcus Bryant
How there is actual sympathy for BP, as if it is anything other than a legal construct, is incredible. Naturally this fake sympathy is an outgrowth of the mindnumbing partisan circlejerk that is American politics. Opponents of the current administration reflexively take the side of any one and any thing that is seen as opposing the administration, including a company well known to operate haphazardly and with less regard for safety than other majors.
When you define your political views by opposition to everything the other side does, you end up standing for nothing and making yourself look like an idiot.
Actually, I predicted that this spill wouldn't be that bad and it turns out I'm right. Just a little gloating.
BP needs to be held liable for all damages.
I haven't defended BP.
08-04-2010
Marcus Bryant
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
The magnitude of the remaining oil does not make this worse any less.
08-04-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcus Bryant
The magnitude of the remaining oil does not make this worse any less.
I'm sure the lawyers were hoping for worse.
08-04-2010
Marcus Bryant
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Ah, yes, the litigators who must be reflexively opposed because they are seen as generally a Democratic constituency.
08-04-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcus Bryant
Ah, yes, the litigators who must be reflexively opposed because they are seen as generally a Democratic constituency.
I think America could use fewer attorneys (regardless of policital affiliation).
08-04-2010
Oh, Gee!!
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
the spill was bad and continues to be bad. the results could have been worse, but we can say that about anything bad that happens.
08-04-2010
ElNono
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcus Bryant
The White House wants this thing gone yesterday, so naturally this will be trumpted across the land. The media and most of the population will accept that and forget about it. Many supporters of the administration will also downplay the issue as it is seen as a big negative for the heroic great leader. Whatever political impetus there is to actually have BP held to account will fade away, except on the Gulf Coast.
Probably followed by a 60 minutes report 5 years from now titled "What happened to the Oil Spill people in the Gulf?"
08-04-2010
admiralsnackbar
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrinS
Actually, I predicted that this spill wouldn't be that bad and it turns out I'm right. Just a little gloating.
BP needs to be held liable for all damages.
I haven't defended BP.
The government isn't the fat lady, Darrin -- next years fishermen are. Gloat later.
08-04-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by admiralsnackbar
The government isn't the fat lady, Darrin -- next years fishermen are. Gloat later.
How many years to we need to wait?
5? 10? 20?
08-04-2010
admiralsnackbar
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrinS
How many years to we need to wait?
5? 10? 20?
I already answered your question.
08-04-2010
ChumpDumper
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Only Darrin could celebrate 50 million gallons of oil floating in the gulf.
08-04-2010
Wild Cobra
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
I heard it differently in yesterday's news, that what was left was so diluted, it probably was no problem. Also... nevermind...
08-04-2010
ChumpDumper
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Cobra
I heard it differently in yesterday's news, that what was left was so diluted, it probably was no problem. Also, I believe it wasn't that 25% was remaining, but that 75% was retrieved. What's remaining would be fess after breakdowns, evaporation, etc.
As usual, you are wrong.
08-04-2010
ElNono
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Cobra
I heard it differently in yesterday's news, that what was left was so diluted, it probably was no problem. Also, I believe it wasn't that 25% was remaining, but that 75% was retrieved. What's remaining would be fess after breakdowns, evaporation, etc.
I'm surprised you're not skeptical about a government report...
08-04-2010
boutons_deux
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
"probably was no problem"
I haven't heard any non-BP-bought scientist say what the any-term results will be of 5M barrels of oil and 2 M gallons of corexit poison. Nobody (serious) knows.
08-04-2010
admiralsnackbar
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
If you heard 75% was retrieved, you heard wrong.
08-04-2010
Wild Cobra
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by ElNono
I'm surprised you're not skeptical about a government report...
I am skeptical.
08-04-2010
ChumpDumper
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Cobra
I am skeptical.
And wrong.
08-04-2010
ElNono
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
:lol
08-04-2010
admiralsnackbar
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Cobra
I am skeptical.
You should be skeptical about 75% being retrieved. :lol
08-04-2010
Wild Cobra
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by admiralsnackbar
You should be skeptical about 75% being retrieved. :lol
I don't trust such reports from anyone. There is effectively two sides, who want to amplify their point.
I started with "I heard differently." Don't expect me to hold that view solidly.
08-04-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChumpDumper
Only Darrin could celebrate 50 million barrels of oil floating in the gulf.
How do you get 50 million barrels when it is only estimated there was 4.9 million barrels released +- 10%?
EDIT> And, yes, I am happy that 75% of it is gone. WHy are you unhappy about it?
08-04-2010
Wild Cobra
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrinS
How do you get 50 million barrels when it is only estimated there was 4.9 million barrels released +- 10%?
EDIT> And, yes, I am happy that 75% of it is gone. WHy are you unhappy about it?
He's unhappy that Obama no longer has his pet crisis to extort.
08-04-2010
George Gervin's Afro
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Cobra
He's unhappy that Obama no longer has his pet crisis to extort.
I thought you guys said he was incompetent? If that's true, how could extort the crisis?
08-04-2010
admiralsnackbar
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Again with the Doug Henning shit. Define gone.
08-04-2010
Winehole23
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Cobra
He's unhappy that Obama no longer has his pet crisis to extort.
Obama wanted this to go away, you dolt. Remember, his Katrina? You and Darrin are the ones drinking his kool aid.
08-04-2010
Wild Cobra
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by George Gervin's Afro
I thought you guys said he was incompetent? If that's true, how could extort the crisis?
His experts, through his teleprompter.
08-04-2010
Marcus Bryant
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Obviously the black president needs to be told what to say, for his kind is genetically incapable of strenuous mental thought. There's probably a bunch of Jews who write for him.
08-04-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcus Bryant
Obviously the black president needs to be told what to say, for his kind is genetically incapable of strenuous mental thought. There's probably a bunch of Jews who write for him.
I didn't take you for one of the "all critics of Obama are motived by racism" crowd.
I was mistaken.
08-04-2010
admiralsnackbar
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrinS
I didn't take you for one of the "all critics of Obama are motived by racism" crowd.
I was mistaken.
I think he was just countering absurdity with absurdity.
08-04-2010
Marcus Bryant
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
And the Joose live in Noo Yawk, which is not part of real America, for there are Joose there. Ergo. Qed.
08-04-2010
Wild Cobra
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrinS
I didn't take you for one of the "all critics of Obama are motived by racism" crowd.
I was mistaken.
Marcus has been turned by the dark side... and I don't mean shin color...
08-04-2010
Wild Cobra
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by admiralsnackbar
I think he was just countering absurdity with absurdity.
He was going beyond that. He was making an insinuation he knows is false.
08-04-2010
Marcus Bryant
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
I don't think so.
08-04-2010
George Gervin's Afro
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrinS
I didn't take you for one of the "all critics of Obama are motived by racism" crowd.
I was mistaken.
who said that?
08-04-2010
boutons_deux
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Repugs, tea baggers, Breitbart, conservatives, Fox, hate media have all been race baiting, race scare-mongering, since MN got the nomination. And it's cranked up now in the election season.
blacks, browns, Muslims, they're all bad, aren't Real Americans, gonna "martyrize" the (old) white guys. git yer guns, we gonna kill some unAmuricuns.
08-04-2010
admiralsnackbar
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wild Cobra
He was going beyond that. He was making an insinuation he knows is false.
I'm sure he apologizes for your bruised feelings.
We all know some of your best friends are black despite your antipathy towards the Civil War.
08-04-2010
LnGrrrR
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
I certainly hope this oil dispersed quicker than we expected. I would argue, however, that dispersal =/= neutralization. I would say it would be CONSERVATIVE to wait for further results, before proclaiming that the damage is much less greater than expected. How long, I don't know. But I can guess that a week or so after the spill stopped is probably too early.
08-04-2010
ChumpDumper
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrinS
How do you get 50 million barrels when it is only estimated there was 4.9 million barrels released +- 10%?
Gallons. My bad.
Quote:
EDIT> And, yes, I am happy that 75% of it is gone. WHy are you unhappy about it?
50 million gallons! Hooray!
08-04-2010
DMX7
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Problem = Solved.
08-05-2010
Nbadan
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
...meanwhile that dispersant shit they put into the gulf is showing up in fish and people along the coast who got covered in this wind-driven shit are breaking out in skin leasions and scabies...but the oligarchy-driven media says the coast is clear!
08-05-2010
TDMVPDPOY
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
did the govt fined them yet?
08-05-2010
coyotes_geek
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by nbadan
...meanwhile that dispersant shit they put into the gulf is showing up in fish and people along the coast who got covered in this wind-driven shit are breaking out in skin leasions and scabies...but the us government says the coast is clear!
fify.
08-05-2010
coyotes_geek
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by TDMVPDPOY
did the govt fined them yet?
Not yet, but there's no rush. The immediate priority is for BP to get the well closed off for good, fund the cleanup and to pay out claims. There's plenty of time to (deservedly) fine the shit outta them later.
08-05-2010
ducks
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by boutons_deux
BP's willful, repeated negligence killed 11, but that's the Repug OSHA-hating, unregualated free market at work. Dead employees are just an externality that BP writes off as a business expense.
in infree markerks no one ever dies right mr know it all
08-05-2010
George Gervin's Afro
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by ducks
in infree markerks no one ever dies right mr know it all
what does the free market have to gross negligence?
08-05-2010
Marcus Bryant
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
ducks versus boutons. Will the English language survive?
08-05-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcus Bryant
ducks versus boutons. Will the English language survive?
You're so superior. :rolleyes
08-05-2010
coyotes_geek
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcus Bryant
ducks versus boutons. Will the English language survive?
:lol
08-05-2010
MannyIsGod
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
75% of the oil being gone would be a good thing, obviously. It does not mean we're done with the bad things, however.
Fairly simple.
08-05-2010
MannyIsGod
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
75% of the oil being gone would be a good thing, obviously. It does not mean we're done with the bad things, however.
Fairly simple.
08-05-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by MannyIsGod
75% of the oil being gone would be a good thing, obviously. It does not mean we're done with the bad things, however.
Fairly simple.
Fair enough
08-05-2010
LnGrrrR
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrinS
You're so superior. :rolleyes
What's wrong with pointing out poor grammar?
What's wrong with superiority?
08-05-2010
ducks
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by George Gervin's Afro
what does the free market have to gross negligence?
"The rampant use of toxic dispersants, out-of-state private contractors being brought in to spray them and US Coast Guard complicity are common stories now in the four states most affected by BP's Gulf of Mexico oil disaster."
The Gulf states are gonna be fucked by their own Repug governments and by BP, and it looks like by the Feds, too.
08-17-2010
boutons_deux
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Gulf Oil Spill: University Study Contradicts Government Estimates, Up To 79% Of Oil Could Remain
A group of scientists say that most of that BP oil the government claimed was gone from the Gulf of Mexico is actually still there.
The scientists believe that roughly three-quarters of the oil (70% to 79%) still lurks under the surface. The research team, affiliated with the University of Georgia, said that it is a misinterpretation of data to claim that oil that has dissolved is actually gone or harmless. The report was based on an analysis of federal estimates, but the Wall Street Journal notes that it hasn't been published or peer-reviewed yet.
Charles Hopkinson, who helped lead the investigation, claims "the oil is still out there, and it will likely take years to completely degrade." The UGA marine sciences professor, and director of the Georgia Sea Grant, added, "We are still far from a complete understanding of what its impacts are."
Texas Tech Researchers Find No Evidence of Petroleum Hydrocarbons in ‘Good Morning America’ Samples
Quote:
After receiving a shipment of Louisiana seafood samples collected by a reporter with “Good Morning America,” researchers at Texas Tech University found no evidence of petroleum hydrocarbons.
Though these samples were clean, the sample size was small and more research is necessary before the full picture can be seen, said Ron Kendall, director of The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH).
“Our detection limits would have detected selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) had they been there, even at very low levels,” Kendall said. “Everyone should realize the sample size was extremely small and that these data represent just a snapshot of time and space. We believe sampling and analyses should continue, and that independent science-based research needs to continue.”
Scientists are concerned about PAHs because some of them are known carcinogens.
Producers with the morning news program asked TIEHH researchers to test the seafood samples prior to the federal government’s opening of waters to fishing on Monday. Reporter Matt Gutman sent the samples from Bastian Bay, La, where he is reporting.
“We collected the samples Monday in Bastian Bay,” Gutman said. “It is an area where we've found oil on the sediment. We filmed it all, including the bagging. The fishermen used a net, but found no evidence of oil directly on any of the samples.”
Gutman’s samples included shrimp, of which nine were tested from three separate locations, four oysters, two bait fish, a flounder and a speckled trout. They were shipped on ice overnight to the institute on Tuesday and Wednesday, where they were received in excellent condition and smelled fresh before processing.
Once tissues were extracted, scientists analyzed them using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry, said Todd Anderson, an environmental chemist at the institute. The process is used to determine substances within a specific test sample, and is widely regarded as the gold standard for forensic substance identification.
“We were particularly interested in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, some of which can be carcinogenic,” Anderson said. “The analytical results revealed that the PAHs we analyzed for were below detection limits of our instrumentation, and far below any levels of concern as regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.”
Trace Analysis Inc. of Lubbock, Texas, a certified laboratory in Texas and Louisiana, assisted with the analysis.
This project took five days to complete and was done without support from BP or the United States Federal Government.
08-17-2010
Winehole23
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
^^^Gets his news from the TV. Shares it with us. How considerate. :tu
08-17-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Winehole23
^^^Gets his news from the TV. Shares it with us. How considerate. :tu
Another WH "gem".
08-17-2010
Winehole23
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
For myself, I thought it was an all too routine observation.
08-17-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Winehole23
For myself, I thought it was an all too routine observation.
You post frequently, but you actually post little actual content.
08-17-2010
Winehole23
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
I wouldn't trust you to read any of it, but in general you could be right.
08-17-2010
LnGrrrR
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
If that really is the case, then kick-ass. It shows that some scientists out there don't have their head up their rear ends. I'm somewhat skeptical that all this oil can disperse with no long-term effects, but hopefully that is the case. I'm cautiously optimistic.
Texas Tech Researchers Find No Evidence of Petroleum Hydrocarbons in ‘Good Morning America’ Samples
One location down, several hundred more to go.
08-17-2010
MaNuMaNiAc
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
so the article states that nothing is conclusive yet and that this result reflects a very small sample size...
what's the point of posting it? I don't understand
08-17-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaNuMaNiAc
so the article states that nothing is conclusive yet and that this result reflects a very small sample size...
what's the point of posting it? I don't understand
A data point is a data point.
08-17-2010
Winehole23
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Easy. To minimize the damage before it has been conclusively measured, let alone understood from any strictly scientific POV.
DarrinS is propaganda guy with notable frequency around here.
08-17-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Winehole23
Easy. To minimize the damage before it has been conclusively measured, let alone understood from any strictly scientific POV.
DarrinS is propaganda guy with notable frequency around here.
Meh, there's still a 20 billion slush fund out there, so I'm sure there will need to be futher studies, class action lawsuits, etc.
Either way, I'm eating shrimp.
08-17-2010
LnGrrrR
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrinS
A data point is a data point.
Ah, so you don't think it's any more important than data points that contradict this one. Thanks for pointing that out.
08-17-2010
Winehole23
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarrinS
A data point is a data point.
What a Clinton-esque thing to say..
08-17-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by LnGrrrR
Ah, so you don't think it's any more important than data points that contradict this one. Thanks for pointing that out.
I think those are important too.
Has someone found contaminated shrimp? Fish? Oysters?
08-17-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Winehole23
What a Clinton-esque thing to say..
Uh, ok.
08-17-2010
boutons_deux
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
"20 billion slush fund out there"
You Lie. The $20B is unfunded.
My bet is that BP will never pay $20B. They're gonna Exxon Valdez the plaintiffs down to nothing, and stretch it out for decades. Chevron's doing the same in the Amazon jungle.
08-17-2010
DarrinS
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by boutons_deux
"20 billion slush fund out there"
You Lie. The $20B is unfunded.
My bet is that BP will never pay $20B. They're gonna Exxon Valdez the plaintiffs down to nothing, and stretch it out for decades. Chevron's doing the same in the Amazon jungle.
If LA has anyone like "The Texas Hammer", then somebody will get their grubby mitts on that money, whether they were actually harmed, or not.
08-17-2010
coyotes_geek
Re: Feds to announce: 75% of BP oil gone
Quote:
Originally Posted by boutons_deux
"20 billion slush fund out there"
You Lie. The $20B is unfunded.
My bet is that BP will never pay $20B. They're gonna Exxon Valdez the plaintiffs down to nothing, and stretch it out for decades. Chevron's doing the same in the Amazon jungle.
