Exxon Valdez: The Poison That Keeps On Poisoning

[boutons_deux]

Why The Exxon Valdez Spill Was A Eureka Moment For Science

Twenty-five years of research following the Exxon Valdez disaster has led to some startling conclusions about the persistent effects of spilled oil.

One of their most surprising discoveries was that long-lasting components of oil thought to be benign turned out to cause chronic damage to fish hearts when fish were exposed to tiny concentrations of the compounds as embryos.

"You studied them for one or two years. When things were back on track, you walked away," Rice says. "And so we walked away from herring. And all of a sudden they crash to the bottom of the floor, and then we're scrambling trying to figure out why."

In addition to the herring population crashing, other animals — such as killer whales, sea otters, harlequin ducks — also unexpectedly continued to suffer years after the spill.

Scientists had traditionally believed that oil basically had to cover an animal or embryo to hurt it. But the evidence they saw in Alaska suggested it didn't take much oil to do a lot of damage. And that damage could manifest in different ways.

For example, oil under rocks and in sediments contaminated clams that sea otters ate. It didn't kill the otters outright: Wildlife biologist Dan Esler of the U.S. Geological Survey says it shortened otters' lives and suppressed the population for 20 years.

"The understanding that lingering oil could have chronic effects on wildlife populations was a new and important finding, and one that we did not anticipate at the time that we started the research,"

Rice's team exposed pink salmon embryos to tiny amounts of oil.

"We were dosing them with oil that you couldn't see [and] you couldn't smell. But we were doing it for a really long time,"

. The culprits are from a class called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, or PAHs. Before the Exxon Valdez spill, they weren't known to be toxic to aquatic life. But after the spill, scientists discovered these compounds persist long after other parts of oil evaporate.

Block's lab used individual heart cells from tuna to show that PAHs in oil can interrupt the electrical signals that are essential for fish hearts to beat effectively. So far, the scientists think this can happen to embryos — and possibly to young fish — at low concentrations.

Discovering the mechanism that makes oil toxic to fish is like a coroner pinning down a mysterious cause of death — but taking 25 years to do it. And, as in a criminal case, this knowledge could give scientists evidence to hold companies responsible for long-term damages no one ever knew oil spills were causing.

http://www.npr.org/2014/03/22/292131...nt-for-science

Exxon played legal games for 20 years, judges went along and reduced Exxon's bill, while 1/3 of the recipients died.

BigOil s up the planet, aka "external" costs and gets off cheap, or free, certainly doesn't not pay anywhere near the damages it inflicts.

[boutons_deux]

Texas Barge Collision Spills Up To 168,000 Gallons Of ‘Sticky, Gooey, Thick, Tarry’ Oil



A barge carrying 924,000 gallons of thick marine shipping oil collided with a ship near the Texas City dike on Saturday afternoon, spilling up to 168,000 gallons and forcing closures on the waterway.

“This is an extremely serious spill,” Capt. Brian Penoyer of the U.S. Coast Guard told the Houston Chronicle. “It is a persistent oil.”

The barge was being towed from Texas City to Bolivar carrying a substance called RMG 380, “a special bunker fuel oil often used in shipping that doesn’t evaporate easily.” As of 10 p.m. Saturday, the spill had not been contained and the Coast Guard was still investigating the collision. Thus far, Texas City Emergency Management said the dike and all parks on the water are closed until further notice and part of the Houston ship channel was closed to traffic, according to the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard “said officials were closely monitoring the spill area for health-threatening hydrogen sulfide and other dangerous gases that can be emitted by the spill,” the Houston Chronicle reported. Dangerous concentrations of the gases have not been detected but two of the six crew members on the tug were treated for exposure to fumes, Texas City Homeland Security Director Bruce Clawson told the Chronicle. Exposure to RMG 380 may cause respiratory tract, eye and skin irritation and the “vapor may contain hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas which can be harmful or fatal if inhaled,” according to the Material Safety Data Sheet.

“That stuff is terrible to have to clean up,” Jim Suydam, spokesman for the Texas General Land Office, told the Associated Press. Suydam described the type of oil the barge was carrying as “sticky, gooey, thick, tarry stuff.”

The spill also threatens key bird habitat on both sides of the Houston ship channel just as peak shorebird migration season approaches. Richard Gibbons, conservation director with the Houston Audubon Society, told ABC13 that the Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary just to the east attracts 50,000 to 70,000 shorebirds to its shallow mud flats. As the birds prepare for migration, Gibbons said “the timing really couldn’t be much worse.”

Geoff Roberts, who was out fishing Saturday, told ABC13 he “noticed a layer of oil caked on” the side of his boat and on his fishing reel. “They even told us don’t eat any fish you catch today,” Roberts said.

Thousands of feet of containment boom were placed around the partially submerged barge Saturday night, as well as at the ecologically critical Big Reef at the end of Galveston Island and Little Pelican Island. Sunday, the Coast Guard and cleanup crews will work to assess just how much of the oil leaked and where it moved overnight, and to begin the process of transferring the oil that remains on the barge, potentially hindered by overcast conditions and rain.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/201...galveston-bay/

Can't these ers and their radars avoid collisions? In the middle of the day?

Cheney LIED that technology was "sufficiently advanced" to eliminate pollution.

[boutons_deux]

Oil spills are like Oreos? Fox News’ strangest Keystone argument yet




On Monday’s edition of Varney & Co., Byrnes and guest host Charles Payne explained why we shouldn’t pay attention to the 170,000 gallons of heavy oil that’s currently threatening wildlife and blocking off a major shipping channel: “Anytime we hear these kind of things, it feels like another impediment to growing out our fossil fuel industry, another thing for environmentalists to rally around, although we know accidents are bound to happen,” Payne said.

Because you just know that when the solar industry starts experiencing all of those devastating, um, sun spills, we’ll all react the same way.

Added Byrnes, in enthusiastic support, “Just do the Keystone Pipeline already! Create all these jobs. [You know, all 35 of them.] Enough of the nonsense, these are all distractions.”

Yes, distractions. “Much like anybody who wants to lose five pounds has a Oreos in front of them,” Byrnes elaborated. “Just get rid of the Oreos, and you’ll be fine. Same thing. Do the pipeline.”

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/24/fox_news_the_texas_oil_spill_is_like_oreos/

Gotdamn, you avid, rabid Fox viewers really know where to get yourself informed!

[boutons_deux]

200,000 Pounds Of Oiled Sand Found Along Texas Coastline After Spill

The March 22 collision between a ship and a barge carrying up to 4,000 barrels of “sticky, gooey, thick, tarry” bunker fuel oil in Galveston Bay, Texas has resulted in more than200,000 pounds of oiled sand and debris ac ulating along some 22 miles of shoreline on the Texas coast.

Marine life in the area is also suffering. Since the ship and barge collided, 29 dead dolphins have been found in the vicinity of Galveston Bay. A total of 47 dead dolphins were found in March, above the average of 34 and triple last years’ 15. Scientists are working to determine if the oil spill played a role in the elevated number of deaths. A high number of deceased dolphins are typically found during what’s referred to as the “stranding season” between January and March, and it’s possible that more are being found this year because of the increase in coastal workers helping with the cleanup.

Whether oil is responsible for the deaths of the dolphins or not, there will likely be long-term chronic health impacts for marine life, including irregular heart rhythm and cardiac arrest, which have been found to be associated with the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf several years ago.

A shrimp boat captain also reportedly caught an entire catch of shrimp coated in oil, furthering concern about the spill’s impact on the seafood industry. Already local businesses are saying shrimp sales have taken a hit because of public perception. Fishermen and bait shop owners are suing over the spill, and on Friday a federal judge ordered the seizure of the cargo ship involved in the collision. T

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/201...ton-bay-spill/

[The Reckoning]

oh noes not da herring!

[RandomGuy]

oh noes not da herring!

Herring is one of the bases of the ecosystem, i.e. the thing that other fish tend to eat.

It also points out that the crowd that es about "government picking winners and losers" think oil energy is great because of the jobs, and get real quiet when you point out that oil jobs tend to destroy fishing and tourism jobs.

[boutons_deux]

Herring is one of the bases of the ecosystem, i.e. the thing that other fish tend to eat.

It also points out that the crowd that es about "government picking winners and losers" think oil energy is great because of the jobs, and get real quiet when you point out that oil jobs tend to destroy fishing and tourism jobs.

... and sickens/kills human, fauna, flora

[The Reckoning]

oh cute a lecture on herring

[The Reckoning]

i'm herring you loud and clear on the issue

[TeyshaBlue]

i'm herring you loud and clear on the issue

Careful TR. He's steamed. You can see the anchor in his eyes!

[RandomGuy]

oh cute a lecture on herring

A 19 word blurb is hardly a lecture.

The point was merely that herring was a bit more important than you alluded to.

[The Reckoning]

there's nothing fishy about what i said. the issue really makes me heartbroken.

[Th'Pusher]

there's nothing fishy about what i said. the issue really makes me heartbroken.

If you don't mind me asking, what is your field of study?

[TeyshaBlue]

If you don't mind me asking, what is your field of study?

He's gonna be a sturgeon!

[TeyshaBlue]

A quality, hand-crafted fish pun....and nothing!
This is why this bbs can't have nice things.

[The Reckoning]

He's gonna be a sturgeon!

rofl

[Th'Pusher]

He's gonna be a sturgeon!

[The Reckoning]

A quality, hand-crafted fish pun....and nothing!
This is why this bbs can't have nice things.

[Th'Pusher]

rofl

And I'll take that as a, yes I do mind you asking my field of study?

[The Reckoning]

[The Reckoning]

"for a moment there, i thought i was losing my herring."

[The Reckoning]

just some jams for boutons to tuna up when he's carpying and pasting articles

[boutons_deux]

here's more hilariously amusing news for the Oil suckers

Oil spill clean-up: Ten tons removed from Matagorda Island


Amid one of the most important wildlife sanctuaries in America, a place where birds almost always outnumber the few humans venturing to a remote island, workmen are now hauling away tons of beach sand contaminated by oil.

Men wearing protective suits scratch at the sand on Matagorda Island, using shovels to unearth the layer of oil lingering beneath a thin film of freshly deposited sand.
“Right,” says George Degener, a U.S. Coast Guard petty officer. “We want to remove as much contaminated debris as we can, but still leave as much clean sand in the area as we possibly can.”

More than two weeks have passed since a barge carrying oil collided with another vessel at the mouth of the Houston Ship Channel, triggering a spill that shut down traffic flowing into the Port of Houston and coated an unknown number of birds in oil during their migratory season. But the consequences of that accident are still evident along the Texas coastline, on distant shores like Matagorda Island.

Oil washed ashore along 24 miles of the island’s beaches, leaving black stains not only in the sand but also on debris like logs. Coast Guard spokesmen say all but about four miles have since been cleaned by workers who’ve removed more than 10 tons of contaminated soil and contaminated debris.

Most of the oil has dried out, in some places developing into patches looking like asphalt on the beach. But some of it still glistens in pools.

“As the oil settled and tide brought in layers of sand over it, it’s dried out,” Degener says. “And it’s become almost asphalt-like. As it lays in, the toxins will evaporate and the oil will actually harden. So that’s what they’re trying to remove right now.”

http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news/...254301561.html

[The Reckoning]

And I'll take that as a, yes I do mind you asking my field of study?

sorry i don't mean to be so koi about it

[Th'Pusher]

sorry i don't mean to be so koi about it

Each one is getting funnier and funnier...