Monitering the Gulf Oil Spill: Worst Case Scenarios

[austintorn@aol.com]

Oil spill in China:

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article...water/19563280

"We don't have proper oil cleanup materials, so our workers are wearing rubber gloves and using chopsticks," an official with the Jinshitan Golden Beach Administration Committee told the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper, in apparent exasperation.

[labelwench]

More photos of the oil spill in China.

http://www.energyboom.com/policy/chi...folds-pictures

[labelwench]

The following link goes to an interesting map that has a number of features built in allowing one to zoom and examine various aspects and the time-line to date of events that have followed from the Gulf Oil Spill.

http://www.esri.com/services/disaste...-advanced.html

[labelwench]

Richard Heinberg offers up some interesting commentary on the potential worst and best outcomes of the Gulf Oil Spill.

“Overwhelmingly, Americans think the nation needs a fundamental overhaul of its energy policies, and most expect alternative forms to replace oil as a major source within 25 years. Yet a majority are unwilling to pay higher gasoline prices to help develop new fuel sources.”

Translation: “Solve our energy problems for us—just don’t ask us to bear any inconvenience while you do it. We’re happy with our comforts and don’t want to be disturbed.”

The trouble is, those comforts are about to be taken away no matter what anyone does, and we will all be very disturbed indeed when that happens. If we don’t wean ourselves off of oil, nature will accomplish that task for us through simple depletion of the world’s remaining high quality, cheaply accessed deposits of non-renewable petroleum.

http://richardheinberg.com/218-deepw...kely-scenarios

[labelwench]

So, just where exactly, has all of the oil gone to?

How accurate are the numbers this time around?

Some sources are both skeptical and concerned by the latest 'reports' coming out. Rather a lengthy article with some valid points. Video report at the bottom of the page.

'It's so bad'
Thousands of birds and other animals are known to have been damaged or killed by the spill. Efforts are still under way in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida to clean up more than 600 miles of oiled shoreline. As of last weekend, the government and BP collected 35,818 tons of oily debris from shorelines but more work remains to be done.

"There is no reason to exaggerate the impact, because it's so bad that we don't have to exaggerate," Hocevar said. "I stepped into an area that was the size of a football field and it had 50,000 dead crabs. This is an area that can no longer sustain life. You don't want to see 50,000 of anything dead."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38557520...r_in_the_gulf/

[Meem]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=129324775
Listen to it, or read it.

August 20, 2010
Some scientists say they're being locked out of research on the oil spill because they refuse to sign confidentiality agreements. Ira Flatow and guests discuss the problems of doing scientific research when a lawsuit is pending. Is there a way to keep science independent?

Dr. LINDA HOOPER-BUI (Associate Professor, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Louisiana State University A&M):

FLATOW: Linda Hooper-Bui, tell us of your personal experience and those of your student scientists.
Dr. HOOPER-BUI: We've had trouble getting access to publicly available sites. In one area, we were my student was working, and samples were removed from his possession. They are actually still sitting in an office in South Alabama.
FLATOW: Who removed them?
Dr. HOOPER-BUI: In another area, we were actually prevented from going, in South Louisiana, into Grand Isle and into another area adjacent to that, Port Fourchon.
FLATOW: Who took your samples from you?
Dr. HOOPER-BUI: U.S. Fish and Wildlife officer.
FLATOW: And what was the reason that they gave you for that?
Dr. HOOPER-BUI: Because we were not my project was not approved by incident command, and I wasn't participating in the NRDA process, as Dr. D'Elia indicated.

FLATOW: So why not just sign those papers that they want you to sign?
Dr. HOOPER-BUI: No way. First of all, I have a Ph.D. student who came from China to study in the wetlands. This is the greatest wetlands in the world, according to him. And my role as a professor is to teach him how to conduct science, and science is conducted in an open, peer-reviewed way, and to teach him how to present his work and to write up his work. And his Ph.D. would pretty much be on hold.
And also, it's just, it's not how - I test hypotheses. I don't collect data for, to support somebody's idea to go into litigation. That's not how I operate as a scientist.
FLATOW: Cary Nelson, what obligations or responsibilities do individual scientists in this to their work or to BP or the government?

FLATOW: Yeah, let me to go the phones, Darren(ph) in College Station, Texas. Hi, Darren.
DARREN (Caller): Hello, Ira.
FLATOW: Hi, there.
DARREN: I'm an adjunct professor here at A&M, and we were also in the Gulf, but got thrown out. We were testing a theory that the chemical composition of the dispersant they were using was causing the oil to sink. And we'd been there for approximately three days, and federal agents flat told us to get out. And it wasn't Fish and Wildlife officers. These were Homeland Security officers, and we were told that it was in the interest of national security.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Prof. NELSON: I mean, I could see restricting access so that 500 people shouldn't be able to ride their dune buggies along the beach, but reputable scientists should have access.
FLATOW: Darren, did take your samples away or anything - take anything away from you?
DARREN: Oh, yeah, they inspected the boat. They, of course, checked everyone's identification, and they took all the samples that we had. And they also took some notes that we had. The theory that we were operating upon was information that had been given to us by someone who worked in the plant that made that dispersant. And they took everything.
FLATOW: Wow.
DARREN: (unintelligible)...
Prof. NELSON: Ira, it's really kind of an insane world that we've entered into in terms of the barring of reputable scientists from a public site where they can contribute considerably to the knowledge that we have.

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More news of concern from the Gulf of Mexico.

NEW ORLEANS -- At least one person was injured after an explosion on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

It happened around 9 a.m., and as of 10:15 a.m., the platform was still burning, Chief Petty Officer John Edwards said. Rescue crews from New Orleans and Houston are responding.

http://www.wdsu.com/news/24854300/detail.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11014645

[labelwench]

I find it truly amazing how little has been coming through main stream media regarding the aftermath of the Gulf Oil spill, given that it is the largest such disaster in global history, at an estimated 5 million BARRELS of oil.

That's one barrel of oil for each of the 5 million migratory birds that are soon to be finding their way to the region.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39068875/

Of additional concern are the recent incidents of 'fish kill', and tests are still underway to identify the exact cause of two large events in recent weeks.

http://watch.ctv.ca/news/latest/fish-kill/#clip349514

To balance matters out, here is another link that cites other possible causes.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...e-environment/

Given that 21 years after the Exxon Valdez incident there are still repercussions for wildlife in the north, we can hardly presume that we have even begun to appreciate the long term costs that are only beginning to make themselves known.

Only time will give us the true accounting.

We certainly cannot rely on mainstream media, which has been almost mute on the topic to date.

[labelwench]

[labelwench]

A song relating to the fishermen, and how the Gulf Oil disaster shall have an effect on those whose livelihoods are tied to the sea.....