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BP Oil Spill: Clean-Up Crews Can't Find Crude in the Gulf

Renae

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For 86 days, oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's damaged well, dumping some 200 million gallons of crude into sensitive ecosystems. BP and the federal government have amassed an army to clean the oil up, but there's one problem -- they're having trouble finding it.

Skimmers Pick Up Less Oil

The numbers don't lie: two weeks ago, skimmers picked up about 25,000 barrels of oily water. Last Thursday, they gathered just 200 barrels.

Still, it doesn't mean that all the oil that gushed for weeks is gone. Thousands of small oil patches remain below the surface, but experts say an astonishing amount has disappeared, reabsorbed into the environment.

Experts: Gulf of Mexico Oil is Breaking Up

The light crude began to deteriorate the moment it escaped at high pressure, and then it was zapped with dispersants to speed the process along. The oil that did make it to the ocean's surface was broken up by 88-degree water, baked by 100-degree sun, eaten by microbes, and whipped apart by wind and waves.

BP Oil Spill: Where Did All The Crude Go? Mother Nature Breaks Down Slick in Gulf of Mexico - ABC News

Amazing, this disaster... it's... not so much a disaster. There must be panic in the O WH about now.
 
So now the criticism of Obama is that he wanted the oil spill, not that he was incompenent in stopping it?
 
Out of sight out of mind I guess. If you can't find the oil then the oil doesn't exist. :roll:

The 200 million gallons just gone vanished like a fart in the wind.
 
So now the criticism of Obama is that he wanted the oil spill, not that he was incompenent in stopping it?

He wanted to use the Crisis to push his agenda. It's too soon for it to go away.
 
BP Oil Spill: Where Did All The Crude Go? Mother Nature Breaks Down Slick in Gulf of Mexico - ABC News

Amazing, this disaster... it's... not so much a disaster. There must be panic in the O WH about now.

Did you expect no one to read the article and highlight the portions that don't support your views?

"That oil is somewhere. It didn't just disappear," said Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser.

.....

Experts stress that even though there's less and less oil as time goes on, there's still plenty around the spill site. And in the long term, no one knows what the impact of those hundreds of millions of gallons will be, deep in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Merely because it is not easily sucked up does not mean it is not a problem. Furthermore, to think that using huge amounts of chemical dispersant won't cause any damage is nuts too.
 
The whole problem with the deep water accident wasn't that it happened. The problem was that no one had a clue as to how to bring it under control once the accident did happen. If BP had been able to stop the flow within a couple of days, this would have already been yesterdays news.

Like everyone has said, just because it's not floating on the surface doesn't mean it's not there. I saw a worker the other day, standing in thigh deep water, reach in and scoop up a handful of the waterbed and it was saturated with heavy oil.

Also, as was stated earlier, the underwater currents have taken a lot of the spill to who knows where. When and where will it surface? Will it ever surface? What will be the long term damage to marine life?

The only thing that's going to correct this disaster is time. How much time it's going to take is nothing but speculation.
 
Now they are saying there is growing concern of the chemical dispersant used on the million of so gallons of oil. That all it did was break up the oil so that it's harder to clean up by spreading it across a mass area instead of allowing the oil to stay in bulk crude puddles.

The chemical dispersant was a horrible action just for some short lived PR of making it appear like there was less oil pouring out at the time.
 
Did you expect no one to read the article and highlight the portions that don't support your views?



Merely because it is not easily sucked up does not mean it is not a problem. Furthermore, to think that using huge amounts of chemical dispersant won't cause any damage is nuts too.

I'm SORRY OC, I didn't scroll all the way down to the other opinion, I so am busted what would we do if you weren't around to post things out of context to make yourself look good?
 
I'm SORRY OC, I didn't scroll all the way down to the other opinion, I so am busted what would we do if you weren't around to post things out of context to make yourself look good?

His looking good is a side effect of showing honesty.
 
Out of sight out of mind I guess. If you can't find the oil then the oil doesn't exist. :roll:

The 200 million gallons just gone vanished like a fart in the wind.

Absolute rubbish.
Just because you cannot see something, is absolutely no proof that it is not there.
Having said that I suddenly realized what a fatuous statement that was if it were to be applied to Obama's ability to run a Government.
 
I'm SORRY OC, I didn't scroll all the way down to the other opinion

Possibly. You do have a history of failing to read your own links. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this time. You simply saw the headline and went with it without actually reading what the article had to say.

so am busted what would we do if you weren't around to post things out of context to make yourself look good?

Here's some basic advice: Read your article entirely before posting it.
 
His looking good is a side effect of showing honesty.

OH NO YOU DIDN'T.

That word and all modifications to it are BANNED from this forum. Don't you dare bring that naughty, despicable word around here again.

Seriously. That word is the word that shall not be named.

lol. Sarcasm off.
 
Now they are saying there is growing concern of the chemical dispersant used on the million of so gallons of oil. That all it did was break up the oil so that it's harder to clean up by spreading it across a mass area instead of allowing the oil to stay in bulk crude puddles.

The chemical dispersant was a horrible action just for some short lived PR of making it appear like there was less oil pouring out at the time.

Others have said the dispersant has broken the oil into smaller droplets so microbes can and have consumed it, and that microbes have been feeding on the dispersant as well.
told the New York Times that as much as 40 percent of the oil might have evaporated when it reached the surface. High winds from two recent storms may have speeded the evaporation process.

Perhaps the most important cause of the oil’s disappearance, some researchers suspect, is that the oil has been devoured by microbes. The lesson from past spills is that the lion’s share of the cleanup work is done by nature in the form of oil-eating bacteria and fungi. The microbes break down the hydrocarbons in oil to use as fuel to grow and reproduce. A bit of oil in the water is like a feeding frenzy, causing microbial populations to grow exponentially.

Typically, there are enough microbes in the ocean to consume half of any oil spilled in a month or two, says Howarth. Such microbes have been found in every ocean of the world sampled, from the Arctic to Antarctica. But there are reasons to think that the process may occur more quickly in the Gulf than in other oceans.

Microbes grow faster in the warmer water of the Gulf than they do in, say, the cool waters off Alaska, where the Exxon Valdez spill occurred. Moreover, the Gulf is hardly pristine. Even before humans started drilling for oil in the Gulf — and spilling lots of it — oil naturally seeped into the water. As a result, the Gulf evolved a rich collection of petroleum-loving microbes, ready to pounce on any new spill. The microbes are clever and tough, observes Samantha Joye, microbial geochemist at the University of Georgia. Joye has shown that oxygen levels in parts of the Gulf contaminated with oil have dropped. Since microbes need oxygen to eat the petroleum, that’s evidence that the microbes are hard at work.
Mighty oil-eating microbes help clean up the Gulf - Yahoo! News
The controversial dispersant... well may have helped the microbes do their work. Microbes can more easily consume small drops of oil than big ones. And there is evidence the microbes like to munch on the dispersant as well.

Mighty oil-eating microbes help clean up the Gulf - Yahoo! News
ROTFLOL... microbes like the dispersant as well... when they get tired of oil, they take time out, a little vaction to get a buzz from dispersants... then stumble back to the oil...

Does BP get to renegotiate the 20 Billion shake-down?

.
 
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The gulf is a big place, just because they can't find it in the vicinity of where the leak was doesn't mean that the oil doesn't exist. You know, oil can float away too.

Also where did this idea come from that Obama has been planning since day 1 to use this to push an agenda? First what agenda, and second if anything would of helped Obama out would have been to have this spill stopped alot sooner than it is now.
 
The gulf is a big place, just because they can't find it in the vicinity of where the leak was doesn't mean that the oil doesn't exist. You know, oil can float away too.

Also where did this idea come from that Obama has been planning since day 1 to use this to push an agenda? First what agenda, and second if anything would of helped Obama out would have been to have this spill stopped alot sooner than it is now.

I don't even believe you asked that.
 
Others have said the dispersant has broken the oil into smaller droplets so microbes can and have consumed it, and that microbes have been feeding on the dispersant as well.

ROTFLOL... microbes like the dispersant as well... when they get tired of oil, they take time out, a little vaction to get a buzz from dispersants... then stumble back to the oil...

Does BP get to renegotiate the 20 Billion shake-down?

.

So what happens to marine life with this decreased oxygen level? This should all make the shrimp fishers happy.
 
So what happens to marine life with this decreased oxygen level? This should all make the shrimp fishers happy.

If you were near a fire and couldn't breathe, because of the smoke, you would probably move somewhere where there wasn't any smoke. Yes?
 
If you were near a fire and couldn't breathe, because of the smoke, you would probably move somewhere where there wasn't any smoke. Yes?

Thats right.
 
If you were near a fire and couldn't breathe, because of the smoke, you would probably move somewhere where there wasn't any smoke. Yes?

And if you were standing next to the fire that was started by BP, wouldn't you want BP to pay your moving expenses since it was their fault?
 
The oil is still "out there". The leak was a mile under water. The skimmers are only hitting what's on or near the surface. They can't "clean" the water down an entire mile. The oil has probably been scattered all over the Gulf and possibly out into the Atlantic. This is heavy crude oil we are talking about, not the same oil that you put in your car and that will float on water. There's bound to be plenty on the Gulf floor, plenty in the water that hasn't reached the floor or the surface yet and the currents have taken it to God only knows where. We will likely see the oil showing up in places we never imagined 20-30 years from now.

The sea life has been impacted the most. This will cause a strain on the ecosystem in the Gulf (and most likely other places) that could be disastrous. I'm all for hoping for the best, and I do, but the reality of this has yet to set in and it isn't going to set in during this President's administration nor any of the next three to six administrations. This is going to be a long, long road and the end is nowhere in sight.
 
And if you were standing next to the fire that was started by BP, wouldn't you want BP to pay your moving expenses since it was their fault?

The same way that I would want Obama to pay for my lost income due to the moratorium? I've lost a ****load of money to this spill and not a single mother****er has called me to to give me money to pay my bills.

Certainly not the piece-a-**** president that put me out of work.

It only adds to the joke, when that asshole says that he won't rest until every American that wants a job, has one.
 
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