U.S. Finds Most Oil From Spill Poses Little Additional Risk

[spanone]

this article even has a nice little chamber of commerce picture with it...



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.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/science/earth/04oil.html?_r=1&ref=global-home&pagewanted=print

[Donnachaidh]

1. dontcha love the early morning manure spreading?

Yeah -- the oil went away all on it's own. :sarcasm:

[spanone]

2. and love the picture....people frolicking and birds enjoying the cool, clear water

god knows why we got so upset over the darned spill

[FBaggins]

5. With rigs in the background.

n/t

[blindpig]

3. This has been an illuminating event

Could it be any more clear that our government is subject to Capital?

[spanone]

4. it appears we were all upset over absolutely nothing...nevermind

we should just drop all regulations on offshore drilling since there are no consequences for millions of gallons in our oceans....:sarcasm:

i believe we are witnessing one of the greatest p.r. scams in history

[blindpig]

18. Yeah, so far anyway.

But it is a subset of the scam called Capitalism.

[maryf]

20. one of the greatest p.r. scams in history

paid for by the people with the most money...Capitalism doesn't care for people, critters, nature...just for the profits and stopping any profit loss...

[izquierdista]

6. Put on a happy face!

Gray skies are gonna clear up, put on a happy face!

[Romulox]

7. What Would George W. Bush Do? nt

[maryf]

21. the same, no change here! nt.

[Demit]

8. It all went poof! 20 yrs on & the Exxon Valdez oil still contaminates the area, but this

one, the oil has just gone away. What magical times we live in!

[MajorChode]

19. Apples and oranges

The Exxon Valdez ran aground and all the oil from it dumped out right on, or very near the shore in shallow water. This oil soaked into the ground where it couldn't disperse or release many of the volatile compounds. That's why it's the gift that keeps on giving.

The Deepwater Horizon leak happened many miles off shore where the oil could be collected and dispersed before such volume could reach the beaches and inlets. Dr. Lubchenco is not saying there isn't more significant environmental impact that's yet to be realized and in fact, she warns about it in her statement. She is saying that in all likelihood, we won't be having an Exxon Valdez volume of oil washing up on the shore which would mean this disaster would be many times worse than it already is. Seeing as how she's highly qualified to make such an assessment, I tend to believe her. That doesn't mean we won't be living with this mess 20 years from now because we undoubtedly will. Many of the heavier compounds sank to the bottom of the ocean and there's little doubt much of this made it past the continental shelf, so the environmental impact from that remains to be seen.

[DFW]

9. So all those millions of barrels of oil and tons of corexit just went poof?

How very reassuring. Well, OK, not very.

You'll pardon me if I still don't go ordering gulf shrimp any time soon.....

[LargeGreenSpider]

10. Idiot on radio news this morning told me ,,,

most of the oil is gone. No kidding.

[robcon]

11. Great news.

I think a lot of the worry was overstated.

[Romulox]

12. LULz

"pre-existing condition"

[spanone]

13. great fake news...i think our current situation is understated

[piratefish08]

14. oh, cool. what were you all making such a fuss about??

problem solved!

USA! USA!

[dionysus]

15. lol, hookay!

[Romulox]

16. Just a flesh wound!

[lonestarnot]

17. Whoever wrote this bullshit need to eat a big plate of oysters on the half shell dug up from the

DEAD BED.

[Enrique]

22. drill baby drill! n/t

[Junkdrawer]

23. Key Paragraph:

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.

[spanone]

24. we are being rickrolled

[Hell Hath No Fury]

25. Uhhhh....

:wow: :spray:

They so funny..... :crazy: