Oil spill really cleaned up?????

Discussion in 'All Things Boats & Boating' started by Paul No Boat, Aug 4, 2010.

  1. Paul No Boat
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    Paul No Boat Junior Member

    Come to think of it, I have not seen a BP ad on TV in quite awhile. All I am saying is BP holds a lot of cards in a country as dependant on oil as we are.
    And they would like us to forget this as fast as possible.

    Considering I have oil stains on my driveway that have not washed away in 5 yrs I am just not ready to accept that the spill is all but disappeared in a few weeks.

    Back to my original question: Do we have any boaters on this site in the gulf who can give a non partisan opinion of what they see first hand?
     
  2. troy2000
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    troy2000 Senior Member

    I'm no help; I can't see it from here (California desert).:)
     
  3. kach22i
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    kach22i Architect

    News is conflict, without conflict there is no news.

    Still, something is fishy.
     
  4. Paul No Boat
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    Paul No Boat Junior Member

    It certainly is, Kach. and let's hope what is soon "fishy" is our beautiful Gulf of Mexico.
     
  5. hoytedow
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    hoytedow Carbon Based Life Form

  6. tinhorn
    Joined: Jan 2008
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    tinhorn Senior Member

    Well, here are wrinkles I hadn't heard before:

    North America Faces Years of Toxic Oil Rain from BP Oil Spill Chemical Dispersants
    http://www.examiner.com/x-33986-Pol...-rain-from-poisonous-BP-oil-spill-dispersants

    Corexit Nullifies Oil-Eating Microbes
    http://pesn.com/2010/08/06/9501683_Corexic_Nullifies_Oil-Eating_Bacteria/

    Corexit/Oil Eats Through Boat Hulls, Kidneys
    http://www.floridaoilspilllaw.com/g4-corexitoil-eats-through-boat-hulls-kidneys-photosvideo

    I don't know anything about these website, mind you--I discovered these topics with just a few clicks. I'm sure BP wouldn't use anything harmful to cover their ***, and I'm positive our government will hold them to the same high level of accountability that a three-man fiberglass shop is held to.

    So I Googled for info on Corexit:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corexit

    I'm still cetain we needn't worry. If the food supply in the eastern half of the United States will be poisoned (as a report to President Medvedev predicts), Monsanto is sure to have a patented remedy!
     
  7. hoytedow
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    hoytedow Carbon Based Life Form

    Trust BP. Play poker with the Prez and never cut the deck. That is a sure fire formula for success. Just not yours.
     
  8. Paul No Boat
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    Paul No Boat Junior Member

    Wow!! Some heavy propaganda from both sides and I still don't know what to believe.
     
  9. watchkeeper

    watchkeeper Previous Member

    Believe you will have oil in the gulf for a very long time. Three weeks ago the oil feeder line explosion/fire at Dalian refinery put just 1400tonnes of crude into Dalian Bay.
    Our yard is 300mts from refinery, I live 5k further on around the coast in bayside apartment overlooking the entire harbour.
    Despite Dalian's faster draining tide actions into Yellow Sea compared to Gulf plus a fast response and big efforts by goverment including paying a bounty to fishing boat skippers to harvest the oil and skimmers its still here. Booms and huge grass matts were put in place to protect pristine beaches and seawalls but the oil still gets thru.

    I heard from a guy that ran salmon boats up to Alaska that the Exxon Valdex oil is still polluting some areas and many beaches are still damaged.
     
  10. watchkeeper

    watchkeeper Previous Member

    Dalian oil spill pics

    These photos were taken 3 weeks after Dalian refinery fire in digital full colour not b&w.
     

    Attached Files:

  11. troy2000
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    troy2000 Senior Member

    Well, let's see. The first link is to Examiner.com San Francisco. It references an article in the European Union Times, which claims Russian scientists have given a report to President Medvedev, warning of a dire ecological disaster from BP's dispersant.

    In American tabloids 'Russian scientist' usually means, 'bogus source cited for pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo, that you have no way of checking.':D

    So I googled European Union Times, and came up with another story from them. It says, "Russian Military Analysts are reporting to Prime Minister Putin that US President Barack Obama has issued orders to his Northern Command’s (USNORTHCOM) top leader, US Air Force General Gene Renuart, to “begin immediately” increasing his military forces to 1 million troops by January 30, 2010, in what these reports warn is an expected outbreak of civil war within the United States before the end of winter."

    Hmm...we're starting to see a pattern here already: world-shaking news citing unnamed Russian experts, with no corroboration from anywhere else.;)

    OK, let's keep looking. Here's more on the European Union Times: "The online news site European Union Times (EUT) — which recently 'broke' a story about President Obama preparing for an imminent civil war — is being cited as a credible source by several libertarian bloggers who are hyping the story.

    "It turns out the EUT was created in October and is registered to the wife of a racist skinhead gang member who was involved in a bizarre stabbing incident last month."
    http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2009/12/16/racist-skinheads-wife-behind-european-news-website/

    So much for Examiner.com's sources, I'd say. Now, on to its claim that, "BP’s oil spill-fighting dispersant of choice is Corexit 9500. It has been banned in Europe for good reason. Corexit 9500 is one of the most environmentally enduring, toxic chemical dispersants ever created to battle an oil spill."

    Hmm again...there's so much hysteria on the internet about Corexit 5000 that it's hard to get past it to any facts. But apparently, "banned in Europe" actually translates out as "unapproved for use in the United Kingdom."

    According to a long discussion on Facebook, ""COREXIT is meant to be used at sea – away from the shoreline and has been used in more than 30 countries, including Sweden, France, Australia, Norway and Canada."

    "Also of note, it was only removed from the UK approved list after failing the "Rocky Shores" test which is done on limpets (barnacles). It passed the Sea/Beach test which is done on shrimp in salt water, and was found to be less toxic than oil to shrimp.

    http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/protecting/pollution/documents/approval_approved_products.pdf

    "UK is not all of Europe. UK approved it for use in sea/beach not rocky shore. In order to be on their approved list it has to pass both tests.

    "Europe uses corexit.

    "COREXIT is meant to be used at sea – away from the shoreline and has been used in more than 30 countries, including Sweden, France, Australia, Norway and Canada. Aerial spraying of dispersant is not to take place within 2 miles of a boat or 3 miles of a shoreline."

    The whole thread is here, for those who want to read it: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?u...start=0&hash=a4337f29af98bfa37fe946ff909c5e34

    To sum up, the Examiner.com article strikes me as an irresponsible exercise in yellow journalism, playing to people's fears. I doubt the other links are any more believable, although I haven't gotten to them yet.

    But thanks for your post anyway; it's a good starting point for some interesting reading on the subjects raised.
     
  12. Paul No Boat
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    Paul No Boat Junior Member

    Wow! Troy, you certainly have done your homework. Wish I understood all that. For me personally I guess before I eat a McFish sandwich I'll have the manager take a bite. If he doesn't keel over it's safe to eat.

    A good point was made on Meet The Press a few minutes ago. We have never faced a spill this large and therefore don't know the lasting effects of it.
    So if looking for someone to trust, trust the side that says "We don't know yet." I can accept that.
     
  13. Knut Sand
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    Knut Sand Senior Member

    And the weather have pushed air bubbles into the water, making the bactherias live way better, cleaning/ reducing the oil... They need air, water and oil, and higher temps (up to a certain level) make them live better.

    But...
    The chemicals used to disperce the oil.... what long term effects?
    And some of the oil, in this spill, never seemed to surface(?), due to its density(?)... Where is that? the breakdown of the oil, in lower sea is much slower...
     
  14. Knut Sand
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    Knut Sand Senior Member

    You could park your car outside your neighbours house?:D

    Loose tongue aside... Me neither, quite believes that, In order to clean up that quickly, the crude oil should be pretty "light". The mentioning of some huge "clouds" never surfacing may indicate its a heavier type of crude oil. (There is an uncertainty here; We've never experienced an oilspill like that, from that depth (pressure), and that quantity, that may cause some other behaviour to an oilspill, that we've not experienced before, it may, in short behave different than we expect it to do).
     

  15. troy2000
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    troy2000 Senior Member

    If I understand correctly, the long underwater plumes of oil that we've seen mentioned in the news aren't due to the oil being heavy. The oil is suspended in the water instead of floating to the top--because it's been turned into tiny droplets, by the dispersant being pumped directly into the oil as it came out of the rupture. That's a new way of using it, and we'll have to wait and see the results; my guess is that the microbes will eat the oil faster than they would if it weren't dispersed.

    Corexit 9500 was the dispersant that was mostly used. It's a different formulation from the Corexit that was used in Alaska, and supposedly less dangerous. It's fairly lethal to living things in concentration, but its toxicity drops off sharply as it dilutes in the seawater. It also biodegrades in a fairly short time, despite examiner.com claiming otherwise in its article.
     
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