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where did all the gulf spill oil go?

DVH wrote:

“Eaten by microbes.

“But it was a great media event, no? And a chance to show how concerned and moral you are, right? And an opportunity for Congress to host a reality show starring themselves and Tony Hayward, yes?

“So everyone's happy.

“ "Where is all the oil? Nearly two weeks after BP finally capped the biggest oil spill in U.S. history,..." ”

There is no strong convincing evidence of that as yet - fossil fuels are a dirty business.

“...the oil slicks that once spread across thousands of miles of the Gulf of Mexico have largely disappeared. Nor has much oil washed up on the sandy beaches and marshes along the Louisiana coast. And the small cleanup army in the Gulf has only managed to skim up a tiny fraction of the millions of gallons of oil spilled in the 100 days since the Deepwater Horizon rig went up in flames.

“So where did the oil go? "Some of the oil evaporates," explains Edward Bouwer, professor of environmental engineering at Johns Hopkins University. That's especially true for the more toxic components of oil, which tend to be very volatile, he says. Jeffrey W. Short, a scientist with the environmental group Oceana, 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.” [Quoted from news.yahoo.com]

Oh no, not a sane article!

Obviously you’re one of those racists who hate Obama and Rahm Emmanual. How can they destroy BP and increase American dominance of the filthy fossil fuel industry with anarchists like you?

How can they improve your lives if idiots like you start posting facts!

You should be ashamed.

related material
fossil fuel disasters
bp oil spill not the only us fossil fuel disaster
“this is the worst environmental disaster the usa has ever faced” - obama

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology062010.php#gulf_oil_3107010





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bp oil spill not the only us fossil fuel disaster

USA fossil fuel accidents and spills 200-2009. Map: National Wildlife Federation
USA fossil fuel accidents and spills 200-2009. Map: National Wildlife Federation [link to full-size map]

The National Wildlife Association has brought out a 32-page report [.pdf format] on major fossil fuel-related disasters in the past ten years.

“The BP catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, with its tragic loss of life and devastating impact on the Gulf Coast economy, has brought the risk and high cost of oil development to the public’s attention. Predictably a round of oil industry executives have testified before Congress offering countless apologies and empty assurances that such an incident will never happen again. The oil industry is running ads asserting that this is an exceptional ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ event for an otherwise safe and responsible industry. But this is the fourth major oil spill in 33 years in North America after the following: in 1977, Hawaiian Patriot spewed over 30 million gallons of oil 300 miles off the coast of Hawaii; in the Gulf of Mexico, Ixtoc 1 spilled over 140 million gallons of oil in 1979; and Exxon Valdez was responsible for dumping over 11 million gallons of oil into the Prince William Sound of Alaska in 1989.

“Major oil spills are really only a small part of the real story. From 2000 to 2010, the oil and gas industry accounted for hundreds of deaths, explosions, fires, seeps, and spills as well as habitat and wildlife destruction in the United States. These disasters demonstrate a pattern of feeding America’s addiction to oil, leaving in their wake sacrifice zones that affect communities, local economies, and our landscapes.”

related material
fossil fuel disasters
“this is the worst environmental disaster the usa has ever faced” - obama

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology062010.php#us_fossil_fuel_disasters_300710

there is no global warming - it’s just getting hotter but that’s different

‘Lord’ Monkton rules OK. So do Booker and North.

It’s because of sunspots.CO2 is not a pollutant I tell you!

Hotness is just another form of coldness.

Global warming is a secret code for global war.

“Global temperatures in the first half of the year were the hottest since records began more than a century ago, according to two of the world's leading climate research centres.

“Scientists have also released what they described as the "best evidence yet" of rising long-term temperatures. The report is the first to collate 11 different indicators – from air and sea temperatures to melting ice – each one based on between three and seven data sets, dating back to between 1850 and the 1970s.

“The newly released data follows months of scrutiny of climate science after sceptics claimed leaked emails from the University of East Anglia (UEA) suggested temperature records had been manipulated - a charge rejected by three inquiries.”

“A third leading monitoring programme, by the Met Office, shows this period was the second hottest on record, after 1998, with two months this year – January and March – being hotter than their equivalents 12 years ago.”

see also
measuring temperatures - differences in method led to differences in temperature
fossil fuels are a dirty business

end note

  1. See this dishonest video put out by a fossil fuel front:

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology062010.php#global_warming_300710

“this is the worst environmental disaster the usa has ever faced” - obama

Someone should tell him about the dust bowl in the 1930s

“By 1934, it was estimated that 100 million acres of farmland had lost all or most of the topsoil to the winds.”[Quoted from livinghistoryfarm.org]

Mid-west dust bowl, 1930s

Marker at abelard.org

And what about the greatest oil gusher in US history?

Lakeview gusher, 14th day

“A torrent of oil that someone had named the "Trout Stream" was flowing away from the Lakeview gusher when Frank Hill took charge. The stream threatened not only to dissipate the oil so that it could never be recovered but also to flow into Buena Vista Lake, the source of irrigation water for Miller & Lux farming operations.

“Work began immediately on building huge earthen reservoirs to trap the oil in the sloping land between the wild well and the lake, eight miles away. All the teams and scrapers that could be hired in the Midway field and some from as far away as Suisun City, 300 miles to the north, worked around the clock to build 20 huge sumps, covering some 60 acres. Before the job was done it cost more than $350,000.

“Some 400 men labored to build a barricade around the well, lacing sand bags and sagebrush into a levee to hold back the flow of oil.

Barricade around the gusher's well

“Three pumps, including two 4-inch pumps and one 6-inch, worked to full capacity delivering oil to a pair of 55,000-barrel tanks on Producers Transportation Co. property at Maricopa. The tanks soon proved inadequate to handle the uncontrolled flow, which reached a peak estimated at 90,000 barrels per day.”

“Finally, on Sept. 9, 1911, 544 days after the well blew in, the Lakeview gusher caved at the bottom and died as suddenly as it was born. It had produced an estimated 9 million barrels of oil, a record for the time. More than 4 million barrels had been saved. The remainder was lost.” [Quoted from irwinator.com]

Lakeview oil well site, marked with stone monument
Lakeview oil well site, marked with stone monument Image: CLUI

“A bronze plaque reads: "America's most spectacular gusher 'blew in' here March 14, 1910. Initial flow was 18,000 barrels per day and later reached uncontrolled peak of 100,000 barrels per day, completely destroying the derrick. This Union Oil Company well between Taft and Maricopa produced nine million barrels of oil in 18 months."

“Most of the oil soaked into the soil or evaporated. Black mist fell for miles around. Only supreme vigilance kept it from catching fire. The price of crude plunged by nine-tenths. And when the flood ended, the well produced less than 30 barrels a day.

“Today a wide oil-soaked sand pavement is topped with desert scrub. Petroleum fumes waft from nearby wells, and haze hides the scene on many days.” [Quoted from geology.about.com]

I suppose no-one taught American history in Kenya Are all Democrats ignorant of real life? Else one of his mates would’ve told Obama that he was talking tripe, as usual.

And this is the guy who believes that the USA has 57 states.

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Major oil spills - the largest spills
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obama - judgment and experience
obama - what really goes on in his head

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology062010.php#worse_environmental_disasters_170610

nature makes another filthy fossil fuel disaster

“This is the first time I've heard of [a lightning strike] happening in my 20 years," Baker said. "No one else can remember it. I'm just relieved that it's over and no one was hurt."

“A pipe with 20,000 gallons of gas was burning and two tanks with about 12,000 gallons of gas caught on fire, Douglas said.”

Since this report, another lightning-sparked oil fire has been reported by one of the ships helping clear up the Gulf spill.

Marker at abelard.org

Struck by lightning - allegedly!

Oil tank struck by lightning, Rock City, NY, 1905
Oil tank struck by lightning, Rock City, NY, 1905
Oil tank struck by lightning, Bridgeport,Illinois, 1909
Oil tank struck by lightning, Bridgeport, Illinois, 1909
Oil tank struck by lightning, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Oil tank struck by lightning, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Oil tank struck by lightning, Bradford, PA
Oil tank struck by lightning, Bradford, PA

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology062010.php#lightning_strike_oil_160610

metric tonnes of co2 per $1000 of gdp - generating filth from fossil fuels

[excel version]

An E.I.A. selection of 2006 figures:

country tonnes CO2/$1,000 GDP   country tonnes CO2/$1,000 GDP
USA .52   Egypt 1.21
Germany .43   South Korea .77
France .28   North Korea 4.61
Spain .53   Australia .89
UK .35   New Zealand .60
Switzerland .17   China 2.85
Italy .40   Taiwan .76
Russia 4.54   Vietnam 1.89
Iran 4.83   Japan .24
Israel .46      

So, on average, manufacturing exported to China from the UK causes more than eight times as much pollution.(2.85/.35). Thus Ed Milliband was lying when he claimed ‘New’ Labour was reducing emissions. What Britain was doing was exporting the pollution to the Far East, meanwhile increasing the pollution considerably.

For the USA relative to China, the figure is 5.5 times (2.85/.52).

Of course, exporting jobs to Taiwan, South Korea or even Vietnam is not a difference on so great a scale, while exporting jobs to Japan, Switzerland or France improves the situation. (Switzerland has much hydro power, while France and Japan have developed nuclear power. The United States and Australia have some excuse by virtue of the large distances in a large country.)

related material
Peoplequake by Fred Pearce four GoldenYak (tm) award

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology062010.php#exporting_pollution_120610

are the gulf fishers claiming compensation from bp under false pretences?

The biggest dead zone in the world is caused by nitrate run-off down the Mississippi.

May 2010
“The smothering layer lingers on the bottom from May through October, but is most severe in June, July and August, when the Gulf is its warmest and most calm. The zone has sprawled to nearly 8,000 square miles (20,000 square kilometers). Until winter's winds and water-churning cold break up the layer, fishermen have to travel much farther to find fish. Officials worry about disruption-even collapse-of the region's U.S. $26 billion-a-year fish and shellfish industry, including the oyster harvest in Texas, which usually peaks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.” [Quoted from nationalgeographic.com]

Marker at abelard.org

June 2008
“Since 1990 the dead zone, which begins in summer and lasts until early fall, has averaged about 6,046 sq. mi. But the threat is growing. A study released last week by scientists from Louisiana State University (LSU) and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium estimated that this year's dead zone would be more than 10,000 sq. mi., roughly the size of Massachusetts. But that prediction was made before massive floods hit the Midwest: with the flow of the Mississippi at dangerous levels, and with rains sweeping fertilizer off drowned farms, the dead zone could grow even bigger. The Louisiana fishing industry, the second largest in the nation, is already hurting, with shrimp catches falling in the dead zone's wake. The U.S. is not alone in grappling with this aquatic byproduct. As modern, chemically intensive agricultural practices spread around the globe, so does hypoxia; a 2004 U.N. report documents nearly 150 dead zones globally. But none compare to the black hole in the Gulf of Mexico. "This year would be the largest since we've started keeping records," says R. Eugene Turner, a zoologist with LSU who led the modeling effort. "It's definitely getting worse.”

“Not that it's an easy one to fix. Most of the nutrient pollution that ends up in the Gulf comes from the hundreds of thousands of farms in the Midwest. The only sure way to shrink the dead zone is to reduce the amount of fertilizer running off those farms. But thanks in part to the push for corn-based ethanol and the skyrocketing price of food crops, U.S. farmers are planting more acres for corn than they have since World War II — including 15 million more acres last year than in 2006. Although there are measures farmers can take to limit fertilizer runoff, those changes are expensive, and there's little federal funding to support such conservation. The just-released action plan relies mostly on voluntary activities. "We need Congress to act as if this is going to get done," says Doug Daigle, a member of the task force. "The state governments will contribute, but this has to be initiated by the Federal Government.” [Quoted from time.com]

map showing spill extent and dead zone extent
the ‘incident location’ is about 84 miles from the Louisiana coast.
Map source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency. Hypoxia data: NASA

[Normal oxygenation for sea water is about 10 ppm oxygen at 5°C and 5ppm at 50°C.]

related material
the gulf oil spill - obama’s motivations
once again obama shows he is control of events: “oil spill will be controled”

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology062010.php#gulf_compensation_110610


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