The Gulf oil slick from space – NOT

Rather surprised that nobody noticed, so here’s my 2 cents. Look in the top right of the Florida photo and check the color of the Atlantic, by the East coast – exactly that of the supposed “oil slick” in the Gulf. Which seems to indicate that it’s something else.

Kind of makes me feel guilty for commuting 50 miles each way to work in a 3/4 ton Chevy truck. But, the ride is so nice and I like looking down on all the people in their more fuel efficient miniature vehicles. I almost bought a Prius, I felt so guilty. But, La Hood started bashing Toyota relentlessly. Every day, the US government was ratcheting up the Toyota bashing until I couldn’t take it. I went to a Government Motors dealership to complain. They had these giant pickups sitting all over the lot. To help move them, the salesman, a Mr. Obama, was offering large rebates on top of already being priced to move. So, instead of speaking my mind, I bought one. Best move I ever made. The ride is awesome. I enjoyed it so much, I sold my house (at a nice profit) and moved farther away from work. Carpool? No way. I enjoy my two hours a day of commute time in this beast. It’s my me time.

The Destructionist says:
May 20, 2010 at 2:26 pm

While watching the latest news about the BP Oil spill, a frightening thought came to mind: what if we can’t stop the oil? I mean, what happens if after all the measures to cap the pipe fail, (i.e., “Top Hat”, “Small Hat” and “Top Kill”). What then? An accident this problematic is new territory for BP. The oil pipeline is nearly a mile down on the ocean floor, accessible only by robots. Add on top of that the extreme pressure at which the oil is flowing out of the pipeline and there you have it: the perfect storm.
Moreover, scientists also claim that they’ve found an enormous plume of oil floating just under the surface of the ocean measuring approximately 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick. (I’m no math genius, but I bet one of you reading this could figure out just how many barrels of oil that is…)

The well will be capped or cutoff by an intercepting drilling below the blow out.
There is no plume of oil drifting underwater.
I doubted that story the moment I heard it. Remember, oil floats on water.
This story is based on some premature conclusions from scientists on the R/V Pelican, a research vessel engaged in other pursuits when the oil spill began.
From http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/552671/

“Media reports related to the research work conducted aboard the R/V Pelican included information that was misleading, premature and, in some cases, inaccurate. Yesterday the independent scientists clarified three important points:
1. No definitive conclusions have been reached by this research team about the composition of the undersea layers they discovered. Characterization of these layers will require analysis of samples and calibration of key instruments. The hypothesis that the layers consist of oil remains to be verified.
2. While oxygen levels detected in the layers were somewhat below normal, they are not low enough to be a source of concern at this time.
3. Although their initial interest in searching for subsurface oil was motivated by consideration of subsurface use of dispersants, there is no information to connect use of dispersants to the subsurface layers they discovered.
NOAA thanks the Pelican scientists and crew for repurposing their previously scheduled mission to gather information about possible impacts of the BP oil spill. We eagerly await results from their analyses and share with them the goal of disseminating accurate information.
NOAA continues to work closely with EPA and the federal response team to monitor the presence of oil and the use of surface and sub-surface dispersants. As we have emphasized, dispersants are not a silver bullet. They are used to move us towards the lesser of two environmental outcomes. Until the flow of oil is stemmed, we must take every responsible action to reduce the impact of the oil.”
For information about the response effort, visit http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com.

I sent an email to one of those scientists. Based on what she has published, it appears she is very well qualified to comment on the long term effects of this oil spill. I asked her to direct me to any published studies resulting from the findings of the Pelican.
I suspect this whole thing will turn out like previous ‘disasters’ reported on by the media regarding oil spills.
Contrary to popular belief, which is based on biased, distorted, and incomplete reporting, the oceans eat oil.
You’ll see how I came to this conclusion when you read this:
http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=background.view&backgroundid=00454

In July 1979 The Washington Post dispatched me to the island of Tobago off Trinidad to cover the first collision of fully-loaded supertankers. The two ships in question, each more than 1,000 feet long, were loaded with a total of 3.5 million barrels of crude oil – enough to supply 20 per cent of the daily consumption of the entire U.S. at that time.
I knew something about oil. I had grown up in Louisiana around wells and derricks. As a reporter I had written about refineries, ridden tankers and helicoptered to offshore rigs. I figured the oil spill off Tobago would be the environmental disaster of all time. But guess what happened to that environmental disaster?
It never happened.
The calamity was bad enough. One ship exploded and sank, 27 people died and there WAS an enormous oil spill. But it never hit any beaches, never appeared to oil any birds, and ultimately simply disappeared. Most of it evaporated; the rest was consumed by oil-eating microbes in the sea. As near as anyone can tell, there was virtually no environmental damage.

Now I don’t anyone to think I think there is no problem down in the Gulf of Mexico. This is very serious and tragic. The deaths of 11 people on the platform made it so, let alone the impact on the economy down there.
But it is not an Apocalypse.
Some other observations:
Most of the economic damage to the tourist industry has been inflicted by the irresponsible reporting from the media. This incident illustrates the power of the media on people. They just assume the beaches are ruined. Not so.
A lot of the gulf was supposed to already have been rendered a ‘dead zone’ by our agricultural activities. See http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/deadzone/
If BP is responsible for all of its ecological damage, why aren’t the farmers of Iowa, Nebraska, and so forth responsible for the ‘dead zone’?

Mark W says:
May 20, 2010 at 10:16 am
“Looks as though the most significant ecological damage from this spill will be the result of the throngs of media trampling the delicate grasses along the barrier islands in the Gulf.”
Wrong! The media is not really being allowed in. They are picking and choosing. CBS got ran of a beach under the threat of arrest by the National Guard and BP.