Researchers are warning that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is a bigger mess than the government claims and that a lot of crude is lurking deep below the surface, some of it settling perhaps in a critical undersea canyon off the Florida Panhandle. … Read ahead
Source: google.com
Gulf of Mexico oil spill. “The farther away you are from the Gulf and the Gulf shore the less likely it is that you will have a valid claim,” Feinberg, administrator of the fund, said Aug. 13 in a telephone interview. “But I will take a look at each claim.” BP has received more than 142,400 claims, representing every state, for damages from the well that gushed for almost three months, and most will be turned over to the Feinberg-run Gulf Coast Claims Facility that goes into operation on Aug. 23, according to … Read ahead
Source: blog.al.com
Latest at blog.al.com
BP says it is no longer using toxic dispersants to break up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Gulf Coast residents claim otherwise, and say they have the sicknesses to prove it. BP has been using two oil dispersants, Corexit 9500 and Corexit 9527, both of which are banned in Britain. More than 1.9 million gallons of dispersant has been used. … Read ahead
Source: commondreams.org
As much as 1 million times the normal level of methane gas has been found in some regions near the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, enough to potentially deplete oxygen and create a dead zone, U.S. scientists said on Tuesday. Texas A&M University oceanography professor John Kessler, just back from a 10-day research expedition near the BP Plc (BP.L) oil spill in the gulf, says methane gas levels in some areas are “astonishingly high.” Kessler’s crew took measurements of both surface and deep water within a 5-mile (8 kilometer) radius of BP’s broken wellhead. “There is an incredible amount of methane in there,” Kessler told reporters in a telephone briefing. In some areas, the crew of 12 scientists found concentrations that were 100,000 times higher than normal. “We saw them approach a million times above background concentrations” in some areas, Kessler said. The scientists were looking for signs that the methane gas had depleted levels of oxygen dissolved in the water needed to sustain marine life. “At some locations, we saw depletions of up to 30 percent of oxygen based on its natural concentration in the waters. At other places, we saw no depletion of oxygen in the waters. We need to determine why that is,” he told the briefing. Methane occurs naturally in sea water, but high concentrations can encourage the growth of microbes that gobble up oxygen needed by marine life. Kessler said oxygen depletions have not reached a critical level yet, but the oil is still spilling into the Gulf, now at a rate of as much as 60,000 barrels a day, according to U.S. government estimates. “What is it going to look like two months down the road, six months down the road, two years down the road?” he asked. Methane, a natural gas, dissolves in seawater and some scientists think measuring methane could give a more accurate picture of the extent of the oil spill. Kessler said his team has taken those measurements, and is hoping to have an estimate soon. “Give us about a week and we should have some preliminary numbers on that,” he said. … Read ahead
Source: wkrg.com
Latest at wkrg.com
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Scientists are reporting early signs that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is altering the marine food web by killing or tainting some creatures and spurring the growth of others more suited to a fouled environment. Near the spill site, researchers have documented a massive die-off of pyrosomes – cucumber-shaped, gelatinous… … Read ahead
Source: huffingtonpost.com
Latest at huffingtonpost.com
Oil patties and tarballs were discovered as deep as 2 feet (0.6 meter) beneath beaches dirtied by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill—the deepest oil yet found by a team of University of South Florida coastal geologists that’s been studying the effects of the oil spill on Gulf beaches since early May. The previous record had been 6 inches (about 15 centimeters) deep, said geologist … Read ahead
Source: news.nationalgeographic.com
Latest at news.nationalgeographic.com
Tags, tissue samples and sound are among methods being used on a scientific cruise to study the Gulf of Mexico oil spill’s effects on whales and other endangered animals. … Read ahead
Source: physorg.com
Latest at physorg.com
In the middle of the Peruvian Amazon, thousands of miles from the BP rig pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico, oil spills have been a fact of life for more than 30 years. In villages like San Cristobal, the indigenous Achuar people believe their maladies are caused by exposure to oil. They suffer fainting spells, vomiting, chronic diarrhea, headaches and skin infections. Isac Sandy, 25, is tall and shy, and got married last year. He has frequent headaches, and every other day he gets an injection to relieve the symptoms of an unknown skin condition. If he doesn’t get the shot, his skin breaks out in a spotty white rash, and his entire body swells. “There’s a stream where we always go to fish, and it’s always had oil on top. We catch fish there and eat them. The fish drink the water, and since we eat them, the oil must get into us that way,” he says. … Read ahead
Source: npr.org
Latest at npr.org
Friday marked the 60th day since the Deepwater Horizon rig began hemorrhaging oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and the topic took up much of our fact-checking efforts this week. Here’s a summary of our latest fact-checks on statements made about the oil spill. You can read all of our fact-checks on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on our … Read ahead
Source: politifact.com
Latest at politifact.com
Like most people I’m angry and saddened by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but I can’t shake the feeling that BP’s not the only one to blame. … Read ahead
Source: greenexplorer.ovi.com
Latest at greenexplorer.ovi.com