My statement was both tongue in cheek because people like me are incorrectly called science deniers. At the same time, what else do you call it? The scientific evidence we have is that oil is being eaten at a high rate. Be cautious by all means, but skeptical? This what bacteria does. In the article one of the scientists said anybody who is familiar with the issue is not surprised by what they are finding. It was expected, maybe not the rate but it isn't mind blowing either.
So the story last week where they reported the giant plume of oil that they lost after they had to evacuate due to the storms is supposedly now eaten by bacteria since they just haven't found it yet in the vast ocean. I don't buy it.
Plastic dumped off the rigs? There are strict EPA regulations about anything getting dumped off of rigs.
What evidence? We need to determine what happened to all the oil and the chemicals used to treat the oil. We also need to determine how or if this material will enter the food chain. We do know that millions of barrels of oil have been released and millions of gallons of chemical dispersants were used. These both have known adverse impacts on the environment although the depth of the release and location add two unknown variables. Based upon prior incidents (that zany science enters the picture), I think the chances of this being a non-event or no big deal are near zero. It would be nice, but things tend not to just disappear in the ocean although they can be tough to find sometimes. They also tend to work up the food chain over time. We will see.
I remember it. IXTOC had lots of serious short term (meaning a couple of years) and several long term environmental impacts. This is about what I expect from the BP release although I am hoping the depth of the release makes it less damaging. The type and amount of dispersant used troubles me.
An expert in the article in the OP said that bacteria taking care of the spill should be expected. Then we see that the oil hard to find. I am not saying that all the oil has been eaten or will be shortly, but come on it doesn't seem like you accept what we have seen so far. I still have one question, what part of oil does not float? There are supposed to be these huge oil plumes underneath the surface, and I am not denying that they don't exist. But I am curious. What part of oil doesn't float?
