Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Oily bottom syndrome

Are you curious where all that oil went? You know, the oil that is "gone" according to experts from BP and their supporters in government. Now we know where to find some of it...look down and you'll see Oily Bottom Syndrome.

Always embarassing and probably toxic, having your bottom splotched with oil is not a good thing. News from the Gulf of Mexico says that the Gulf has Oily Bottom Syndrome "further east than previously expected and at levels toxic to marine life."

Initial findings from a new survey of the Gulf conclude that dispersants may have sent the oil to the ocean floor, where it has turned up at the bottom of an undersea canyon within 40 miles of the Florida Panhandle. Plankton and other organisms showed a "strong toxic response" to the crude, according to researchers from the University of South Florida.

We knew those dispersants were risky, but oil companies and the government like dispersants because they put some of the oil out of sight.

Now it's coming back into the public eye, thanks to good work by scientists. But public attention has shifted, and the news is much smaller today than in the early days. No doubt BP thinks shifting some of the oil spill disaster news to August is a success.

No comments: