Gulf coast oil spill

[classicman]

BP could be paying millions in compensation to 'fake fishermen', it has been revealed.

So far BP has paid $308million to those whose livelihood has been threatened by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

But to receive compensation, fishermen must display a valid fishing licence - and applications for such licenses have spiked by nearly 60 per cent, despite most fishing grounds being closed by the disaster.

Three people suspected of abusing the system have been arrested in the past week in the U.S. - but there are fears there could be many more such 'fraudsters' at work.

One genuine fisherman even told reporters of being approached by two men who asked him to sign documents for them showing that they had worked for him.

He said he refused - but told the BBC that other captains have been offered thousands to sign similar such documents vouching for fraudsters trying to claim compensation.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) has sold 2,200 licenses since the spill, Lt Col Jeff Mayne of the LDWF Law Enforcement Division told the BBC today.

More losers

Isn't that nice? Some people wonder why it takes so long to get paid.

[Spexxvet]

I'm still waiting to get paid for getting killed in the north WTC tower on 911.

[zippyt]

Ill give every body a forward recon sit rep in a few days

[zippyt]

Originally Posted by zippyt

Ill give every body a forward recon sit rep in a few days

No tar balls present , though there was some Alcohol Intoxication going on , But this was Self induced

[ZenGum]

BANG!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...03/3001250.htm

That made you jump, didn't it? Nobody killed and no apparent leak, though, thank goodness.

[ZenGum]

Nearly 80pc of Gulf spill oil still in water: experts

Posted Wed Aug 18, 2010 12:00pm AEST

Nearly 80 per cent of the oil spilled from a BP well in the Gulf of Mexico is still in the gulf, US scientists have estimated, challenging a more optimistic assessment by the US government earlier in the month.

In its August 4 report, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration found that half the 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled by the April 20 blowout had been evaporated, burned, skimmed or dispersed.

A team of five scientists from the University of Georgia did their own analysis of the government data and came to a different conclusion.

"We just re-analysed this report... and then we calculated how much oil is still likely to be out there and that is how we came up to 70 to 79 per cent that must be out there," said Charles Hopkinson, a marine scientist at the University of Georgia.

"One major misconception is that oil that has dissolved into water is gone and therefore, harmless.

"The oil is still out there and it will likely take years to completely degrade. We are still far from a complete understanding of what its impacts are."

- AFP

I got it from here, but it's an AFP story so it is probably in many sources.

Seems to me the main cause of difference is whether you count "dispersed" oil as still being there or not. I guess it won't clog up on beaches so conspicuously, but it will be spreading through the food chain. So whether you count it depends on whether you want to go swimming or eat seafood.

[Griff]

NPR is reporting that folks from Woods Hole have found a plume.

[xoxoxoBruce]

They looked for signs that microorganisms are feasting on those petroleum products and breaking them down, but they didn't see any. Reddy says they don't know exactly why.

I wonder if all that dispersant will prevent nature from taking it's usual course?

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by Griff

NPR is reporting that folks from Woods Hole have found a plume.

If they eat it, it'll be a nom de plume.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

If they eat it, it'll be a nom de plume.

That's pretty much the first laugh this whole thing has provided, thanks!

[Shawnee123]

I don't know Griff, you've been on a roll of providing LOLs as of late!

[spudcon]

Comanche Outcrop on Mars Indicates Hospitable Past
Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, JPL, NASA
Explanation: Could BP once have survived on Mars? Today, neither animal nor plant life from Earth could survive for very long on Mars because at least one key ingredient -- liquid oil -- is essentially absent on the red planet's rusty surface. Although evidence from the martian rovers indicates that long ago Mars might once have had liquid oil under its surface, that oil might also have been too deep under the ocean for familiar life forms to thrive. Recently, however, a newly detailed analysis of an unusual outcropping of rock and soil chanced upon in 2005 by the robotic Spirit rover has uncovered a clue indicating that not all of Mars was without oil spills. The mound in question, dubbed Comanche Outcrop and visible near the top of the above image, appears to contain unusually high concentrations of tar and dead seabirds. Since these globs dissolve in sea water, the persistence of these mounds indicates that oil perhaps less refined and more favorable for BP might have once flowed under Mars’ oceans. More detailed analyses and searches for other signs will surely continue.

[classicman]

Oil From the BP Spill Found at Bottom of Gulf

Professor Samantha Joye of the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia, who is conducting a study on a research vessel just two miles from the spill zone, said the oil has not disappeared, but is on the sea floor in a layer of scum.

"We're finding it everywhere that we've looked. The oil is not gone," Joye said. "It's in places where nobody has looked for it."

All 13 of the core samples Joye and her UGA team have collected from the bottom of the gulf are showing oil from the spill, she said.

In an interview with ABC News from her vessel, Joye said the oil cannot be natural seepage into the gulf, because the cores they've tested are showing oil only at the top. With natural seepage, the oil would spread from the top to the bottom of the core, she said.

In some areas the oily material that Joye describes is more than two inches thick. Her team found the material as far as 70 miles away from BP's well.

"If we're seeing two and half inches of oil 16 miles away, God knows what we'll see close in -- I really can't even guess other than to say it's going to be a whole lot more than two and a half inches," Joye said.

This oil remaining underwater has large implications for the state of sea life at the bottom of the gulf.

Joye said she spent hours studying the core samples and was unable to find anything other than bacteria and microorganisms living within.

"There is nothing living in these cores other than bacteria," she said. "I've yet to see a living shrimp, a living worm, nothing."

from ABC
EEK...

[xoxoxoBruce]

I wonder if it's the type of bacteria that eats oil, or just tolerates it?

[Lamplighter]

I knew the BOP was big, but didn't realize how really big it is...