"5 years later, problems linger from BP oil spill" by Seth Borenstein Associated Press April 18, 2015
WASHINGTON — Five years after the BP well explosion, the Gulf of Mexico appears to be clean, green, and whole again, teeming with life — a testament to the resilience of nature.
Nothing is ever as it seems in the propaganda pre$$.
But the view from above doesn’t tell the whole story in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon spill. And it’s not as pretty a picture.
Federal data and numerous scientific studies show lingering problems. Splotches of oil still dot the seafloor, and wads of tarry petroleum-smelling material hide in pockets in the marshes of Barataria Bay.
Dolphin deaths have more than tripled. Nests of endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles plummeted after the spill. Some fish have developed skin lesions along with oil in internal organs.
It's everything the bad bloggers have said as the government and propaganda pre$$ has worked to convince us everything is good, really minimized the whole issue, etc, etc. Tells you a lot about where their true $entiments lie.
‘‘Look, we put nature on a treadmill and I think it did very very well. We should consider ourselves lucky,’’ said Chris Reddy of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. But he added, ‘‘It’s the things that we don’t see that have been a concern.’’
Then you go have some shrimp.
To assess the health of the Gulf, the Associated Press asked 26 marine scientists how this vital waterway has changed since the April 2010 explosion, which caused millions of gallons of oil to spill over 87 days. On average, the researchers found an 11 percent drop in the Gulf’s overall health.
The scientists on average said that before the spill, the Gulf was a 73 on a 0-to-100 scale. Now it’s a 65. They reported the biggest drops in rating the current health of oysters, dolphins, sea turtles, marshes, and the seafloor.
‘‘The spill was — and continues to be — a disaster,’’ said Oregon State marine sciences professor Jane Lubchenco, who was the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration during the spill. Lubchenco said some of her worst fears about dead zones or oil spreading farther didn’t materialize. But she added: ‘‘That’s not to say there is no impact.’’
Like anyone believes NOAA anymore, and there she goes minimizing while allegedly maximizing and calling attention and alarm. This mixed message stuff is as murky as water fouled by an oil spill.
Of course, the real problem is the heat now that those snow days have been forgotten.
I mean, seriously, they lie about the weather (until it is convenient to blame for economic downturns) while ignoring real problems like the Gulf and the continuous radiation spewing from Fukushima, the toxic poisoning of land, sea, and air, etc, so they can GET YOU TO PAY CARBON TAX so Wall Street can LITERALLY create MONEY out of THIN AIR with the "carbon credit market" -- pffft -- which will then be used to create all sorts of financial products from derivatives to default swaps. Better take a deep breath now.
Btw, I saw the residue in the whisky clouds the other day, too.
BP put out a 40-page report in March, pronouncing the Gulf mostly recovered, noting that less than 2 percent of the water and seafloor sediment samples exceeded federal toxicity levels.
‘‘Data collected thus far shows that the environmental catastrophe that so many feared, perhaps understandably at the time, did not come to pass, and the Gulf is recovering faster than expected,’’ BP’s senior vice president and spokesman Geoff Morrell said.
I suppose you could take a look for yourself (with the Globe as a guide).
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Now what do you say to drilling up north?
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
Five years after oil rig disaster, empty graves, full hearts for Gulf survivors
