Scientists confirm it — Massive Underwater Oil Plumes are There

(2PM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

Lab tests confirm underwater layers of oil

Cain Burdeau, AP — June 4, 2010

Laboratory tests confirmed that oil from a spewing Gulf of Mexico well has accumulated in at least two extensive plumes deep under the surface, scientists with the University of South Florida said Friday.

USF researchers at a meeting in Baton Rouge said lab tests showed their initial findings, based on field instruments, were correct. The extensive layers of oil are sitting far beneath the surface miles from the site of the Deepwater Horizon explosion. The university is collecting data for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The lab tests are the most conclusive evidence yet in a vigorous scientific debate about where much of the oil from the growing spill in the Gulf of Mexico has ended up.

BP spokesman Mark Proelger said the company was awaiting further analysis of what is in the plumes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“It’s too early to say whether any data indicates the plumes contain oil or not,” Proelger said.

Well then WAKE UP and smell the petro, Mark!

If BP were smart, they’d start ‘leveling’ with the American People. But given their past performances, there’s not much chance of that happening any time soon.

How’s it go in the American Legal system … “the Presumption of Innocence”, and need for “Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt”, and all that stuff ?

Well, since they’re our Guests in the Gulf, BP must figure — When in America — make the Scientists have to Prove EVERYTHING!

Too bad for them, our Scientists are quite happy to oblige them …

Lab tests confirm underwater layers of oil in Gulf

By Associated Press — Friday, June 4, 2010

“We’re certain it’s oil,” said Ernst B. Peebles, a USF biological oceanographer and chief scientist aboard the college’s Weatherbird II research vessel, the ship that did the sampling. “We’ve done the analysis.”

Peebles said laboratory tests were performed on water drawn from two layers of oil, a 98-foot thick layer found about 1,300 feet down and a second, even thicker layer found at a depth of about 3,200 feet.

The tests were performed on water brought up by collection bottles and passed through filter pads, a web of glass fibers that trap tiny particles in water.

[…]

Still, it appears that NOAA does not believe the underwater plumes pose a major threat.

Chris D’Elia, the dean of LSU’s School of Energy, Coast and Environment, said NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco told scientists in Baton Rouge on Thursday that the oil under the water “did not look like they were in great concentrations.”

[…]

Fish toxicologists say thick plumes of oil can kill off adult fish and their eggs by exposing them to high concentrations of potent toxins. But even at very low concentrations, the combination of oil and dispersants — which have been used in large volumes on the Gulf spill — increases the potential for small marine creatures to be poisoned.

USF and NOAA planned to issue a more full report on their findings about the oil plumes Monday.

Here’s my PSA to BP   [and their various Contractors]:

There’s more at stake here, than National Pride, or the need for stronger Oil Industry regulations — those are givens!

What really ticks Americans off, is the soiling of our grand Natural Resources.

The Trashing of OUR precious Environment.

Gulf coast Birds in Oil: AP video



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

Oil-Covered Birds Show Distress: CBS News

You have wrecked our beloved southern coast … you have ‘soiled’ our Protected Endangered Species … You need to man up Guvner.  You need to make amends, BIG TIME — and NOT Hide Behind the Briefcases of a dozen Corporate Lawyers.

Nothing ‘chesses off’ us Yanks more, than Suits who lawyer up, like that.

Trust me.

Scientists find evidence of large underwater oil plume in gulf

By David A. Fahrenthold and Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post Staff Writer — May 27, 2010

Scientists have found evidence of a large underwater “plume” of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, adding to fears that much of the BP oil spill’s impact is hidden beneath the surface.

The scientists, aboard a University of South Florida research vessel, found an area of dissolved oil that is about six miles wide, and extends from the surface down to a depth of about 3,200 feet, said Professor David Hollander.

[…]

The plume is clear, with the oil entirely dissolved.

“Here is a situation where, unless you’re looking at the chemical fingerprints, {the oil} is absolutely not visible,” Hollander said. “It’s not some Italian vinaigrette or anything like that. It’s absolutely, perfectly clear.”

But, Hollander said, even this clear-looking water could contain enough oil to be toxic to small animals at the base of the gulf food chain.

[…]

This discovery seems to confirm the fears of some scientists that — because of the depth of the leak and the heavy use of chemical “dispersants” — this spill was behaving differently than others. Instead of floating on top of the water, it may be moving beneath it.

That would be troubling because it could mean the oil would slip past coastal defenses such as “containment booms” designed to stop it on the surface. Already, scientists and officials in Louisiana have reported finding thick oil washing ashore despite the presence of floating booms.

It would also be a problem for hidden ecosystems deep under the gulf. There, scientists say, the oil could be absorbed by tiny animals and enter a food chain that builds to large, beloved sport-fish like red snapper. It might also glom on to deep-water coral formations, and cover the small animals that make up each piece of coral.

“It kills them because it prevents them from feeding,” said Professor James H. Cowan Jr., of Louisiana State University. “It could essentially starve them to death.”

Americans, give two hoots, about our Environmental Heritage — across most of the Political spectrum, whether or not “It’s too early to say whether any data indicates” … that British Petroleum has Trashed our Environment — with NO Freaking Idea How to Fix it … without the slightest Clue how to Make Whole what they have destroyed … and will continue to destroy.  … Ad Nauseum.

Like I said before,

If BP were smart, they’d start ‘leveling’ with the American People.

One of the truly tragic things is, they should have, had a freaking clue —

BP WAS part of the studies that Predicted these Underwater Oil Plumes phenomena, in such Deep Water Blowouts.

Must be why they’re so keen on the continued use of Corexit, and injecting it DEEP into our sea — got to clobber that Underwater Oil at its point source (where it doesn’t really exist).  

Afterall, pumping in boatloads of Dispersant is in the SOP Playbook, for such PR Emergencies, if you have any hope of making the Crude turn Clear, before it turns up again, somewhere else, weeks or months on down the road.

Miles from the originating incident. … That’s another one of them Yankee truisms:

NO Paper Trail, No Problem, eh BP?

Well, NOT if American Scientists, have anything to say about it!

Hard Evidence, can be such a ‘dodgy’ problem, now can’t it, mate?