Underwater Survey Finds Volume of Leaked Oil Unprecedented 'in Human History'

Well there goes the South's beach resorts, fishing, diving, and beaches.

All U.S. maps should have the southern coast line shaded black and with the warning "No lit flames" put beside it.

The Gulf of Mexico is going to be green for a couple of years, then its going to be a huge dead zone.

The government needs to get on top of enforceing regulations and such, and the big oil buisnesses need to stop letting things like this happen if they want to keep what little trust the people have in them.

Great contingency plan for dealing with CO2 increases. It's quite possible worthy of a Nobel.

Whats with all the CO2 comments? CO2 is the least of our problems when it comes to the gulf.

True. CO2 isn't the problem - O2 is. In that we do not have enough O2 in the region to break down all of the H and C in the oil.

Lighting a match is actually what they wish they could do, as burning off the oil would only speed up the preocess that our cars were going to do with it in a few months anyways. However, burning oil slicks is much harder than most people think.

At the end of the day, however, the damage is going to be regional and temporary. The gulf has been full of "dead zones" for years due to fertilizer runoff creating algae blooms that decompose into dead zones.

Time will decomp the oil. Time will regrow the marshgrass (which is a giant sponge anyways, whose entire ecological process IS to filter water clean). Other pelicans will colonize the area. Fish will repopulate. Enough Gulf Cost Diamandback Terripins will survive to preserve the subspecieces, etc.

The only problem is that ten years is a lot of time for short lived man, while it is a blink-long blemish to nature.

@Oakspar77777, "The only problem is that ten years is a lot of time for short lived man, while it is a blink-long blemish to nature." greatly put

I wonder how BP is going to put a positive spin on this story?

Exactly Oakspar, I've always said we can't destroy the planet, we can destroy ourselves, but earth will just shrug and keep on spinning just as it has for all previous mass extinctions. Time, sunlight, and bacteria will correct this mistake. However, none of those things will give the people on the coast their jobs/heritage back.

Well said, Oakspar77777.

There is nothing keeping anyone who wishes from breaking their personal dependency on oil. You can choose to live close to work and stores; you can choose to bicycle; you can choose to take public transportation.

We do not need the government or anyone else artificially playing with the market or telling us what actions to take. Each individual can make the personal choice of what is right for him/herself.

Oakspar77777
Ten years is very optimistic for a recovery from this spill. The Exxon Valdez disaster happened in 1989 and some shoreline habitats still have not recovered. In some spots along the shoreline, oil residue can still be found by digging just a few inches below the surface. The latest numbers coming out about the leak rate of the BP spill are putting even conservatively projected totals way above the Valdez spill.

Oakspar77777.....well said

Maybe this is a sign to put an end to the over use of oil, it's managed to incorporate itself into every thing we do, plastics, energy, industrial processes; It might be time to look forward to things like nano-tech, and nuclear power

Oakspar
I agree completely. As far as nature goes, permanent damage isn't probable, we can't do anything to harm our planet permanently short of directed orbital bombardment. The temporary damage will probably horrify people enough, though, to shake our dependence on oil and in the long run for our planet be a positive thing. I applaud BP for their shoddy construction practices and disregard for the environment.

so I was thinking, get a inflatable raft type system shaped like a long pole, shoot it into the leaking pipe like a torpedo, detonate it, and have it fill the pipe. it would probably need something on the surface of the inflatable to add grip also.

The methane gas being captured is about about 40% of the total volume collected. I'm just now writing a blog about it.

visit rigzone.com about the gas/oil mix.

And the dispersant mix is 1/10 dispersant to oil. So the plumes are not a good indicator of amount. Watching the video of oil in dispersant on this website will tell you that viewing the plumes is misleading. They are globs of dispersant and oil like oil and vinegar salad dressing when it's shaken up. It's not all oil. And the gas/oil mix is like a pop can shaken up and released. To determine the amount of oil actually leaked will be extremely hard since the amount being siphoned currently is much greater since the latest shear job. Remember the pipe is only 29 inches in diameter and was bent over at the beginning restricting about 30% of the flow.

And this is not the biggest oil spill ever. There was a 700 million gallon spill in the Persian Gulf back in the mid 90's that went unreported. It involved 2 gushers like this.

search Nick Pozzi ad read about it.

This is a scientific website. Can anyone guess at the thrust from the well? To get over half a million gallons per day out of a 29" hole at a depth where the water pressure must present one heck of lot of drag is incredible. I still think they hit an underground volcano.

And volcanic oil spewing out naturally has happened before about 35,000 years ago off of California. Search asphalt domes off of California and read about them.

Not to sound heartless but I find its easier to deal with disaster with humour so wouldn't it be funny if the gulf coast got water spouts during a lightning storm. I want to see pillars of fire so I can watch the religous people freak out. Lol

Not to sound heartless but I find its easier to deal with disaster with humour so wouldn't it be funny if the gulf coast got water spouts during a lightning storm. I want to see pillars of fire so I can watch the religous people freak out. Lol