View Full Version : Does anyone believe 70% of the oil is gone?
uncljohn
08-05-2010, 10:40 AM
OK 500,000,000 gallons spilled. NOAA says only 25% of oil remains as a problem.
BP is claiming they've skimmed up 70,000,000 gallons of oil/water mix. (That's 14% if they only collected oil, but mixed with water, might only account for 5-7% of the spill)
Lubchenko is saying that burning, dispersments and mutha nature haven taken care of another 350,000,000 gallons.
So do you buy that that 350,000,000 just magically disappeared into the environment, never to cause any harm to anyone or anything? I figured they'd be cleaning up for months after they stopped the leak, but it wasn't a week after they got the cap on that suddenly the vast majority of oil was gone....
BILL H
08-05-2010, 11:22 AM
I think they are reporting about 3% skimmed. I think that the 26% they are claiming as dispersed (and not a problem) is reaaaaaallllllly wishful thinking. So now we are down to 49% that is accounted for. Figure plus or minus 30%, and they hit the nail right on the head (if they used a big hammer).
If you drop a cup of oil in a 55 gallon drum and shake it up! you wont find much of the oil when you open the lid.
jnashed
08-05-2010, 01:33 PM
I am no expert but from what I've read a significant amount of oil on the surface evaporates. The gulf with its high temps and abundant sunlight magnifies this evaporatory effort. Oil spills further north (ie Valdez) lack this and can be worse. So 50miles offshore, and in summer, and in the Gulf of Mexico are factors. Not to mention the oil consuming bacteria which also come into play.Are the guesses on the amount right? Who can be sure? I am sure some politics comes into play but again thank goodness that the thing is capped and nature does help heal man's foils.
Jim
richlev
08-05-2010, 02:56 PM
A friend of mine in Panama City, Florida said they were never affected at all by the spill. BP was shooting dispersants into the oil directly at the source, so a lot would break up. Plus they had storms there which could break it up more. KenG's example about the cup of oil in a 55 gallon drum is a good illustration too. 500,000,000 gallons spilled, but how many gallons of water are in the Gulf?
hollywood9s
08-05-2010, 05:58 PM
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/01/000127082228.htm
uncljohn
08-06-2010, 08:51 AM
If you drop a cup of oil in a 55 gallon drum and shake it up! you wont find much of the oil when you open the lid.
You wont see it, but does that mean it isn't there? The 'tar balls' and mats of oil you see lapping at the edges of marshes doesn't look that its very degraded or disbursed. Though it could be stock fooage form weeks back. I just don't buy the notion that nature took care of the vast majority of it so quickly when other experts talk about decades of affect.
The oil came from the earth ,it is organic.
Doing well,I dont' believe 50% of what the media or govt reports.
momon1023
08-08-2010, 10:21 PM
I don't believe it, What about the high level of hydrocarbons all through marsh and the water. Its instant relief to the public when you cant see the oil it's the chemicals you can't see that is the long term worry.
Just look how long it took to declare the Chalk Point Oil spill in our backyard clean. Pepco was on the ball and it still took ten years to be sited as clean. Not even a fraction of what was spilled in the gulf.
Other harmful stuff (mercury, arsenic, uranium) comes from the earth too; but I still prefer cocktail sauce or butter (over any of the aforementioned OR petrocarbons) with my seafood.
I'm just sayin'.....
Oil is a natural fuel ,its organic.
BigWillJ
08-25-2010, 01:39 PM
Oil is a natural fuel ,its organic.
It's also toxic.
Alley Cat
08-25-2010, 04:15 PM
We spend money that is borrowed from China to buy oil from The Saudis some of which some makes it's way to the Taliban to fight us for which we have to borrow more money to fight. It is a visous circle of which our dependence on oil is partly responsible.
We should be drilling as many holes in the gulf as necessary to drain every drop thats under there and start drilling in Alaska ,while developing the oil shale resources.
Alley Cat
08-25-2010, 05:56 PM
We should be drilling as many holes in the gulf as necessary to drain every drop thats under there and start drilling in Alaska ,while developing the oil shale resources.
I agree we do have to do more drilling, but drilling alone will not solve our problems and from what I have gathered the oil we may be able to get from shale would be very high in sulfur and much more expensive to get. Not to mention a extremily messy process. Our proven reserves of natural gas are many times those of oil and much easier to get out of the ground and far cleaner burning. We need all of the above while we develope alternatives.