Ten months after the spill in the Gulf of Mexico occurred, a scientist showed evidence that oil remains in the ocean floor killing many life forms, in a report by AP.
Presenting the slides and videos of her five deep water expeditions in a Washington science conference, University of Georgia's marine scientist Samantha Joye found that the oil and residue were not consumed by microorganisms designed to degrade the oil.
The report said Joye’s findings contradicted the results of other studies such as the Department of Energy’s BP-funded study, which reported that microorganisms have degraded the oil at a fast pace.
The reason for the difference in the results was that the researchers probed at different areas at different times, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Lab's Terry Hazen.
Joye contradicted oil compensation fund czar Kenneth Feinberg when he said the Gulf would fully recover by 2012.
She told AP, "I've been to the bottom. I've seen what it looks like with my own eyes. It's not going to be fine by 2012. You see what the bottom looks like, you have a different opinion."
The BP oil spill is considered as the biggest accidental marine oil spill the petroleum industry has known. The explosion in 20 April 2010 killed 11 men and injured 17 others working on the platform. The spill flowed for three months releasing 53,000 barrels of crude oil per day (8,400 cubic meters) before it was capped. An estimated 4.9 million barrels (780,000 cubic meters) of petroleum has been spilled before it was sealed on 15 July 2010.
Under the oil spill litigation program or out-of-court settlement, the polluters will pay for the damages to the ecosystem and efforts to bring it back to normal.
Details of this story here.
No comments:
Post a Comment