Two weeks ago we were being told the majority of the Oil Spilled was "mostly" gone ...
How did five million barrels of oil simply disappear?
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs points to a pie chart on the BP oil spill during the Daily White House Press Briefing, Washington, DC.
AFP/ Getty Images
Now, University of South Florida, Marine Scientists are reporting Science has a different tale, to tell ...
Two weeks ago this was the "All Clear" Press Release:
Scientists: Most oil gone from Gulf spill
By Steve Gelsi - Market Pulse, MarketWatch.com -- Aug. 4, 2010
A team of scientsts from the federal government said Wednesday that most of the estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil that came from the Deepwater Horizion accident and the ruptured Macondo well has been collected, evaporated or dispersed. The team, led by the Department of the Interior and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said
burning, skimming and direct recovery from the wellhead removed 33% of the oil;
about 25% of the oil evaporated or dissolved,
and 16% was dispersed into microscopic droplets.
The rest of the oil, about 26%, is either on or just below the surface as light sheen and weathered tar balls.
for more specifics from that "Ends Well" episode:
Scientists say: The Oil is NOT Gone -- even if our Attention spans are
by jamess -- Aug 06, 2010
Now, University of South Florida, Marine Scientists are reporting that their thorough Scientific Readings, have discovered that much of that "missing oil" has been FOUND!
Alert the Media!
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Report Says Up To 80% Of Escaped Oil May Be On The Gulf Bottom (has Video Report)
Reporter: Ed Lavandera, CNN -- Aug 17, 2010
It's news no one wants to hear. Researchers have discovered oil from BP's gulf spill has spread further east than anyone thought. But the oil is not on the surface. They say it's on the sea floor, stretching as far east as 40 miles south of Panama City.
[...]
Two experts on the mission, David Hollander and John Paul, a Marine Micro-biologist, sat down with CNN for an exclusive review of their findings. The USF scientists say they found toxic levels of oil and dispersants infecting marine organisms just 40 miles south of Panama City, Florida.
The organisms, called phytoplankton and other microscopic bacteria in the ocean are the foundation of the food chain. "It feeds and fuels the ecology of the ocean and if those guys are in trouble, the ocean is in trouble.
So far federal government scientists have downplayed the impact of microscopic oil making its way up the food chain. This is what Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said earlier this month. "Fish will degrade that oil and process it naturally. And so it doesn't bio-accumulate, so it's not a situation where we need to be concerned about that. Over time, it will be broken down."
USF scientists tell us that is a "shortsighted" view of the danger. NOAA officials haven't responded to these latest scientific findings.
[...]
All along the way, they found microscopic droplets of oil on the ocean floor. "Right here is a sedimentary record from an area that was about 1500 meters water depth, right adjacent to the deepwater horizon."
Using U-V light on the sediment the microscopic oil stands out easily. "You can see them all spread out all over, it's all speckled and when you turn out the lights it looks like the southern sky. it looks like a constellation of stars."
But most troubling to David Hollander is evidence that the submerged oil is making its way through a region of the Gulf of Mexco known as the Desoto Canyon. The canyon stretches from just east of the deepwater horizon spill site to an area south of Panama City. "So the concern is, not only that you found the droplets of oil widespread, but where you found it? Yea, it's coming now into these areas that are critical marine protected areas, critical habitats for commercial and recreational fishing."
None of this is good news. And, no one can answer what’s going to happen to the oil, estimated by some, to be about 80% of what escaped into the Gulf in the last three months. The scientists say one thing for sure is the oil is out there and it’s apparently not far away.
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The Oil was NOT Gone -- It's just quietly collecting in "critical marine protected areas, in critical habitats" -- in the underwater Desoto Canyon -- far beneath those peering eyes of BP's hired hands.
Where is the Desoto Canyon anyways, and what does it look like?
Well according to Google Earth, it seems to be a sizable area of {critical} concern:
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Maybe someday, the People will get the Real Story about the Eco-Impact of BP's out of control Oil Spill --
that is if we don't assume the problem's solved, now, cuz Gibbs told me so.
Of course, enough people, have to demand that We get the Real Story -- First Amendment like -- one based on Real Science -- cuz the Media has already tried to put this tired Story to bed. ... Nite Nite, Gulf Coast! Sleep well.
Out of Sight, in this case however, DOES NOT Mean, Out of the Gulf! (... even IF it's Off of the Tube.)
Apparently ... Oil mixed with Dispersant, tends to stick around, cling to things ... like the Ocean Floor, or so the latest Scientific evidence would seem to say.
Anyone, got some Underwater Vacuums? We just may need them, to clean up this big mess, before this Tale is done.