'Scientists criticize White House minimization of Gulf disaster'

[another saigon]

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/aug2010/gulf-a06.shtml


By Tom Eley

6 August 2010



<snip>

Predictably, the report was seized upon by the media to promote the illusion that the worst oil spill in world history has been blown out of proportion, and that the Gulf of Mexico will recover very rapidly.

The New York Times led the media charge on Wednesday, declaring that the report reveals that “the Deepwater Horizon leak has already evaporated, dispersed, been captured or otherwise eliminated—and that much of the rest is so diluted that it does not seem to pose much additional risk of harm.”

Numerous scientists, however, insist the reality is very different. The scope of the damage to the Gulf is already extreme, and will likely endure for decades.

Scientists criticize the NIC report from a number of points of view. They point out that it does not reveal its methodology or the data from which it derives its statistical conclusions, and have demanded freedom to study the sources. Even accepting the hidden data and methodology, the conclusions drawn by the White House from the statistics are unwarranted, scientists say. And they have expressed dismay that the effort to minimize the spill will make needed steps for recovery that much harder to realize.

Rick Steiner, a marine biologist from the University of Alaska and an expert on the ecological impact of oil spills, called the study “a premature rush to declare mission accomplished, and for political reasons rather than sincere scientific reasons.”

“What clearly happened is a huge toxic shock was delivered to the northern Gulf of Mexico ecosystem,” Steiner told the World Socialist Web Site. “The damage will ripple through the ecosystem for years if not decades. Using a document like this to deflate human concern and outrage is irresponsible.”

“There’s a lot of…smoke and mirrors in this report,” said Ian MacDonald, a professor of biological oceanography at Florida State University. “It seems very reassuring, but the data aren’t there to actually bear out the assurances that were made.”

[truedelphi]

1. In fact, some scientists point to the Gulf Current as being "stalled"

So I find it hard to think that any reputable scientist would try and minimize this event.

[glitch]

14. Crikey.

Well, maybe at least we can stop worrying about global warming now and move right along to global catastrophic climate change.

:scared:

[truedelphi]

16. A scenario that was developed via computer model

A decade before anyone thought about a "Global Climate Change" looked into what would ever happen if the ocean's currents were to all stall out. It was done as a lark - you know how young scientists can be when they have too much time on their hands.

In the model, the two young scientists conceived of a Global Warming event so severe that all currents stalled.

Once the currents stalled, viruses and bacteria flourished. Weather became a constant - in other words, whatever weather your region faced the week that the currents stalled would be that region's weather for good. (Stagnant oceans just are not good for anything.)

However, if you were say, living in Chicago and facing temps of five degrees F., not to worry. The plagues that would take over would soon end your misery. And if not the plagues, then the famine.

Unfortunately, I lost the file that I had created, so I no longer know the name of those two scientists. And I doubt they got much credit - the notion that we were heading into anything but another mini-Ice Age was the rage back in the day.

[Donnachaidh]

2. kick and Rec! n/t

[WillyT]

3. K & R !!!

:kick:

[highplainsdem]

4. K&R

[HCE SuiGeneris]

5. But, but... the EPA "believes" Corexit is not harmful

We are SAFE!!!

[mod mom]

7. FDA says dispersant seafood safe to eat:

FDA finds low risk of dispersants on seafood

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration says chemical dispersants used to break up oil in the Gulf of Mexico have a low potential for accumulating in seafood, and do not pose a public health concern.

-snip


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38581723/ns/us_news-environment

I say let those who say this feast on it and I'll see where they are in a year. :eyes:

[HCE SuiGeneris]

8. Reports on filter feeders (crabs) do not jive with EPA 'beliefs'

http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2010/06/research_discovers_oil_droplet.html

[another saigon]

15. yep

you will never see this addressed on M$M...

<snip>

The finding represents one of the first examples of how oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill is moving into the Gulf of Mexico's food chain. The larval crabs are eaten by all kinds of fish, from speckled trout to whale sharks, as well as by shore birds.

The tiny droplets are visible under the transparent shells of the 2-millimeter-sized crabs collected in Davis Bayou, said Harriet Perry, director for the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratorys Center for Fisheries Research and Development.

The research lab is working with Tulane University on a study that includes Davis Bayou in Ocean Springs.

"In all the years we've collected, I've never seen anything like that, said Perry. "Just to make sure, we did send some of the megalopa (the post-larval crabs) to a testing firm in Pensacola and the droplets we saw were hydrocarbons."





in the same paper...

Haley Barbour says Mississippi surf, sand and seafood are safe




The Associated Press The Associated Press

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says he's encouraged by reports that less than a quarter of the oil spewed from the broken well in the Gulf remains there.

JACKSON, Miss. -- Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour says he's encouraged by a federal report that only about one-fourth of the spilled oil from a blown-out BP well still remains in the Gulf of Mexico.

Crews are working to permanently cap the well, which gushed oil into the Gulf for 85 days before a temporary cap was installed July 15.

Barbour told reporters Wednesday in Jackson that officials have seen a great reduction in the amount of oil approaching the state's barrier islands and the Mississippi Sound.

The Republican governor says Mississippi coastal waters are clear, the beaches are clean and the seafood caught in the Gulf is safe to eat.

He said the seafood has been "tested more than any other food in the history of the universe."

[spanone]

6. sadly, so do i.

[Desertrose]

9. You mean the White House is LYING to us?

Please.... tell me it isn't so. :eyes:

Seems like no matter who gets elected...the lies continue.
That sucks.

[L0oniX]

18. After the Jessica Lynch lie ...no one should believe anything from the government.

[me b zola]

10. K&R

[indepat]

11. Thank you, scientists, there must be a skunk in the works for something

emanating from high places and the media stinks to high heaven. :P

[Kurovski]

12. Kick(nt)

[Poboy]

13. k&r

[L0oniX]

17. I dumped a quart of 5-30 SAE in my pool and it evaporated.

I have a nice bridge for sale too.

[Curmudgeoness]

19. "a premature rush to declare mission accomplished"...

this is exactly what I have been thinking. Let's just get this "little disaster" out of the way and move on. This oil spill news is just a downer.

[flyarm]

20. another words this white house is full of horse shit! And this report is nothing but a pile of

horse shit!