Oil Degradation in Sea Water

Thank you for the link. I didnt realize that crude degraded that quickly in the ocean. I thought it stayed the same for a much longer time span.

I was sitting in the doctor's office this morning, waiting for my wife. All their magazines are old and/or weird. The best thing I could find was a 2008 Popular Mechanics. It explained how safe deep water drilling was and how they had a blowout preventer to make sure nothing could possibly go wrong.

Blowout preventer, like any other protection works well if installed and maintained properly.

On my last visit on an oil platform in the gulf of Mexico a few years ago, the Pemex's chief electrical engineer explained to me the great responsibility that he and two other colleagues had to check this valve everyday. They were convinced that their lives depended on it. It used three independent actuators, electrical, hydraulic and mechanical (manual). Each section tested by the department chief! At the time I understood that it was mostly to prevent H2S leaks - that gas kills you in a few heartbeats - but we now know that it is much more than that.

It looks like that all the BP's of this world need proper education regarding the importance of the safety features built in those platforms and their proper maintenance.

Protective devices always look like a waste of time and money in the eyes of the ignorants.

There is one issue touched on in the article that deserves some thought. If the dispersants are toxic to the marine life that is involved in breaking down the oil, then the use of it would be self-defeating. I guess they wouldn't use it though if that was the case...

I did some reading recently about the organisms involved in breaking down oil in the ocean (there are many more involved on shore). The ocean species such as Alcanivorax and Marinobacter are always present in the ocean but in very low population densities.. they bloom only in the presence of oil.

Also, adding fertilizer can help to get the bioremediation going.

The warning on the dispersants was something like extended contact may cause irritation or something like that? Sounds like it isn't too bad. My complaint is that the greens go into high whine first, put out all sorts of propaganda first and see what sticks. İn their own way they are often just as misleading as a company can be - but generally with a lot less knowledge.

The dispersant warning sounds like it is re: human usage. I did a little search but didn't find any experimental work on the effects of dispersant on those microorganisms. I don't know the name of the dispersant/chemical, that was reported as a toxicity concern without giving the specifics.

I hear what you're saying about "greens". In my opinion it is a shame that honest and qualified people with environmental interests or concerns are often lumped in with the crap artists - the propagandists you are talking about. There are organizations that make their money entirely by using bogus and sensationalist claims to get donations from their disinformed public. They choose their issues based on the funds they can raise in the campaign, not because there is any real ecological importance. There are groups that don't even show a basic understanding of ecology, raking in money to promote emotionally-based actions that cause more harm than good. It's ridiculous.

In a case like this oil spill, I don't have a problem with people who first of all identify what are all the possible issues, and then examine the facts and pare it down to the real issues and feasible ways to mitigate, prevent, remediate. The media, as well as your 'green whiners', can skew that process of identifying the issues, and turn it into a false alarm to sell their story. It seems crazy to me, that a reporter wouldn't go for the "a lot more knowledge" approach - name the dispersant and identify the toxicity issues right off the bat. But sadly much press is feeding on the distress of everyone about the spill. Vague stories generate interest in the subject without satisfying the desire for knowledge - so the reader is left wondering, and will keep looking for new stories about it...