Oil Spill, REACTION, concerns, ideas, help needed, tell us here, Deep Horizon Blowout

[ricki]

Natural bioremediation has already kicked in (aka "natural attention"), just add food right? Problems will arise once metabolic wastes impair microbe viability. Usually you physically blend, turnover or somehow run exchange fluids through the material you are attempting to remediate. This means bull dozing the wetlands in a more direct approach. A lesser form might be to enhance exchange of fluids over the wetlands, again likely with mixed results. You need to physically disturb the layer of petroleum over roots, in soil and sediment to get oxygen in and wastes out. Washing alone through a wetland is unlikely to accomplish this.

Also, tar balls in saltwater enter a sort of stasis at least when compared to an oil layer. The exterior is resistant to evaporation, UV degradation and even effective consumption by microbes to a degree. Once you break them open through wave action, impact on shore features, heating, etc. fresh, fairly unweathered viscous oil is exposed all over again. The interior of the tar balls can have higher adhesion, send contaminants into solution more readily, cause more problems in general. There could be some promise in bioremediation alternatives to chemical dispersants currently being applied.

Some firms are BIG on promoting "designer bugs" bioengineered to consume particular contaminants. I have no doubt they would love to aerially bombard the impacted wetlands with their "bugs du jour." Trouble is the naturally occurring bugs are probably eating the stuff as fast as they can currently. They'll continue until build up of their waste stunts their populations. Same problem exists with designer bugs.

To my understanding in the context of this spill in wetlands, there are no magic bugs or automatic low impact and rapid bioremediation solutions. Lots of firms will tell you that their bugs are special and will make things all better on a stack of bibles. I've sure seen plenty of the pitches attesting to this over the decades. They doesn't mean there are some viable variants out there or new approaches that might help things. I would just caution against building excessive optimism about the effectiveness of bioremediation as a rapid, low impact and fairly easy cure all.

An AP article discusses some of the daunting realities at:
http://www.theadvertiser.com/article...-be-impossible

Bioremediation is being discussed, searching for "EPA bioremediation BP" yields about 53,000 hits. http://www.google.com/search?client=...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

The EPA even has a publication titled "GUIDELINES FOR THE BIOREMEDIATION OF MARINE SHORELINES
AND FRESHWATER WETLANDS".
http://www.epa.gov/oem/docs/oil/edu/bioremed.pdf

Mother nature will fix this, eventually (decades, longer?) but in what form it will eventually return to and the severity of intervening devastation and spinoff repercussions is a serious matter. We screwed up as a culture, as did our leadership and the petro industry. Now we pay the price, hope it isn't as steep as imagination indicates it could be.

[Unimog Bob]

Actually, my main curiosity was related to your (and anyone else's) take on the response of BP and the government in the LA region. I was curious if others felt the response seemed underwhelming.

Also, I said I was surprised by the lack of media coverage regarding bioremediation. When I say "media", I mean MSM. Your google results show a lack of representation on the topic in the MSM.

Don't worry Rick, I don't fall for speeches from companies about quick cure-alls.

If you are curious, I am not a believer in using "engineered" microbes for bioremediation. I am a believer that "fully qualified" microbes exist in the natural environment "for free" and will thrive in areas that hydrocarbons are deposited. I do feel however that soil analysis and use of fertilizers in an area may help to speed the process and it might prove useful to try this in at least one area. If it proves to speed up recovery, expand the use of the fertilizers. It's one idea (among thousands) that I hope are being discussed and genuinely considered. This situation provides a rare opportunity to try several approaches in different areas, assess the outcomes of each approach, and actually learn something.

Anyway, I hope this all turns out eventually. It's difficult to have faith in this, given the current state of affairs.
Obviously many of us are just beyond pissed at this point.

[BigR]

the keys are f@ck#d, all of that oil is going to funnel thru them, the choke point.

they'll see the most amount of oil than any other spot in FL.

since the simulation shows it narrowing the most in that spot, that must mean it will flow fast. But nonetheless, every drop of oil that makes it into the atlantic goes THRU the Keys FIRST

[b-rad]

well hopefully through the Keys...right on through 7 mile, long key, channel 5 etc...

[ricki]

Until it happens we just don't know just how bad it may become. Look at the dimensions of the plume over near LA, now look at the tendrils that are entrained in the Loop Current near the Dry Tortugas. For now anyway, they are a lot smaller. Any oil/tar transported is bad and the more that makes it over the worse things may become. Local winds and currents will have a lot to do with how much makes it shoreward from the Florida Current. The dynamics of transport into Florida Bay approaching the Tortugas and through island cuts up the Keys is up for interpretation at this advanced point. Prepare for the worst but try to keep hoping for the best. Best not to damn things in advance, bad for tourism, Keys businesses, residents and VISITORS who may miss out on some great conditions. It may or may not come to that at some point but it isn't there yet.

[ricki]

http://www.truthdig.com/



http://image3.examiner.com/i



http://www.worldchanging.com/



Rush from the Panhandle posted this on Facebook. Takes me back ... and sadly forward too.