BP Oil Spill Could Affect Eastern Seaboard

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

New Orleans, LA: As the impact of the BP oil spill continues to grow, and oil continues to ooze unimpeded from the wreckage of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, experts are worried that the Loop Current, which travels north into the Gulf, could pick up the slick and carry it toward Florida, through the keys, around the Florida panhandle and up the eastern seaboard.

The Loop Current begins in the Caribbean and travels clockwise up to the mighty Gulf Stream, which runs along the eastern seaboard of the US and into Canada. Currently the uncapped wellhead is sitting roughly 5,000 feet underwater and is spewing 210,000 gallons, or 794,937 liters, of crude oil into the Gulf every day. But if this oil gets picked up by the Loop, the scope of the disaster could broaden, affecting the eastern seaboard as far north as Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.

"If oil is swept up into the Loop Current—which moves at about 3.3 to 6.5 feet (one to two meters) a second—there's essentially no way to stop it," Tony Sturges, professor emeritus in oceanography at Florida State University, told National Geographic. "Once [oil] gets into the loop current, you can bet the farm it will go around to the south" of the Florida Peninsula and into the Gulf Stream." Florida should be bracing for the worst, he added. The noxious oil could get pulled into estuaries, harbors and coastal waterways, affecting nurseries for valuable fisheries.

http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/14079/BP-Oil-Spill-Could-Affect-Eastern-Seaboard.html

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

No worries. I understand that Rush figured it all out already: Ocean water is tough. It's gonna deal with the oil no problem. Need proof? Try to live in ocean water for awhile. It's what he said, so it must be true.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

No worries. I understand that Rush figured it all out already: Ocean water is tough. It's gonna deal with the oil no problem. Need proof? Try to live in ocean water for awhile. It's what he said, so it must be true.

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201005030032

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201005030032

Yep, that one. Rush's a genius, isn't he?

[spookyturtle 9,466]

This makes me feel better. What would be really good is if we could get rid of all the water in the oceans and fill them with oil instead. Then it would be easier to pump out and refine. The Pacific could be crude oil, the Atlantic gasoline, the Indian diesel, etc.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

This makes me feel better.

No problem, man.

[Niels Bohr 72]

I hope it won't affect the fishing area this summer! I was so looking forward to fishing this summer.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

LOL... Cmon.

Are you really going to be that stupid and re-post something from MediaMatters and then blame it on Rush?

I swear, typical leftist stupidity when it comes to Rush Limbaugh. The man was copying after that Democrat idiot who was saying it would clean itself up and everything would be fine.

The only further point he made was that those who said it would take 50 years to clean up completely were idiots as well as the Exxon-Valdez spill area is already returning to life as it was before the spill....

That's all. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Of course of you who read things like MediaMatters for your news instead of listening to the full story, will always post bullshit that some half-brained nit-wit posted to try and stir controversy.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

LOL... Cmon.

Are you really going to be that stupid and re-post something from MediaMatters and then blame it on Rush?

I swear, typical leftist stupidity when it comes to Rush Limbaugh. The man was copying after that Democrat idiot who was saying it would clean itself up and everything would be fine.

The only further point he made was that those who said it would take 50 years to clean up completely were idiots as well as the Exxon-Valdez spill area is already returning to life as it was before the spill....

That's all. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Of course of you who read things like MediaMatters for your news instead of listening to the full story, will always post bullshit that some half-brained nit-wit posted to try and stir controversy.

I blame the spill on Rush. And I'm sure if it is scrutinized closely, it's probably Bush's fault.

[Peikko 1,575]

Exxon-Valdez actually has it's own website to monitor the recovery - it's great that things are improving but to say everything is back to normal? And we are 20 years past the event! Oil spills of this magnitude can have a truly devastating impact - it all depends on the sensitivity of the area, the species that are present, the time of year, the weather etc, etc etc.

Small extract in case you don't want to read the whole thing:

In November 1994, the Trustee Council adopted an official list of resources and services injured by the spill as part of its Restoration Plan. When the Restoration Plan was first drafted, the distinction between the effects of the spill and the effects of other natural or human-caused stressors on injured natural resources or services was not clearly delineated. The spill was recent, the impact to the spill-area ecosystem was profound, and adverse effects of the oil on biological resources were readily apparent. As time passes, however, the ability to distinguish the effects of the oil from other factors affecting fish and wildlife populations becomes more difficult.

Through hundreds of studies conducted over the past 20 years, we have come to understand that the Prince William Sound ecosystem is incredibly complex and the interactions between a changing environment and the injured resources and services are only beginning to be understood. For example, seabirds will have difficulty recovering without the recovery of herring, which is a vital food source; species in the intertidal zone will continue to be compromised until we can determine the amount and distribution of lingering oil; and human services cannot be recovered until rockfish, herring, and cutthroat trout are recovered. These complexities, and the difficulties in measuring continuing impacts from the spill, mean that determinations about the status of a resource or service contain some inherent uncertainty.

Now, 20 years after the spill, there are two species that continue to be listed as “not recovered,” ten species and four services listed as “recovering” (including Barrow’s goldeneyes, added to the list in 2008 based on their continuing exposure to oil), five listed as “unknown,” and ten listed as “recovered.” (See table below).

Link