White House says 75 percent of spilled oil gone

[Guest oldsmobile98]

White House says 75 percent of spilled oil gone | News Virginian

White House says 75 percent of spilled oil gone

By AP Staff Reports | ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: August 04, 2010

NEW ORLEANS -- Government scientists say three-quarters of the oil from BP's massive spill has been cleaned up or broken down by natural forces.

White House energy adviser Carol Browner said on morning TV talk shows today that a new assessment found that about 75 percent of the oil has either been captured, burned off, evaporated or broken down in the Gulf of Mexico.

Browner welcomed news early today from BP PLC that it has plugged the broken well with heavy mud. The oil giant called it ia [sic] milestone in ending the spill that started with an April 20 drill rig explosion off Louisiana that killed 11 workers.

-- The Associated Press

[Mike.357]

Thanks George Bush. ( if he gets the blame when the bad happened, only fair to credit him with the good)

[MacGyver]

Nothing to see here. Get those rigs moving. We've got to drilling to get back to.

Wait a minute.

Where did the oil go?

Really guys? Seriously?

[dats82]

Wait a minute.

Where did the oil go?

Really guys? Seriously?

My thoughts excactly. I know oil will break down but not in a matter of three months.

How can they say 75% is gone when they really have no idea how much was actually spilled.

[Guest GT_Rat]

75% is gone. As in, they don't know where it went.

[Oh Shoot]

Unprecedented "carpet bombing" of Corexit, and like everything else, BP's estimate of how much was used is highly suspect.

I'm thinking we've not heard the other shoe drop as to effect.

- OS

[mikegideon]

It doesn't matter if the oil is still in the Gulf. It matters if it's concentrated. If it's evenly dispersed, but still there, the concentration is so low that it's not toxic. The total volume of oil from the spill is miniscule compared to the total volume of water in the Gulf. The ratio is like 3 billion to one. If they can't find concentrations of it, it's effectively gone.

Do you really think a bunch of liberals, that tend to be over the top on eviromental issues, are gonna play it down? Their job is to play it up.

EDIT: You can't compare this to the Valdez spill...

1. Heavy use of dispersants at the source

2. Much higher water temps (more bacteria activity, more evaporation)

3. Lighter grade of crude

4. Much more aggressive collection effort

Not trying to defend the white house here, because they have screwed up alot. Just saying the number is believable.

Edited August 5, 2010 by mikegideon

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Now, get back to letting those rigs drill again. The mega proportion disaster is over

no thanks to the good people in the Administration. They were more in the way.

Even democrats said that. Time to move on and whipping BP.

[mikegideon]

Now, get back to letting those rigs drill again. The mega proportion disaster is over

no thanks to the good people in the Administration. They were more in the way.

Even democrats said that. Time to move on and whipping BP.

They should have never stopped the drilling. The administration did some things right, even if the result was that they were in the way sometimes. This would have turned out differently if BP had been left to their own devices. It ain't over yet, even if the remaining oil takes care of itself. I think the BP whipping probably is over with if they don't try to weasel out of their financial obligations.

[dats82]

IDo you really think a bunch of liberals, that tend to be over the top on eviromental issues, are gonna play it down? Their job is to play it up.

When they are under fire for how they have handled the situation and want to make it look as good as possible, YES.

[MacGyver]

Looks like the "scientists" quoted by the administration are crying foul today:

Gulf oil spill: White House accused of spinning report | Environment | The Guardian

[mikegideon]

Looks like the "scientists" quoted by the administration are crying foul today:

Gulf oil spill: White House accused of spinning report | Environment | The Guardian

"Still there. It's just in a dissolved, dispersed form". If they can't find any concentrations in parts per million, it's gone. Chlorine is extremely toxic, and we drink it every day.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

They should have never stopped the drilling. The administration did some things right, even if the result was that they were in the way sometimes. This would have turned out differently if BP had been left to their own devices. It ain't over yet, even if the remaining oil takes care of itself. I think the BP whipping probably is over with if they don't try to weasel out of their financial obligations.

I can't think of a single thing the admin did right except extort money and play golf, etc.

their blue ribbon panel was madse up of enviro-nerds, no petro geologists, plenty

of Carol Browner type of the Birkenstock crowd. Obama contributed negative to the

incident, when foreign countries offered services and he pandered to his union thugs.

Oh yeah, Paul McCartney gave good advice, too.

If public officials with management experience were in charge, this would have been

dealt with 60 days sooner. The only thing Obama and his cronies did was milk this

until it went south on them. There are plenty of oil and gas experts out there without

consulting National Geographic and Al Gore, that would have done a superb job repairing

this problem.

[MacGyver]

"Still there. It's just in a dissolved, dispersed form". If they can't find any concentrations in parts per million, it's gone. Chlorine is extremely toxic, and we drink it every day.

If this report came out three months from now, I wouldn't necessarily disagree. And, I certainly agree that a lot of the oil is in a fairly dispersed form. They pumped enough dispersant in there to break up anything petroleum based. I'm suprised it wasn't disolving the gel coat and bottom paint on the boats at the scene.

I just think it may have been more appropriate to look in a few more places before making the call - esprecially since it came on the day that they were pumping cement into the first relief well. If I recall the article correctly, they were looking at distances from 2-100km. I saw fishing boats coming in with significant oil fouling on their hulls last weekend over 200 miles away from the rig.

[mikegideon]

I can't think of a single thing the admin did right except extort money and play golf, etc.

their blue ribbon panel was madse up of enviro-nerds, no petro geologists, plenty

of Carol Browner type of the Birkenstock crowd. Obama contributed negative to the

incident, when foreign countries offered services and he pandered to his union thugs.

Oh yeah, Paul McCartney gave good advice, too.

If public officials with management experience were in charge, this would have been

dealt with 60 days sooner. The only thing Obama and his cronies did was milk this

until it went south on them. There are plenty of oil and gas experts out there without

consulting National Geographic and Al Gore, that would have done a superb job repairing

this problem.

Extort money? Play golf? Went South? Nazi! Under BP's oversight, the well blew up and dumped a record quantity of oil into the Gulf. Are you saying the govenment should have just left them alone? They made a lot of mistakes, but we still have a lot of white sand, the well is capped, and people are going to be compensated for BP's screwup.

I think they may have gone over the top on the eggheads too, but WHO are you gonna get? More oil guys? I'm not an Obama fan these days, but some folks are gonna bash him when he's doing things right out of Reagan's playbook.

[mikegideon]

If this report came out three months from now, I wouldn't necessarily disagree. And, I certainly agree that a lot of the oil is in a fairly dispersed form. They pumped enough dispersant in there to break up anything petroleum based. I'm suprised it wasn't disolving the gel coat and bottom paint on the boats at the scene.

I just think it may have been more appropriate to look in a few more places before making the call - esprecially since it came on the day that they were pumping cement into the first relief well. If I recall the article correctly, they were looking at distances from 2-100km. I saw fishing boats coming in with significant oil fouling on their hulls last weekend over 200 miles away from the rig.

It would be crazy to think it's ALL gone. There are some physics on our side though. It's happening in a big pool of warm water with lots of currents. I don't think anybody knows how much concentrated oil is still out there. It IS fair to say that the Gulf is digesting it faster than expected if that's what everybody is seeing. The volume of water in the Gulf really is roughly 3.9 billion times the volume of the entire spill. I didn't just hear that either. I looked it up. If it sounds like I'm agreeing with Limbaugh, it's because I kinda am (without totally ignoring science).

[MacGyver]

It would be crazy to think it's ALL gone. There are some physics on our side though. It's happening in a big pool of warm water with lots of currents. I don't think anybody knows how much concentrated oil is still out there. It IS fair to say that the Gulf is digesting it faster than expected if that's what everybody is seeing. The volume of water in the Gulf really is roughly 3.9 billion times the volume of the entire spill. I didn't just hear that either. I looked it up. If it sounds like I'm agreeing with Limbaugh, it's because I kinda am (without totally ignoring science).

The engineer in me totally agrees. The impact a year from now should be limited to cleaning up beaches and some local economies. I just think it took some gall and a firm belief in the stupidity of the American public to say that when they did.

That said, I find it ironic that some of the scientists claiming they were misquoted didn't learn their lessons after complaining about being misquoted when the administration put the moratorium in place. Fool me once...

[mikegideon]

The engineer in me totally agrees. The impact a year from now should be limited to cleaning up beaches and some local economies. I just think it took some gall and a firm belief in the stupidity of the American public to say that when they did.

That said, I find it ironic that some of the scientists claiming they were misquoted didn't learn their lessons after complaining about being misquoted when the administration put the moratorium in place. Fool me once...

Let's don't forget how bad the media is at jumbling facts, including the "he saids" from folks that are probably not the ones qualified to speak. If they're having a hard time finding oil to skim, it's great news. They're geared up for a long cleanup, so for once, maybe they won't leave something undone

[Rightwinger]

The reports coming out last week when they were looking for the under surface plumes was that the oil eating microbes had done a much better job than expected. The only portion of the oil they can't exist on is the heavier stuff getting close to tar and asphalt.

My worry is growing a super cell of hungry microbes over some of the largest reserves that might have leaks could result in all that oil getting gobbled up.

[MacGyver]

Let's don't forget how bad the media is at jumbling facts, including the "he saids" from folks that are probably not the ones qualified to speak. If they're having a hard time finding oil to skim, it's great news. They're geared up for a long cleanup, so for once, maybe they won't leave something undone

I hope you're right.

[mikegideon]

The reports coming out last week when they were looking for the under surface plumes was that the oil eating microbes had done a much better job than expected. The only portion of the oil they can't exist on is the heavier stuff getting close to tar and asphalt.

My worry is growing a super cell of hungry microbes over some of the largest reserves that might have leaks could result in all that oil getting gobbled up.

I'm an aquarium guy. Bacteria population will tend to regulate based on the available food. Since they have a relatively short life cycle, you don't wind up with a bunch of extra ones hunting for food. I'm not a biologist, but that's how I understand it. In an aquarium, you have one strain that eats ammonia and turns it into nitrite, and another strain that turns nitrite into nitrate. You can watch the population grow in a new tank by measuring ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. When the tank reaches balance, the ammonia level, then nitrite level drops to zero. It's two seperate populations. The ammonia eaters just eat ammonia.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Yes, Mike. The gov did everything

they could to get in the way of BP and people cleaning this up in order

to kill offshore drilling. The admin has

had a goal of shutting down oil and

gas production in the gulf to further

kill our economy. To them it was an

accident of opportunity to do just that. Not releasing skimmers. The

Jones Act. How much do you need

to see that?

Do you really think this couldn't have

been done better? This was just an

opportunity to cap and trade, and green our economy. Obama didn't

do anything but get in the way.

[mikegideon]

Yes, Mike. The gov did everything

they could to get in the way of BP and people cleaning this up in order

to kill offshore drilling. The admin has

had a goal of shutting down oil and

gas production in the gulf to further

kill our economy. To them it was an

accident of opportunity to do just that. Not releasing skimmers. The

Jones Act. How much do you need

to see that?

Do you really think this couldn't have

been done better? This was just an

opportunity to cap and trade, and green our economy. Obama didn't

do anything but get in the way.

I'm running out of places to put antennas . This doesn't make any sense. IF they finish destroying the economy, it will be due to more incompetence, not because it's their goal. Obama freely admits that we HAVE to keep drilling off shore.

To say Obama did nothing good is easy to repeat when you're not sitting on the Gulf with a bankrupt business. Obama cost BP lots of money, but they owed it. If I had to bet, the long term damage will be minimal.

[Guest HvyMtl]

I will believe it when no more oil washes ashore. I will believe it when the fish and wildlife of the gulf recover and are safe to consume again.

[eapking]

Stopping the drilling was just a show that hurt more folks. It helped do nothing. It was really the only thing The Big O did the whole time, and it really had nothing to do with the real problem. Typical.