In gulf oil spill's long reach, ecological damage could last decades

[Beacool]

By Joel Achenbach and David Brown
Sunday, June 6, 2010

Snorkeling along a coral reef near Veracruz, Mexico, in 2002, Texas biologist Wes Tunnell spotted what looked like a ledge of rock covered in sand, shells, algae and hermit crabs. He knew, from years of research at the reef, that it probably wasn't a rock at all. He stabbed it with his diving knife. His blade pulled up gunk.

Sure enough, it was tar from the Ixtoc spill," Tunnell said.

Twenty-three years earlier, in 1979, an oil well named Ixtoc I had a blowout in 150 feet of water in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The Mexican national oil company Pemex tried to kill the well with drilling mud, and then with steel and lead balls dropped into the wellbore. It tried to contain the oil with a cap nicknamed The Sombrero. Finally, after 290 days, a relief well plugged the hole with cement and the spill came to an end -- but only after polluting the gulf with 138 million gallons of crude.

That remains the worst accidental oil spill in history -- but the Deepwater Horizon blowout off the Louisiana coast is rapidly gaining on it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/05/AR2010060503987_2.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2010060601709

The damage to the ecosystem is just heartbreaking. Seeing so many birds covered in oil and the white beaches of Pensacola dotted with oil globs is beyond sad.

:cry:

[ProSense]

1. " after 290 days, a relief well plugged the hole with cement and the spill came to an end "

Let's hope BP can end this in a shorter period of time. The tragedy was inevitable the minute the well exploded.

[Beacool]

2. More depressing info. in the article.

Every oil spill has unique features, from the geography to the chemical makeup of the oil, which can vary dramatically in toxicity. The Deepwater Horizon spill has the distinction of being the deepest blowout in history. Also unique has been the huge quantity of chemical dispersants sprayed on the surface and at the leak on the seafloor. There's little scientific understanding of how the dispersants might affect the deep-water ecosystem.

Coral reefs, only recently studied, can take centuries to develop in the cold, oxygen-poor depths; there are several such reefs directly beneath the oil slick. Deep plumes of oil have been reported in preliminary research by scientists on research vessels. As bacteria feast on the oil they could deplete the oxygen levels further, creating unusually deep "dead zones."

"If you're a creature that can't move, it's not good," Overton said.

:-(

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

3. Go to prince william sound and dig into the sand with a shovel... you find oil.

It might LOOK ok, but under large rocks and only a few inches under the surface you'll find sticky tar and oil.

That was 21 years ago and the spill was a fraction of the size.
This spill will affect the underwater reefs, aquatic life, and beaches for quite some time.
There is no "qiuck or easy fix"... sometimes you just screw the pooch.

[Beacool]

4. And let's just hope that it doesn't travel up the loop current.

It would destroy the Florida Keys and the Atlantic seacoast all the way up to N. Carolina. Ever dove for lobster in the Keys?

;(

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. that one took 9 months