Nearly 80% of Spilled Oil Still Threatens Gulf

http://news.discovery.com/earth/report-nearly-80-percent-of-spilled-oil-still-threatens-gulf.html

Excerpts from the Discovery News article, written by Michael Reilly:

"Most of the oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year is still there, and poses a sizable risk to the marine ecosystem, according to a report issued yesterday by a group of independent marine scientists.

"Of the 4.1 million barrels of oil spilled during the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the researcher estimate between 70 and 79 percent remains in the water. The new calculations are a marked difference from a government report issued on August 4 which argued that just 26 percent of the oil was "residual" in the water.

"Media reports quickly picked up on this figure, and made it sound as though the vast majority of oil had simply disappeared. Jane Lubchenco, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, appeared to be hedging her bets when she said, "At least 50 percent of the oil that was released is now completely gone from the system, and most of the remainder is degrading rapidly or is being removed from the beaches." .....

The new report, authored by a mix of oceanographers at the University of Georgia and the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography called such characterizations "largely inaccurate and misleading

I also recommend reading Washington's blog today. He has 2 very interesting articles posted. One concerns the finding by University of Florida Marine scientists that oil is extensively present in dispersed form beneath the surface of the ocean. This dispersed form poses a potentially significant threat to sea life and, for humans, sea food due to bio-accumulation.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/