Monday, August 2, 2010

Was BP (NYSE:BP) Oil Spill an Environmental Disaster?

The hype of the media over the unproven assertion the BP (NYSE:BP) oil spill was an environmental disaster brings into question their integrity, research and sources, as now that the oil spill has been contained, the amount of oil in the Gulf has been found to be minimal, and the alleged damage to the coastlines and animals far less than originally reported and thought.

Many scientists and university professors are now calling into question whether the idea that this is really an environmental disaster is true. Facts are beginning to reveal that it isn't even close to that.

Two examples of that as far as wildlife goes, is the total death could of three dolphins. That's not a misprint or guess, that's the total count wildlife rescue teams found. And when compared with the damage from the Exxon Valdez in Alaska, the number of birds perishing have been less than one percent of that disaster.

While there has been some damage to coastlines, again, it is far less than it was thought to be, undermining the environmental disaster narrative that was assumed but never proven. Now we know it's not true at all, when measured by the degree of hype.

Incredibly, only 350 acres of wetlands in Louisiana have been found to contain oil by teams patrolling the area.

How could it be missed by such a large range, and why was the natural ability of the Gulf of Mexico to heal itself mocked so much when it was suggested by Rush Limbaugh, other than the obvious dislike by many of the conservative commentator?

Part of it was the ignorance of the media and general population over the unique factors which make the Gulf able to digest so much of the damage. That primarily includes the relationship between warm water and the oil-digesting microbes, which thrive and multiply exponentially in times like this, with oil being a major food source for them.

Oil naturally seeps into the Gulf waters all the time, and it's not an insignificant amount. Microbes have been feeding on the oil indefinitely, and it was simply a matter of adapting to the circumstances to handle the larger amount.

Some raged that the microbes could never keep up with the unknown but significant amount of oil spilling into the Gulf. They were obviously wrong.

Evaporation was the other major element, which is estimated to remove up to 40 percent of the oil released into the Gulf.

Skimming boats were, for the most part, an irrelevant factor, accounting under the highest end of estimates, for only 2 percent of the removal of oil, but probably much less.

Dispersants probably helped in the sense of breaking down the oil to make it easier and quicker for the microbes to eat. Evidence the microbes have been eating the dispersants as well bodes well for its future use, in spite of the hysteria from clueless environmentalists that it would would cause more damage than help.

The bottom line is the media hyped this story far beyond what it really was in regard to environmental damage to attract eyeballs. There's no doubt about that as the facts emerge. Either that or they're completely inept. Which title do they want to assume?

All of this focus on BP seems to be the government attempting to hide the fact that for decades, under all administration, state and federal, the region has pursued oil and gas as a major source of job creation and revenue.

Now they're attempting to demonize BP in order to call attention away from the fact they're the ones that have been behind it since drilling for oil began.

I don't begrudge them that, what I do begrudge is they're blatant attempt to distance themselves from something that has been government policy, on the state and federal level, for decades.

It'll be very interesting to see how the Obama administration decides how to use this going forward. If they measure it by the amount of oil that supposedly entered into the Gulf waters, it'll show they're using it to their own benefit, as that is meaningless in regard to damage caused from oil spill.

If they do the right thing, which is doubtful, they'll measure the actual damage and go on from there. There is no way to even guess as to how much oil left the oil well because the Gulf of Mexico is healing itself at an extremely rapid pace.

That should be included in assessing fines and costs related to damages.

We'll see the environmentalists scream loud over the next couple of weeks in order to drown out the facts, as they want to tap into the billions they're asking for from BP to, in reality, pay for the very real damages not associated with the oil spill that has been wrecking the coastlines for many years.

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