Mardi Gras: Beads, Bands…And BP Oil
Via DeSmogBlog:
More than one million tourists have flocked to the South for Mardi Gras, and hundreds of thousands of those revelers have settled in for a few days along the Gulf Coast. Those who decided to enjoy the festivities along the Gulf of Mexico might be in for something they didnt expect: oil tar mats.
On Thursday of last week, workers on Pensacola Beach, Florida spotted and brought to shore a 1,200 pound oil tar mat, which officials say accounted for about 90% of the total size of the mat. While the bulk of the mat was a mixture of sand and other debris, scientists ran tests and were quickly able to determine that the oil in the mat was a perfect match for the oil released into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, as the Pensacola News Journal explains:
The weathered oil from the tar mat was confirmed to be MC-252 oil from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Although the waters of the Gulf of Mexico were once scoured regularly for residual oil from the spill, physical searches were phased out as the number of sightings began to dwindle.
In the summer of 2013, BP pulled their cleanup crews from the Gulf Coast, assuring residents and tourists alike that the oil spill was all cleaned up. A few months later, the U.S. Coast Guard made similar claims to the public.
Furthermore, the public was assured as early as May 2010 just one month after the oil leak began that the majority of the oil would simply dissolve into the Gulf of Mexico. This latest tar mat is undeniable evidence that oil from BPs disaster still remains in the Gulf.
The public was grossly misled about what it actually means for oil to dissolve. It may not be visible to the eye, but dissolved oil remains in the water just as sugar dissolves in coffee; the chemicals are still there, just not in the concentration or consistency that they were before.
Proof of this dissolution is evident in the marine life abnormalities that are creeping up in the Gulf of Mexico, even in areas in South Florida that were unaffected by the spill.
Full story can be viewed on DeSmogBlog.com.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)One point about the OP...
Where it claims "...even in areas in South Florida that were unaffected by the spill.".... Should be changed to "...areas that until now were not affected by the spill".
It is spreading and will be spreading for a long, long time.
bluedigger
(17,086 posts)Just how many hotel rooms does the author think there are in New Orleans? If they can't begin their article with a credible first sentence, then they are doing no favors to the environmental movement.
GoLeft TV
(3,910 posts)If you'd bother to check the original source on DeSmogBlog, there is a link to the source. And nowhere in the article did I say that one million people went to New Orleans, you made that part up yourself. As a resident of Pensacola Beach, I know both the horrible lasting impact of the oil spill, as well as the ridiculous crowds that show up for Mardi Gras, so you need to just calm down, take a deep breath, and go check the sources before you make yourself look like an ass in the future. - FC