BP Oil Spill: Clean-Up Crews Can't Find Crude in the Gulf

ABC ^ | July 26, 2010 | BRADLEY BLACKBURN

[PilotDave]

The numbers don't lie: two weeks ago, skimmers picked up about 25,000 barrels of oily water. Last Thursday, they gathered just 200 barrels.

Still, it doesn't mean that all the oil that gushed for weeks is gone. Thousands of small oil patches remain below the surface, but experts say an astonishing amount has disappeared, reabsorbed into the environment.

"[It's] mother nature doing her job," said Ed Overton, a professor of environmental studies at Louisiana State University.

[PilotDave]

An oil spill in the gulf of Mexico over the summertime doesn't stand much of a chance. 90 degree surface water, 100' sun is much different than Prince William sound. Poof, evaporation happens fast. BTW- I call BS on this oil below the surface crap. Until somebody can fully explain how oil, which is lighter than water, and therefore will float ontop the water, can remain under the water, I'm calling BS as in MSM lies!

[HereInTheHeartland]

“which is lighter than water, and therefore will float ontop the water, can remain under the water”

Dispersant's sprayed on it would be the answer. The idea is that the dispersant's basically just made the oil sink; out of sight, out of mind.

I do not that this is for sure the case; but that has been widely speculated.

[Uncle Ike]

” “[It’s] mother nature doing her job,” said Ed Overton, a professor of environmental studies “

No, no, NO!!!

“Mother Nature is the helpless victim of man’s (specifically anglo-saxon American man’s) depredations!!”

(And this guy claims to be a ‘perfesser uv unvironMENTAL steddys... Sheeesh!!)

/really laying it on thick sarc...

[Deaf Smith]

Have/had BP been deploying air observers to direct the skimming crews, or were they on their own to find the oil slicks?

[Parley Baer]

Backs up what Rush was saying. Now if Obama had put the skimmers to work right away most of this drama would not have occurred.

[PilotDave]

Dozens of planes launch everyday to map the spill. One of my friends is doing it now.

[penelopesire]

The dispersents were applied below the surface at the site of the leak. That is why much of the oil is underwater and scattered around the entire gulf. I certainly don’t trust the O Tribe Media to be telling us the truth now either. Remember...their number ONE PRIORITY IS PROTECTING OBAMA AND THE PROGRESSIVES. They don’t care if our Gulf is poisoned or not right now....it’s all about Obama...all the time.

[Deaf Smith]

Is mapping the spill for real time use? Is there a direct communication to skimmers from forward air observers?

[screaminsunshine]

Carvile, Matalin, CNN and Obama have been paid off. Now it will be the ‘Saving of yhe Gulf’. HAHAH.

[PilotDave]

The way I understand it is they fly all afternoon, mostly in twin engine piston planes at about 12,000’. They photo map the gulf, land and process the data overnight and present it to the command center for the daily early morning brief where they come up with the daily skimmer/dispersant plan. Then they do it all over again the next day....

[Species8472]

Dispersant's don't magically make oil heavier than water.

Dispersant's destroy surface tension and break the oil up into smaller droplets, allowing the sun, oxygen, and oil eating microcritters to break it down faster.

[Frenchtown Dan]

“[It’s] mother nature doing her job,” said Ed Overton, a recently escaped and mentally imbalanced patient from Louisiana State University.

What a bunch of psycho babble. Really means - “Don’t ask me, I don’t have a friggin clue”.

[Brilliant]

Yes, but think of all the jobs we’ve created by making BP hire these guys to look for oil that isn’t there?

[PilotDave]

I think the term is “windfall” :o)

[Deaf Smith]

And they found that the slicks weren't where they were 18 hours prior?

Had the use of real time FAO's ever been suggested?

[truthguy]

"[It's] mother nature doing her job," said Ed Overton, a professor of environmental studies at Louisiana State University.

I was going to say the same thing. During WW2 ships were sunk all up and down the eastern seaboard and all over the Pacific. Oil was washed up on beaches all over the place. My mother said she saw this in eastern Virginia and North Carolina during the early days of WW2. But eventually it just seemed to go away as mother nature took care of the problem. My understanding (and I'm far from an expert) is that oil seeps up all the time naturally from the cracks and crevasses in the earth. This is a natural process and mother nature takes care of the problem. Surfers in Santa Barbara have known this for a very long time.

My gut instinct tells me that this isn't as much of a disaster as the news media has told us. I'm hoping this is the case. But you just know if the environmentalists can detect oil even in parts per billion they will make a big deal of it and you can depend on the MSM showing it over and over and over.

[bray]

Where are the schools of dead fish? They even tested the shrimp and found them perfectly fine. Looks like God made a perfect system.

Pray for America

[millerpoger]

This is such a joke! Oil degrades in saltwater in about 22 days depending on the salization quotient. The crime here now that the well is not leaking is the insanity of plugging it,This is the largest well on the nort American contenent.Whynot produce it to benifit our country??What is the rationalefor detroying it now. We need the damned OIL!!

[ThePatriotsFlag]

... dispersants made the oil sink, ... out of sight out of mind. ...

Be careful my friend, you are very close to following the environmental Pied Piper's tune dancing right over the edge. Not all the way, but CLOSE.

The dispersants "disperse" the oil into the water, increasing it's surface area by millions so the oleophilic bacteria can go after the oil (a process that has happened since BEFORE man walked on the pristine beaches!).

The whole story is at The Patriot's Flag - Dispersants and the Piper where I laid out the technology for anyone to be able to follow.

And I was RIGHT ... and I'm muttering "I told you so" under my breath. All the dispersants do is "nudge" Mother Nature into doing HER job better ... but SHE HAS ALWAYS DONE THE JOB ... oil leaks into the worlds oceans every day ... and the reason we still have beaches are the oleophilics.

[Smokin' Joe]

Ping