Oil Leak at Gulf of Mexico Oil Well

[Guest U.S. EPA]

The present study provided an independent, quantitative assessment of acute toxicities of eight dispersants to two aquatic species inhabiting Gulf of Mexico waters. Toxicity was determined as the LC50 derived from standard short term acute tests using standard test species, specifically the Gulf mysid, Americamysis bahia, and the inland silverside, Menidia beryllina. In general, the toxicity values (i.e., LC50s) for mysids ranged over nearly two orders of magnitude and for Menidia over three orders of magnitude. Given the expected range of inter-laboratory variability, the results of the present study were consistent with test results reported in the NCP Product Schedule, with the exception of two dispersants for each test species which yielded higher LC50s (i.e., lower toxicity) than reported in the NCP. The rank order toxicity of the eight dispersants was generally similar to the information provided in the NCP Product Schedule. For both test species, Dispersit SPC1000 was the most toxic and JD-2000 the least toxic. The other six dispersants varied in relative toxicity to mysids and Menidia, with LC50 values ranging from 20 to 130 ppm. Overall, the dispersants were classified as being slightly toxic to practically nontoxic to both test species, with the exception that Dispersit SPC1000 would be considered moderately toxic to Menidia. Corexit 9500A, the dispersant currently applied offshore at the surface and underwater, falls into the slightly toxic category for mysids and the practically nontoxic category for Menidia.

 

http://www.epa.gov/b...nal.6.30.10.pdf

[Guest Newbie Investor]

The 50 per cent slump in BP's share price since the gulf tragedy has made it increasingly vulnerable to a takeover, although there is little enthusiasm among potential bidders to move in until the crisis eases. It might be good time to buy. Any thoughts?

[Guest DCpages Staff]

Current Air Quality along the Gulf Coast

 

The EPA is monitoring air quality in the Gulf region. They have created a web page with maps and charts that show current ozone and fine particulate Air Quality Index values at air quality monitors located along the Gulf coast. These maps and charts are updated hourly to show the most recent conditions.

 

http://gulfcoast.airnowtech.org/

[Guest JTA]

Now they're saying they're not sure the first relief well is even going to work!!!

Cross your fingers!

[Guest Fedup]

Now they're saying they're not sure the first relief well is even going to work!!!

Cross your fingers!

 

 

WHAT?????

[Guest Larry]

Keith Seilhan, BP's incident commander says for the public to be patient. All the beaches will be cleaned up at no expense to the taxpayer.

 

http://bp.concerts.com/gom/beaches60_062110.htm

[Guest JTA]

The 50 per cent slump in BP's share price since the gulf tragedy has made it increasingly vulnerable to a takeover, although there is little enthusiasm among potential bidders to move in until the crisis eases. It might be good time to buy. Any thoughts?

 

I think it would be a good time to buy simply because this catastrophe is not going to put an end to BP as we know it. BP is a huge multinational that is not going out of business anytime soon.

[Guest human]

I am into tech, and I will play it safe and let everyone else play the field.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I think it would be a good time to buy simply because this catastrophe is not going to put an end to BP as we know it. BP is a huge multinational that is not going out of business anytime soon.

[Luke_Wilbur]

I would not invest in BP yet. They have an oil leak in the Gulf and a oil spill in Alaska to fix first. Until that is resolved investor confidence in the company is tanking.

[Guest LAW]

Ask a Responder: Q & A with the Safety Officer for the Response Effort in LaFourche Parish, Louisiana.

 

SNPA Grace Baldwin is serving as a public affairs specialist in the Deepwater Horizon Response. She is a U.S. Coast Guard Reservist from the public affairs detachment at Sector Baltimore, Md.

 

Marine Science Technician Ed Akerley is a U.S. Coast Guard Reservist from Sector Boston and works at MIT as the Environment and Safety manager for the Department of Facilities. He is currently serving in the Deepwater Horizon Response as the safety officer for LaFourche Parish, Louisiana. He took some time to speak with SNPA Grace Baldwin about his role in the Deepwater Horizon Response effort.

Q: What does your position as the safety officer entail?

 

A. My overall responsibility is the health and safety of all the workers here. I work in conjunction with safety contractors who are hired by BP and our primary focus is the health and safety of all the workers, site safety plans and things of that nature.

 

Q: What successes have you had?

 

A: We were the first Parish to be approved for a 24-hour operation and that required a lot of work on creating a safety plan.

 

Q: Does your job here in the Deepwater Horizon Response effort relate to your civilian job?

 

A: Quite a bit. My civilian job is very similar in that fact where I have to follow OSHA regulations and make them fit the institute that I work with. It's very similar here. Here it's very interesting because we started from ground zero. Essentially, we've built a business from the ground up - “the spill response business,” for lack of a better term.

 

Q: If you could speak directly to the public what would you want them to know?

 

A: I think the most important thing for the public to know is that everyone down here is giving 120 percent to the work that their doing. People working long days twelve hours plus at their own choice. Everyone here has their heart in it and they want to get this cleaned up. When I say everyone I'm talking about the Vessels of Opportunity the other agencies involved, Coast Guard, all the people who work for BP here...everyone really seems to have their head in the right place.

 

Q: Is there anything else you want to add?

 

A: Just the fact that I'm honored to be a part of this, especially in the role that I'm in here – working with all the people and helping to make sure that everyone goes home safely.

[Guest Tim Schwabedissen]

This topic needs some good karma. BP is almost to the wellhead. There is a giant supertanker coming to the rescue that can suck up a half a million barrels of oil per day.

 

 

Initial results from test runs of " A Whale" could come back on July 5, 2010, after a weekend spent plowing the seas atop the undersea gusher in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship spent the weekend attempting to separate crude oil from seawater in a 25-square-mile area north of the ruptured BP oil well at the heart of the disaster. If the test is successful, the massive vessel could play a key role in efforts to clean up the largest oil spill in U.S. history

[Guest American4Progress]

BP USED OIL INDUSTRY TAX BREAK TO WRITE-OFF ITS RENT FOR FAILED DEEPWATER RIG: Reports continue to demonstrate how deeply unprepared BP was to deal with its disaster in the Gulf of Mexico with tar balls reaching Texas' shores and entering Louisiana's Lake Pontchartrain. But the New York Times now explains how the oil behemoth took advantage of U.S. tax policies to significantly benefit from the failed Deepwater Horizon rig. Transocean, the company that owns that rig, used well-known tax havens in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland to reduce its U.S. corporate tax rate by almost 15 points. And due to a break in the U.S. tax code, BP was also allowed to write off 70 percent of the rent it paid to Transocean on its own tax bill. "According to a letter sent in June to the Senate Finance Committee," the benefit amounted to "a deduction of more than $225,000 a day since the lease began." As the Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo writes, "[E]ssentially, the U.S. taxpayer paid BP to lease a rig that was incorporated in a foreign country for the purpose of avoiding the U.S. corporate tax." This benefit to BP is a symptom of a larger issue. Garofalo explains that "the U.S. tax code is actually riddled with breaks for the oil industry, despite that industry’s record profits in recent years." Sima Gandhi, a senior policy analyst for the Center for American Progress, has counted nine different subsidies that the U.S. government gives to the oil industry, including refunds for drilling costs and refunds to cover the cost of searching for oil. Last month, only 35 senators voted for eliminating $35 billion of the industry's subsidies. Fully cutting this corporate welfare would save $45 billion per year and, according to the Office of Economic Policy at the Department of Treasury, "affect domestic production by less than one-half of 1 percent." "The flow of revenues to oil companies is like the gusher at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico: heavy and constant," said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) in response to BP's Deepwater write-off. "There is no reason for these corporations to shortchange the American taxpayer."

[Guest SPU]

This spill is an example of a system is a continuous race, because the failure to keep up means destruction by the competition. Companies like BP are forced to seek every advantage to make a profit.

 

British Petroleum is only one of many corporations that evade basic safety measures. Only a few months ago we saw the deaths of dozens of miners at the Upper Big Branch mine for the same reasons. On the Deepwater Horizon, eleven workers were killed, seventeen injured. While this disaster never should have occurred, under the current system, these disasters are inevitable.

 

The supply of energy in all its forms is held hostage to a system that must put profits above everything. Held hostage by corporations, Congress betrayed the public by capping damages arising from environmental catastrophes. Government regulators are held hostage to by Big Oil, betraying by looking the other way or even aiding Big Oil.

 

The oil spill is indicative of the necessary disregard of human life and our environment that is fundamental to the oil market economy. Efforts to tinker with this system, attempting to regulate it, are bound to fail.

[Guest America is Funny]

"Garofalo explains that "the U.S. tax code is actually riddled with breaks for the oil industry, despite that industry’s record profits in recent years." Sima Gandhi, a senior policy analyst for the Center for American Progress, has counted nine different subsidies that the U.S. government gives to the oil industry, including refunds for drilling costs and refunds to cover the cost of searching for oil."

 

 

Why is this? They make 10's of billions but get subsidized? Why?

That's insane.

Your country could care less about people who aren't rich. All your politicians are bought and sold like a commodity.

Sad.

[Guest BP]

Doug Suttles, Chief Operating Officer of BP Exploration and Production, met with Vessels of Opportunity (VoO) participants to view operations and discuss a number of enhancements made to the VoO program. Through these modifications, the program will more effectively deploy boats to oil recovery activity and better utilize local commercial and charter fishing vessels to advance the effectiveness of the Gulf of Mexico response.

 

"The enhancements announced today will further strengthen the Vessels of Opportunity program, getting the right vessels into the fight in the fairest way possible." said Suttles. "We've listened carefully to those working on this important effort, and we appreciate the changes they've recommended. This program is an important piece of our efforts to make things right in the Gulf of Mexico. The hard work of those within the program continues to make a significant contribution to the response."

 

The operational characteristics developed by the U.S. Coast Guard and BP represent existing best practices and improvements suggested by program participants. Enhancements include:

 

* Leveraging the local Branch offices, with boats within each Branch organized into response Task Forces and Strike Teams to meet key operational demands. The Task Forces report into the Branch operations, improving how we better bring resources into the response.

* Improved air surveillance through the use of Tyndall Air Force Base.

* Increased vessel rotation frequency, subject to operational needs.

* Increased focus on local, in-state vessel sourcing.

* Focused on commercial and charter fishing vessel use with the goal of better oil recovery; recreational craft will be used only when no suitable local commercial vessels are available.

* Clarifying the operation pool size to ensure it is appropriate and includes the right type of vessels.

 

The Vessels of Opportunity program employs local commercial fishing vessels to assist in the company's response in the Gulf of Mexico and minimize the impact of the spill on the region's people, environment and economy. To date, over 3,000 vessels have been activated for duty through the program across four states - Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

[Guest Unified Area Command]

National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen today announced the launch of a new federal web portal—RestoreTheGulf.gov—dedicated to providing the American people with clear and accessible information and resources related to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill response and recovery.

 

RestoreTheGulf.gov is designed to serve as a one-stop repository for news, data and operational updates related to administration-wide efforts to stop the BP oil leak and mitigate its impact on the environment, the economy and public health—unifying web resources across the administration and increasing public access to the latest information.

 

“We are committed to providing the American people access to complete and accurate information about our response to the BP oil spill and the resources available to assist those directly impacted,” said Admiral Allen. “RestoreTheGulf.gov will provide even greater transparency and openness about the BP oil spill, our historic response, the tools available to assist Gulf Coast communities, and plans for the region's long-term recovery and restoration."

 

The site offers easy-to-navigate information about the claims and appeals process—as well as other types of assistance available from federal, state, local and non-government sources—for individuals, businesses and communities who have been affected by the spill. It will also contain information about plans for the long-term economic and environmental restoration in the Gulf Coast region.

 

The public can view details about current operations, resources in specific states and localities, mapping and data resources, and ongoing investigations as well as oil spill data collected throughout the federal government.

 

In addition, users can find information about ways to get involved—including volunteer opportunities, how to submit a suggestion and how to report concerns about oiled shoreline or wildlife—and a comprehensive list of all hotline numbers related to the oil spill.

 

Content for www.RestoreTheGulf.gov will be gathered from a wide variety of sources, including the Unified Area Command’s Joint Information Center in New Orleans, all federal agencies involved in the spill response and recovery efforts, and independent scientists and members of academia who are contributing their expertise. While certain information will remain available on various agency websites and the White House blog, the new portal will link all resources together.

 

The web portal maintained by the Unified Area Command’s Joint Information Center as a short term incident communication site (www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com) will be phased out over the coming weeks as information there is moved to RestoreTheGulf.gov.

[Guest LAW]

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, 07/07/2010

 

Q Can I just ask a question about the oil spill, which is whether the White House has any concerns about the fact that BP evidently has many government contracts, particularly with the Defense Department, that they’re getting a lot of money from?

 

MR. GIBBS: I don't have anything specifically on that. I would -- I can see about some of the defense contracts. I know different agencies are reviewing different things as it relates to that.

 

Obviously our focus at the moment with BP is to ensure that they’re doing all that they can. Obviously weather has, over the past several days, complicated our efforts to introduce additional containment vessels -- the Helix is a device that was -- its date has been pushed back in terms of additional containment capacity, as the Enterprise and the Q4000 continue to average above 20,000 barrels of oil a day accumulating in from the leaking well. I don’t have anything, though, on the additional --

 

Q But you don’t have a problem with BP benefiting from taxpayer money in these contracts --

 

MR. GIBBS: Well, again, I’d have to look -- I think you’d have to look at the specific contracts to see when they were let, to see what the job was for. Obviously our focus is on ensuring at the moment in the Gulf that they’re doing each and everything that we believe must be done to plug the well and to contain what is leaking from the well, and ultimately they’ll be responsible for environmental damages to the surrounding environment caused by the oil spill.

 

Q You and the President and Thad Allen have talked about 90 percent -- or up to 90 percent of the oil coming out of that well being captured by the end of last month. We're now at July 7.

 

MR. GIBBS: Right, again, which is one of the reasons I talked about the notion --

 

Q So the weather -- are you --

 

MR. GIBBS: Well, yes. Understanding that the latest flow rate estimate that we have is 60,000 barrels per day -- with the Helix online, which was scheduled to happen at the late end of June, you had the potential capability of almost 53,000 barrels, which is 90 percent.

 

Q So what’s the timeline now?

 

MR. GIBBS: I believe there are a series of things that have to happen, but given the weather and the size of the seas, the waves, we're looking at something toward the end of this week -- Friday or the weekend.

[Guest NOAA]

Inside NOAA's Seafood Inspection Laboratory in Pascagoula, Miss., NOAA's expert seafood assessors are training state personnel to use their sense of smell and taste to detect any unusual odors and flavors in Gulf Coast fish — aromas that could indicate contamination by oil or dispersants from the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill.

 

Steven Wilson, the chief quality officer for NOAA's Seafood Inspection Program, gives a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to ensure that the seafood that reaches your local market or seafood counter is safe to eat.

 

What varieties of Gulf Coast seafood are being "sniff-tested"?

 

Right now, we're targeting 10 species of seafood, including shrimp, different types of snapper and grouper, and possibly croaker, from fishing areas that have been closed due to oil and are being evaluated for possible re-opening.

 

Using your sense of smell is one of the best methods for determining the safety and acceptability of seafood —sensory analysis is a commonly used tool in seafood safety and quality inspections. An essential element of the job of a NOAA seafood inspector is to determine what qualifies as Grade A fish, which means that seafood must have good flavor and odor.

 

How do you train people to use their sense of smell?

 

People are trained by exposing them to various kinds and concentrations of odors and flavors. This process takes time. Some people, unfortunately, are not trainable — some just don't have an adequate sense of smell to do this work. However, most people have a sense that can be trained to detect specific odors and refined for enhanced sensitivity.

 

Highly experienced expert assessors from NOAA's seafood inspection program are training state personnel to act as sensory screeners in the field. Using "first-line" screeners — who perform sensory testing right at the docks or at state laboratories — allows us to be as efficient as possible. They help us determine when we need to deploy expert assessors from NOAA and the Food and Drug Administration, our partner in seafood safety.

 

The Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill is on a scale we've never seen before, and we can use all the extra hands — and nostrils — we can get. We are expecting to process tens of thousands of samples in the coming months.

 

Raw fish.

 

What are sensory testers "sniffing" for?

 

Sensory testers smell for the distinct scent of oil or chemicals that might differ from the normal odor of fish and shellfish ready for market. When we get a whiff of oil in a seafood sample, we know that the product is unfit for both human consumption and for commercial sale.

 

In "harmonization" class, we spike fish samples with set concentrations of oil specific to the Deepwater Horizon/BP spill, as well as dispersants, to determine how sensitive our testers and trainees are.

 

Learning to discern an odor or flavor and properly describing it is something that comes from experience. Some odors or flavors are easily masked by a competing odor or flavor so the training and evaluations need to take place in a controlled setting such as a laboratory. We train people to not only fine-tune their sense of smell to the oil and dispersants from this particular spill, but also to be able to repeat their sensory abilities and standardize how they describe what they are smelling.

 

What is the process for sensory testing samples from the affected regions of the Gulf Coast?

 

For fish like snapper and grouper, we collect a minimum of six, one-pound samples. First, the fish are filleted. Then, a panel of 10 expert assessors will smell each of the raw samples and record the odor. The samples are then cooked, and the process is repeated so that the experts may smell and taste the fish in its cooked state.

 

Cooking the product is important for two reasons: First, it releases aromas that may be less detectable in a raw state. Second, some of the testers may be more sensitive to the smell of cooked fish versus raw fish. Either way, smelling both raw and cooked samples assures that our testers can detect the full aromatic possibilities of the fish.

What happens to the samples after they pass or fail the sensory testing?

 

If they pass, then a 200-gram mixture of all the fish sampled from a specific location is sent to NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle for chemical testing to verify it is free from unsafe concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) — the primary chemical constituents of oil and tar.

 

If the samples fail the sensory tests, then the fishing area from which the samples were collected would likely remain closed until repeated sensory testing and subsequent chemical analysis confirm that seafood from that area is free from unhealthy PAH levels. Sensory testing is the key – and first line of defense – to ensuring what lands on America's dinner tables is safe to eat.

 

It's often said that fish you buy at the market should smell like the salty sea. Is this true?

 

That's exactly right. If it smells "fishy", beware …

 

NOAA and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have taken additional measures to ensure that Gulf Coast seafood that lands on America's dinner tables is safe to eat. You can learn more from NOAA's Protecting the Public from Oil‐Contaminated Seafood: Fishery Area Closure and Surveillance Plan [PDF].

[Guest Fedup]

NOAA will not tell you that had the plan been followed, it might have prevented oil from reaching the shoreline. A single fire boom can burn up to 1,800 barrels or 75,000 gallons an hour. Yet, despite the plan, not one fire boom was available anywhere in the Gulf at the time of the incident.

 

When federal officials called, Elastec/American Marine, shipped the only boom it had in stock, Jeff Bohleber, chief financial officer for Elastec, said today.

 

At federal officials' behest, the company began calling customers in other countries and asking if the U.S. government could borrow their fire booms for a few days, he said.

 

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2010/05/gulf-oil-spill-plan-in-place-but-not.html

 

In other words, there was no boom in stock.

[Guest Blue by U]

Hydro-Fire Boom Systems were supposed to be stored in the Gulf available for just such an emergency. Obviously that wasn’t the case. There would be little oil on the beaches right now. Damn the incompetence.

[Luke_Wilbur]

This was just sent to me. Tiny dots are being found everywhere.

 

Black (Oil Dispersant) Rain coming from the Gulf. Rep. Nadler is calling it similar to Agent Orange.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEP3UIRnM38

[Guest Orli Cote]

s the devastating impacts of the BP Oil Disaster continue to unfold, a group of national religious leaders from different faiths joined together to bear witness to the damage caused by the BP oil disaster in the Gulf Coast, and to testify about what they have seen. Leaders of different faiths joined together to reflect, restore, and renew. On Tuesday evening, July 6th, they held an interfaith prayer service called Prayers for the Gulf. Today, the leaders took a bout trip to see the ways that the BP oil disaster has impacted the Gulf Coast. Leaders highlighted the moral dimension of our costly dependence on oil, called for restoration of the Gulf communities and ecosystems, and began to envision a future based on clean energy, to help us all protect creation.

 

Statements from some of the Faith leaders who attended this trip:

 

Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, Founder – Interfaith Power and Light:

“The careless action of BP in pursuit of profit has caused devastation on the Gulf Coast. It is an insult to God and a sin against creation.”

 

Rev. Jim Wallis, Editor in Chief, Sojourners Magazine:

 

“Addictions cause your life not to work. Our national addiction to oil is causing life not to work for people in the gulf as exemplified by the BP catastrophe. We need an intervention for what’s happening here. We need to start asking religious questions. Why did this happen and who is responsible for it?

 

This is not an act of god. This is an act of human pride, folly and sinfulness. BP has sinned.”

 

Rabbi Julie Schonfeld – Rabbinical Assembly:

 

“Here in the gulf, we are seeing the best of America being harmed by the worst of America. In this region, one of America’s jewels, a place of rich cultural diversity and hard work that sustains our economy, lives have been upended by corporate greed and corporate mismanagement. Faith traditions share in common the fact that the highest expression of faith is the pursuit of justice, because it engages our respect for the spark of holiness in every human being.”

 

Pastor Chris Seay – Ecclesia Church in Houston, TX:

“The Gulf Coast is not only tainted by oil that mars the beauty of God’s creation it is also being filled with toxic dispersants that will taint our fish and harm unborn children for years to come.

 

We must reach out to our brothers and sisters here in the Gulf Coast in the midst of their suffering and let them know they are loved.”

 

Fr. Dan Krutz, Episcopal Priest and Director, Louisiana Interchurch Conference:

 

“I am concerned so much about the loss of a way of life of our fisherman, their families, and others in the coastal communities, and I am determined to work for their survival.”

 

Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley, Pastor, Providence Missionary Baptist Church:

“Today has revealed to me that this is an American disaster rather than merely the challenge which the people of the Gulf must face alone. The faith community must serve as a catalyst for this movement to succeed. Until one comes down to actually see the devastation happening you cannot understand fully what’s going on.”

 

Rev. Brenda Girton-Mitchell, Progressive National Baptist Convention:

 

“One of the immediate changes is how we talk about what we saw here. Most of us haven’t thought deeper about this. We need to put a face on this disaster.”

 

Rabbi David Saperstein, Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism:

 

“There is a fear that if the well is capped the rest of the world will move on. We are going to be here and the rest of the religious institutions will be here. Religious institutions will play a central role on the Gulf Coast for a long time.”

[Guest Fool me once]

I think it would be a good time to buy simply because this catastrophe is not going to put an end to BP as we know it. BP is a huge multinational that is not going out of business anytime soon.

 

The last 9 days have seen BP stock go from $26 to $33 dollars which is, what, like a 20+ percent increase in under two weeks? How much does a savings account pay? 5 percent per year???

Sad but true.

BP's the 4th largest company in the world, unfortunately.

[Guest Paul Orr]

The BP Oil Spill's Toxic Effects Are Beginning To Be Seen, Scientist Frustrated By Lack Of Data

 

Oil/Water samples from Gulf...VERY TOXIC

 

This is a very compelling video from a concerned citizen who decided to take his own samples of oil found on the beach in Grand Isle, La and have them tested at a laboratory. In the water portion of the sample the lab found propylene glycol, an ingredient in Corexit 9500 and Corexit 9527A, at an estimated concentration of 430 parts per million. Propylene glycol only makes up 1-5% of the Corexit products, so, if this is indeed propylene glycol from Corexit then the concentration of Corexit as a whole is far higher.

 

According to EPA's latest analysis of dispersant toxicity released in the document Comparative Toxicity of Eight Oil Dispersant Products on Two Gulf of Mexico Aquatic Test Species Corexit 9500 at a concentration of 42 parts per million killed 50% of the mysid shrimp tested and at a concentration of 130 parts per million killed 50% of the silverside fish tested. Remember the lab found 430 parts per million of a material that makes up only 1-5% of the Corexit products. This also does not include the toxicity of the oil itself or an oil/dispersant mix.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq65E7rmO_k

[Guest Spread the Word]

Oil droplets have been found beneath the shells of tiny post-larval blue crabs drifting into Mississippi coastal marshes from offshore waters.

 

The finding represents one of the first examples of how oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill is moving into the Gulf of Mexico's food chain. The larval crabs are eaten by all kinds of fish, from speckled trout to whale sharks, as well as by shore birds.

 

The tiny droplets are visible under the transparent shells of the 2-millimeter-sized crabs collected in Davis Bayou, said Harriet Perry, director for the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Laboratory's Center for Fisheries Research and Development.

 

Get the full article here: http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2010/06/research_discovers_oil_droplet.html