US report on BP oil spill challenged

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/139287.html

US scientists have again challenged government claims that most of the massive oil spill from a ruptured BP oil well in Gulf of Mexico "is gone."

Researchers at the University of South Florida caution not only that the oil spill is a much bigger problem than the government indicates, but also that much of the crude is prowling deep below the sea surface and settling in a vital undersea canyon off the Florida Panhandle.

The scientists have gathered evidence of microscopic amounts of oil mixing into the soil of the canyon.

The experts' early findings are only the latest in a string of scientific reports that strongly question the government's rather optimistic report on the oil spill cleanup, AP reported Wednesday.

Meanwhile, another study published by University of Georgia scientists Tuesday said most of the BP oil the government claimed was gone from the Gulf of Mexico is still there.

The Georgia study state that as much as 80 percent of the oil still lurks under the surface, and that it is a misinterpretation of data to claim that oil that is dissolved is actually gone.

Earlier this month federal scientists said that only about a quarter of the oil remained and the rest was either removed, dissolved or dispersed.

"Where has all the oil gone? It hasn't gone anywhere. It still lurks in the deep," said University of Georgia marine scientist Chuck Hopkinson. He headed the quick independent look by the Georgia Sea Grant program at the estimates the White House released.

White House energy adviser Carol Browner told major US media outlets in early August, "More than three-quarters of the oil is gone. The vast majority of the oil is gone."

The Georgia team said it is a misinterpretation of data to claim that oil that is dissolved or dispersed is gone.

The federal report, produced by government and independent scientists, estimated that the "vast majority'' of the 4.9 million barrels of crude released into the Gulf had evaporated or been burned, skimmed, recovered by BP from the wellhead, dispersed naturally or by chemicals into drops likely to be rapidly consumed by microbes. Only 26 percent of "residual'' oil remained largely in the form of sheen or tar balls, the federal report found - still a volume four times the amount spilled by the Exxon Valdez.

In announcing the data, Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, cautioned that the vast amount of oil would cause impacts for years but still struck a glass-half-full tone echoed by other Obama aides.

There are, however, still vast volumes of crude oil in the water column, widely dispersed and breaking down into multiple compounds whose impact on the environment won't be understood for years, she said.