Gulf Spill Analysis

Link to Article
NYTimes.com: Gulf Spill Analysis


The cynical pessimist in me has been resistant to many scientific articles released describing the "minimal impact" the oil spill had on the Gulf's Ecosystem; I am simply cautious to believe scientific data provided by anyone associated with BP.

While this article does call on such people's research, it includes analysis from among other sources, NOAA, Louisiana State University, UC Berkeley, and the Audobon's Louisiana Coastal Initiative.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported...that the oil was breaking down and dispersing rapidly, probably limiting future damage from the spill.

It also makes favorable comparisons to the Exxon Valdez catastrophe, especially in total amount of coastline impacted.

Ironically, it helps too that this is an area already impacted by pollution from the Mississippi.

Every summer, agricultural runoff from the Mississippi stimulates the bacteria population, producing a “dead zone” the size of New Jersey...But so far, there is little evidence of severe oxygen depletion outside the predicted zone.

That zone was predicted using pre-spill data, showing the influence we already have on this area. Regardless, though, we truly won't know the influence this spill has had until the long term.

“The government and BP continue to say it is very much improved out there, but there is still a lot of oil. Any fisherman could tell you that.” --Chemist Wilma Subra