Mighty Mississippi vs. The Slick: Oil is winning

Mighty Mississippi vs. The Slick: Oil is winning

www.msnbc.msn.com

GRAND ISLE, LA. - It has become an epic contest between water and oil along the Gulf Coast. Government officials have now opened wide the Mississippi River outlets — what they call the diversions — in a desperate attempt to overwhelm the massive oil slick approaching the ragged shoreline of Louisiana.

This hydraulic defense employs snowfall from Montana, floodwater from Tennessee. The mighty river drains half the country, and every creek and stream and seep from the Rockies to the Appalachians has been enlisted in the battle.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Even more good news today.

Seems like nothing is safe from that much oil invading our shores.

Already the slick has polluted some of the biologically richest waters in America.

Even worse damage could take place this week as oil soaks the beaches and passes through the feeble barrier islands to the inland bays, marshes and estuaries — the nurseries for shrimp, oysters crabs.

The names of these places will be in the news in the days ahead: Terrebonne Bay, Timbalier Bay, Caminada Bay and Barataria Bay.

"All the diversions are wide open," Myron Fischer, director of a research lab for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in Grand Isle, said of the river. "Just trying to push."

I don't understand what else the government needs to declare an emergency and get on top of this problem.

~Keeper

www.msnbc.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I guess it's an ironic turn of events. It's kinda like the US, the country that invaded other countries for oil is starting to get invaded by oil itself.

I can't believe corporations don't have the balls to ever accept liability and they get away with anything. One thing I've always been taught is to take responsibility for my actions. You'd think they would do the same. I hope this leak stops soon.

[edit on 23-5-2010 by Whine Flu]

reply to post by Whine Flu


That's quire the irony eh?

Yeah, I think BP is just attempting to recoup losses, that's why they won't cap the well in any sort of appropriate time frame.

~Keeper

Would this be the mightily polluted Mississippi River. We now have a contest between two environmentally destructive forces, the Gulf oil slick and the nitrate rich Mississippi with its heavey metal laden sediments.

Source of the Mississippi's polution

Grinning Planet

Pollution

In the past, the ocean has proved to be resilient to oil pollution and tends to clean itself up. I suspect the US will contine to pollute the Gulf of Mexico through the Mississippi long after the oil spill has faded into memory.

Regards

Man, you know..does nature, earth, our governemnt? have something against the south? First katrina, now this in the same geographical area!!! geesh whats goin on!!!
Having knowledge of auto mechanics,a nd doing my own oil changes for almost 2 decades now...and reading all about oil on oil engineer forums, in my experince...once oil gets somewhere it shouldnt its impossible to clean it up 100%. sand does an excellent job, and so does chemical cleaners, such as greae lightning gunk cleaner, simple green spray..but regardless, at least on drops or small pools of oil spilled on pavement..they will only clean so much. i know so, cause when it rains, in the past, i can see that rainbow color going towards the sewer. thats oil.
BEing oil is mixed totaly in with water, its going ot be all over the place for decades. If i wa in the south, right now, ide seriously start looking into having a water filtration system installed in my home. the oil will eventually seep under the sand of the beaches, the rocks...and chemicals and VOC's can easily find thier way into freshwater systems. thats what those nasty chemicals do..they find a way n leech into other areas eventually.

reply to post by paraphi



"In the past, the ocean has proved to be resilient to oil pollution and tends to clean itself up. I suspect the US will contine to pollute the Gulf of Mexico through the Mississippi long after the oil spill has faded into memory. "

I agree, the ocean cleans itself by putting the contaminate ASHORE, then the cleanup begins, the dead sea life hopefully will come back in time.

I wounder though just how long it will take for the industries to come back??

"It's not me that's going to suffer for it," he said. "It's the younger generation that's going to suffer for it."

The sins of the father are indeed visited on the son.

We have come so far in the wrong direction since the 1970s Iron Eyes Cody commercial of the Native American crying over the litter on the Earth.

If the Mighty Mississippi cannot save itself and us now with its tears, we are a truly wretched lot and deserve our visited sins.

reply to post by svpwizard


That's only partially true, but the fact that what does come ashore is cleaned up is a good thing.

I am not trying to diminish the horrendous environmental impact of any oil pollution but the effect to the environment is short term. The ongoing year after year pollution from the Mississippi River has a far greater impact on the environment.

There is hypocrisy from the US authorities who are terribly upset by the oil pollution (and rightly so), but when the dust settles they will continue to connive and do sweet FA to address a far bigger environmental problem in the Gulf which could be controlled i.e. the polluted Mississippi.

If only polititians were consistent! Ha, my fantasy.

Regards

BP says tube collecting less oil, as damage continues

www.ctv.ca...

Just as U.S. President Barack Obama announced he was sending top administration officials to monitor the massive oil spill in the Gulf Coast, the company at the heart of the disaster said one of the ways it's trying to stem the flow of oil is working less effectively.

John Curry, a spokesperson for BP, told the Associated Press that a 1.6-kilometre-long tube inserted into the leaking well has siphoned about 216,000 litres of oil in the last 24 hours. That's a considerable drop from the 350,000 litres of oil per day the tube siphoned on Friday.


While the company said it expects the amount of oil siphoned to vary each day, the dramatic drop appears to be another setback in the effort to control the worst environmental disaster in the United States since 1989, when the Exxon Valdez spilled nearly 42 million litres of oil into the ocean near Alaska.

More than 22 million litres of oil have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico since April 20, when the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 workers.

reply to post by paraphi


I in a short breath made a statement, I completely agree with you, this is just the tip of whats to come and yes I believe it will come ashore all of it someplace, always does.

The devastation to the coast line is not simple but visible and will be dealt with, the damage to the Eco system will not all be visible and could really be a very large problem yet to realize. there is so much yet to happen that we can't imagine!!!

I don't subscribe to the doom and gloom though my post is all negative in regards to the outcome of this, but I have to accept the obvious outcome. The government as with all tragedies will continue on minimizing this as does BP with "its just a little oil and we are retrieving most of it" have you seen the web cam of this leaking pipe??

Underwater web cam

And to further insult to injury they claim just 5K barrels a day are lost and its a big ocean. The fact is its something like 5K-1000K Barrels a day being pumped into the open ocean!!! 2500 SQ Miles of ocean affected so far, no I have no illusions of whats to come, but I with my limited knowledge know this @#$% is fixen to be a HUGE change in our ECO system and maybe even in the extremely fragile thermohaline circulation system that manages our temperatures. Link

Ohhh yeh this is going to be a really big problem alright, minimize it if you like (those that have head in the ground) but the bill is still going to come due!!

[edit on 23-5-2010 by svpwizard]

[edit on 23-5-2010 by svpwizard]

Originally posted by svpwizard
The devastation to the coast line is not simple but visible and will be dealt with, the damage to the Eco system will not all be visible and could really be a very large problem yet to realize. there is so much yet to happen that we can't imagine!!!

Yes! And it will last long after the media quits reporting on it.

"I've been told by the ocean experts this stuff could hang out there on the bottom of the Gulf for more than 100 years. And as long as it's out there, it can come ashore. "
Even after the well is capped, the oil's coastal invasion could last years

And pollutants flowing seaward mixing in with the oil. Dirty river meets dirty sea. For years.

[edit on 23-5-2010 by desert]