April 12, 2016 - GULF OF MEXICO - Scientists have finalized a four-year study of newborn and fetal
dolphins found stranded on beaches in the northern Gulf of Mexico
between 2010 and 2013. Their study, reported in the journal Diseases of Aquatic Organisms,
identified substantial differences between fetal and newborn dolphins
found stranded inside and outside the areas affected by the 2010
Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The study team evaluated 69 perinatal common bottlenose dolphins
in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, the areas most affected by the
spill, and 26 others found in areas unaffected by the spill. The work
was conducted as part of an effort to investigate an "unusual mortality
event" in the Gulf primarily involving bottlenose dolphins, beginning in
early 2010 and continuing into 2014.
Scientists saw higher numbers of stranded perinatal dolphins in
the spill zone in 2011 than in other years, particularly in Mississippi
and Alabama, the researchers report. The young dolphins, which
died in the womb or shortly after birth, "were significantly smaller
than those that stranded during previous years and in other geographic
locations," they wrote.
Bottlenose dolphin gestation takes about 380 days, so perinatal
dolphins that died in the early months of 2011 could have been exposed
in the womb to petroleum products released the previous year,
said University of Illinois veterinary diagnostic laboratory professor
Kathleen Colegrove, who led the study. Colegrove works in the
Chicago-based Zoological Pathology Program at the U. of I.
"Dolphin dams losing fetuses in 2011 would have been in the earlier stages of pregnancy in 2010 during the oil spill," she said.
The researchers report that 88 percent of the perinatal dolphins
found in the spill zone had lung abnormalities, including partially or
completely collapsed lungs.That and their small size suggest
that they died in the womb or very soon after birth—before their lungs
had a chance to fully inflate. Only 15 percent of those found in areas unaffected by the spill had this lung abnormality, the researchers said.
The team also found that the spill-zone dolphins were "particularly
susceptible to late-term pregnancy failures, signs of fetal distress
and development of in utero infections including brucellosis," a
bacterial infection that can affect the brain, lungs, bones and
reproductive function. Extensive testing found no evidence that an
unusual or highly pathogenic Brucella strain was involved.
"These findings support that pregnant dolphins experienced significant
health abnormalities that contributed to increased fetal deaths or
deaths of dolphin neonates shortly after birth," Colegrove said.
A previous study by many of the same researchers revealed that nonperinatal bottlenose dolphinsstranded
in the spill zone after the spill were much more likely than other
stranded dolphins to have severe lung and adrenal gland damage
"consistent with petroleum product exposure."
"These diseases in pregnant dolphins likely led to reproductive losses," Colegrove said.
"Our new findings add to the mounting evidence from peer-reviewed studies that exposure
to petroleum compounds following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
negatively impacted the reproductive health of dolphin populations
living in the oil spill footprint in the northern Gulf of Mexico,"
said Dr. Teri Rowles, a veterinarian with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response
Program and a co-author on the study.
More information: KM Colegrove et al. Fetal distress and in utero
pneumonia in perinatal dolphins during the Northern Gulf of Mexico
unusual mortality event, Diseases of Aquatic Organisms (2016). DOI: 10.3354/dao02969
January 21, 2015 - GLOBAL ECONOMY - The screenshot above from the Facebook page of Trends Forecaster
Gerald Celente tells us what the mainstream media won't tell us, the
looks on the faces of the business traders in the linked King World News story tells us the rest; the shocking move by the Swiss National Bank is only the BEGINNING of a much larger global meltdown; there is no recovery; we're heading towards a global economic collapse. In the video below featuring Gerald Celente with Rick Wiles on TruNews, Celente gives us his full analysis for the year 2015 beginning at the 14 minute mark.
Gerald Celente: 'Worldwide Panic Beginning - There Is No Recovery"
Rick begins the program by warning that the wheels are beginning to come off the cart with the Swiss Bank
decision, saying that traders were totally unprepared for what was
coming: "Complete carnage" one trader said. Sharing that it's not every
day that a country's central bank pulls the rug out from under so many
feet, "clearly people are worried that there's something bigger afoot."
Warning us that what we're watching now is only the beginning of the
coming 'economic tsunami', we're also asked why the mainstream media is
putting out stories about economic recovery while one of Bloomberg's
lead stories is called "Mayhem Erupts On Trading Floors After Swiss Central Banks Remove Cap On Franc." From Celente at King World News:So the worst is yet to come and there is no way out. And I would suggest to people as they look around the world
at the geopolitical problems that are going on and how so many
countries are becoming police states — under the guise of terrorism
— that they ask themselves: Are these countries really afraid of
terrorism or are they afraid of their own populations that are losing
everything and will take to the streets? Because that’s what we see
coming. We see a global collapse. There’s no recovery — it’s been a
coverup.”
Central bank prophet fears QE warfare pushing world financial system out of control
The warnings come just as the European Central Bank prepares a blitz of bond purchases at a crucial meeting on Thursday Photo: AP
The economic prophet who foresaw the Lehman crisis with uncanny accuracy is even more worried about the world's financial system going into 2015.
Beggar-thy-neighbour devaluations are spreading to every region. All the major central banks are stoking asset bubbles deliberately to put off the day of reckoning. This time emerging markets have been drawn into the quagmire as well, corrupted by the leakage from quantitative easing (QE) in the West.
"We are in a world that is dangerously unanchored," said William White, the Swiss-based chairman of the OECD's Review Committee. "We're seeing true currency wars and everybody is doing it, and I have no idea where this is going to end."
Mr White is a former chief economist to the Bank for International Settlements - the bank of central banks - and currently an advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
He said the global elastic has been stretched even further than it was in 2008 on the eve of the Great Recession. The excesses have reached almost every corner of the globe, and combined public/private debt is 20pc of GDP higher today. "We are holding a tiger by the tail," he said.
He warned that QE in Europe is doomed to failure at this late stage and may instead draw the region into deeper difficulties. "Sovereign bond yields haven't been so low since the 'Black Plague': how much more bang can you get for your buck?" he told The Telegraph before the World Economic Forum in Davos.
"QE is not going to help at all. Europe has far greater reliance than the US on small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) and they get their money from banks, not from the bond market," he said.
"Even after the stress tests the banks are still in 'hunkering down mode'. They are not lending to small firms for a variety of reasons. The interest rate differential is still going up," he said.
The warnings come just as the European Central Bank prepares a blitz of bond purchases at a crucial meeting on Thursday. Most ECB-watchers expect QE of around €500bn now that the eurozone is already in deflation. Even the Bundesbank is struggling to come with fresh reasons to oppose it.
The psychological potency of this largesse will depend on whether the ECB opts for shock-and-awe concentration or trickles out the stimulus slowly. It also depends on the exact mechanism used to conduct QE, a loose term at best.
ECB president Mario Draghi hopes that bond purchases will push money out into the broader economy through a "wealth effect", but critics fear this will be worse than useless if it leads to an asset bubble without gaining traction on the real economy. Classic moneratists say the ECB may end up spinning its wheels should it merely try to expand the money base.
Mr White said QE is a disguised form of competitive devaluation. "The Japanese are now doing it as well but nobody can complain because the US started it," he said.
"There is a significant risk that this is going to end badly because the Bank of Japan is funding 40pc of all government spending. This could end in high inflation, perhaps even hyperinflation.
"The emerging markets got on the bandwagon by resisting upward pressure on their currencies and building up enormous foreign exchange reserves. The wrinkle this time is that corporations in these countries - especially in Asia and Latin America - have borrowed $6 trillion in US dollars, often through offshore centres. That is going to create a huge currency mismatch problem as US rates rise and the dollar goes back up."
Mr White's warnings are ominous. He acquired great authority in his long years at the BIS arguing that global central banks were falling into a trap by holding real rates too low in the 1990s, effectively stealing growth from the future through "intertemporal" effects.
He argues that this created a treacherous dynamic. The authorities kept having to push rates lower with the trough of each cycle, building up ever greater imbalances, in an ineluctable descent to the "zero bound", where monetary levers stop working properly.
Under his guidance, the BIS annual reports over the three years before the Lehman crisis were a rising crescendo of alarm calls at a time when other global watchdogs were asleep. His legendary report in June 2008 openly discussed whether the world was on the cusp of events that might prove as dangerous and intractable as the Great Depression, as it indeed it was.
Mr White said central banks have been put in an invidious position, compelled to respond to a deep economic disorder that is beyond their power. The latest victim is the Swiss National Bank, which was effectively crushed last week by greater global forces as it tried to repel safe-haven flows into the franc. The SNB was damned whatever it tried to do. "The only choice they had was to take a blow to the left cheek, or to the right cheek," he said.
He deplores the rush to QE as an "unthinking fashion". Those who argue that the US and the UK are growing faster than Europe because they carried out QE early are confusing "correlation with causality". The Anglo-Saxon pioneers have yet to pay the price. "It ain't over until the fat lady sings. There are serious side-effects building up and we don't know what will happen when they try to reverse what they have done."
The painful irony is that central banks may have brought about exactly what they most feared by trying to keep growth buoyant at all costs, he argues, and not allowing productivity gains to drive down prices gently as occurred in episodes of the 19th century. "They have created so much debt that they may have turned a good deflation into a bad deflation after all." - Telegraph.
Saxo Bank Warns "This Is The Endgame For Central Banks"
The
Swiss National Bank's removal of the franc's peg to the euro last week
had far-reaching consequences because we were all taken by surprise.The
fact that it would (and should) happen eventually was not lost on the
market, but the SNB was as late as last week end talking tough and
telling the market that the floor was an integral part of Swiss monetary
policy – until it suddenly wasn't any more.
I fully understand the rationale for the move (Jakobsen: SNB move is rationality itself) but like most of the market I'm extremely disappointed in the SNB’s communication and handling of the issue, but that’s the bigger lesson: Why is it most people trust or bother to listen to central banks?
Major central banks claim to be independent, but they are totally under the control of politicians.Many developed countries have tried to anchor an independent central
bank to offset pressure from politicians and that’s all well and good in
principle until the economy spins out of control – at zero-bound growth
and rates central banks and politicians becomes one in a survival mode
where rules are broken and bent to fit an agenda of buying more time.
Just
looks to the Eurozone crisis over the past eight years – if not in the
letter of law, then in spirit, every single criterion of the EU treaty
has been violated by the need to “keep the show on the road”. No,the conclusion has to be that there are no independent central banks anywhere!There are some who pretend to be, but not a single one operates in true independence.
That’s
the reality of the moment. I would not be surprised to find that the
Swiss Government overruled the SNB last week and the interesting
question for this week is of courseif the German government will overrule the Bundesbank on quantitative easing to save face for the Eurozone?Probably….
The new dimension of central banking is the “communications policy” which is not only the poorest policy but also only really a front for “talking the market into believing our dream” without any further action.
Look at the Federal Reserve forward-looking guidance: They are constantly over-optimistic on growth and inflation.
Constantly. The joke doing the rounds is that to get the proper GDP and
inflation forecast you merely take the Fed's own forecasts and deduct
100-150 bps from both growth and inflation targets and voila! You have
best track record over time.
Studies shows that the business cycle was less volatile before the Federal Reserves was born.The
birth of the Fed meant leverage (gearing) which of course has resulted
in bigger and bigger collapses of the economy, but with a trend of major
crashes increasing in frequency: 1987 stock crash, 1992 ERM crisis,
1993 Mexico “Tequila crisis”, 1998 Asian crisis and the Russian default,
2000 NASDAQ bubble, 2008 stock market crash, and now 2015 SNB, ECB QE,
Russia and China and what's the next crisis?
I
don’t know, but clearly the world of finance and the flow of money is
increasing its velocity meaning considerably more “volatility”.By the way, the only guarantee I issued at the end of 2014 looking into 2015 was:
Where does this all bring me? The SNB's action was really the culmination of bigger and bigger moves
at the end of a low volatility paradigm. I have been trading currencies
for more than 30 years, Thursday’s move was single biggest move I have
experienced in one market. But let’s look at other remarkable moves this
year:
Oil has dropped more than 50%
Source: Bloomberg
Russian ruble falls off a USD cliff
Source: Bloomberg
EURNOK had it biggest move in many, many years (15% in space of a few days)
Source: Bloomberg
EURCHF move in comparison:
Source: Bloomberg
Even overnight, the Shanghai index dropped more than 7% – the biggest move in years on margin calls:
Source: Bloomberg
The
lesson is clearly that the market has been trying to tell us for a long
time that volatility was a function of an economic model of suspending
the business cycle. When you suspend an economic system such as the
world markets for an extended period you ultimately release more energy
when the business cycle starts anew.
We started the year with Maximum Dislocation of the market in a model of planned economies.We
have bond and credit spreads at historic lows, currencies at extremes,
equities and real estate in bubble-like valuations, and a geopolitical
risk which keeps rising as seen this year in Paris, last year in Ukraine
and also the rise of ISIS.
The US dollar is putting pressure not only on US itself but also the world.
A journalist asked me last week: Who benefits from a stronger US
dollar? I still owe him an answer because very few benefit. In fact the
world has two growth engines: The US and emerging markets. Both are
pretty much US dollar economies. Debt (US dollar funding) in EM has
exploded to an extent that many including the World Bank now call a for
risk of “Perfect Storm in EM”. Both US and EM became credit junkies over
the QE-to-infinity era in the US. The law of unintended consequences.
Another
unintended consequence was that energy was the trigger for the crisis
in 2008 as rising energy prices took five trillion US dollars out of the
economy – which became the catalyst for the Eurozone crisis and US
banking bailout. Now eight year later the drop in energy has broad
spillover effects as the wealth is transferred from sovereign wealth
funds in resource countries to consumers.
That’s
good for Main Street and bad for Wall Street as the “bid” in the assets
disappear as these sovereign buyers needs to draw down on their wealth
instead of buying overseas assets. Similarly, will a direct impact from
SNB not having a floor be less NASDAQ buying which famously SNB had in
its portfolio?
Meanwhile the fact that
volatility is rising, the fact that we see early signs of the business
cycle being activated, is good for the real economy. It’s a sign of
money flowing from the 20% QE induced overvalued listed companies to the
80% SMEs (the real economy) as increase in volatility will make
expected return less in “paper money” and more attractive in tangible
assets and good business.
The
world should be concerned when volatility is too low, it’s a sign of
the market not allocating money correctly. The one lesson everyone needs
to learn is that for a market based economy to function you need to
allocate capital to the highest marginal real return of capital. Not to
the most politically connected.
When
history of 2015 is written I have no doubt that the Paris terror act
and SNB's removal of the floor will stand out – both happened less than
two weeks into 2015, although that is random, what
is not random is that market volatility has been rising directly and
indirectly through a misallocation of capital directed by the central
bank system.
Many central
banks will envy the SNB for its move last week, as it at least tries to
regain some control of its future, but the conclusion remains:central
banks have as a group lost credibility and when the ECB starts QE this
week the beginning of the end for central banks is completed. They are
running out of time – that’s the real real bottom line: the SNB ran out
of time, the ECB will runout of time this week, and the Fed, Bank of
Japan and the Bank of England ran out of time in 2014.
What comes now is a new reality–
the SNB move was a true paradigm shift – we can no longer look at
central banks, the markets and extend-and-pretend in the same light as
we did last Wednesday (the day before the SNB pounced).
The king is dead, long live the King. - Zero Hedge.
The Swiss National Bank Decision Was A Shock, And There Are More Surprises Ahead
Wikimedia Commons Last week, the Swiss National Bank shocked markets by announcing that it would abandon its currency peg of 1.2 Swiss francs to 1 euro.
Following
that move, the franc rapidly appreciated in value, gaining as much as
41% against the euro at one point, and put entities ranging from currency brokers to hedge funds under major duress.
In
a weekly strategy report on Tuesday, however, Oppenheimer's John
Stoltzfus writes that while the SNB's decision was a shock, it would not
be the last surprise investors face in the market.
"We believe
the SNB's action last week will ultimately be seen in the rearview
mirror of market history as simply part of a process that came ahead of
the launch of 'QE ECB style,'" Stoltzfus writes.
"For now, we believe investors should remain focused on their goals and
objectives, not losing sight of them even as more surprises likely lie
ahead."
The market is still digesting both the implications of the SNB's decision and the reasoning behind it.
On Monday, Business Insider's Tomas Hirst took a look
at what may have been motivating the SNB's decision, namely that as the
euro has weakened ahead of an anticipated quantitative easing
bond-buying program, the SNB's peg became more and more expensive to
defend.
Stoltzfus adds that
the market seems to be taking the SNB's decision as "increasing the
likelihood" that the ECB will announce a QE program at its policy
meeting on Thursday, a program Stoltzfus writes "could well lead to a
positive outcome and a sustainable economic recovery in the eurozone
parallel to that of the US's process of recovery into expansion."
And
so as tends to happen in markets, the primary focus has already moved
away from the SNB and toward the ECB meeting this week — or whatever
surprises the future holds. - Yahoo.
First Schlumberger Fires 9,000; Now Baker Hughes Unleashes 7,000 More Layoffs
Another day, another unambiguously bad announcement
from America's bettered energy sector which are bolting down ahead of
the crude storm, and firing thousands. Last week it was Schlumberger
which announced it would fire 9000, today it is Baker Hughes which just
warned it too will hand out about 7000 pink slips in the first quarter.
And as a reminder, when it comes to comp: each Baker Hughes job is
equivalent to about 10 waiter and bartender jobs, which have been the basis of this "recovery."
BAKER HUGHES SEES WORKFORCE REDUCTION OF 7,000 WORKERS
BAKER HUGHES EXPECTS TO CUT 7,000 JOBS IN FIRST QUARTER
BAKER HUGHES SEES 1Q '15 SEVERANCE COSTS $160 MLN-$185 MLN
BAKER HUGHES SEES REDUCING CAPEX BY 20% VS. LAST YEAR
BAKER HUGHES CEO SAYS MUST ADAPT TO 'NEW REALITY' LOWER PRICES
BAKER HUGHES SEEING GROWING NUMBER WELLS DRILLS, NOT FINISHED
BAKER HUGHES SEES 2015 AS `PIVOTAL' FOR COMPANY, INDUSTRY
BP announced today it was cutting around 1,000 jobs at a huge oil refinery.
The company said the decision followed a 10-week review of the Grangemouth refinery and petrochemical complex in Scotland.
The news was also blamed on the depressed chemicals market and "a series of operational problems".
The company said in a statement: "The move is part of a series of initiatives and investments to radically improve the plant's ability to compete in a increasingly difficult international refining and chemicals environment."
It said the reorganisation would streamline Grangemouth's three main businesses - refining, petrochemicals and the Forties pipeline terminal - into a single organisation and was "designed to simplify site operations while increasing liability and efficiency".
As part of the plan the company will also shut down an older polyethylene production unit, Rigidex 2, within the chemicals plant, and the oldest and smallest of the three crude distillation units, CDU 1, in the refinery.
The company also said it would make "every effort to relocate people with the appropriate skills to other BP locations, or to provide retraining, jobs search assistance and severance packages".
Colin Maclean, director of the complex near Falkirk, said: "This is a very difficult time for everyone working at Grangemouth and we are committed to handling it as openly and sensitively as possible.
"However, we have no choice but to move ahead with this transformation if we are to ensure that Grangemouth remains safe, modern and equipped to prosper in an increasingly competitive global market place so that we can safeguard its long term future."
The company said it was in discussion with Falkirk Council and Scottish Enterprise (Forth Valley) "to address actions in support of people and in support of broadening and enhancing the local economy".
BP has also held initial discussions with the Health and Safety Executive and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) about the planned changes at Grangemouth.
The company statement went on: "The restructuring is fully consistent with the recommendations of the special BP taskforce that carried out a major safety review of the site's assets and operations following a series of incidents last year." - Daily Mail.
"The biggest problem on
the planet is not some devilish supernatural entity locked in an
eternal struggle for human souls, or for that matter shape-shifting
reptilian aliens manipulating mankind through secret societies. No,
these evilous figures are really allegories or aspects of the European's
inherently vampiric nature and irreverence for Mother Earth, the
indigenous peoples and the animals."- Andre Heath, Publisher.
October 29, 2014 - GULF OF MEXICO - The 2010 BP oil spill that
resulted in 172 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico has, four
years later, left an oily “bathtub ring” about the size of Rhode Island
on the sea floor surrounding the site of the Macondo well, according to
new research.
About 10 million gallons of oil has collected on the
sea floor near the former site of the Deepwater Horizon rig and
BP-operated Macondo well, where the oil spewed from April 20 to July 15
in 2010, according to a study by David Valentine, a University of
California Santa Barbara geochemist, and co-author Christopher Reddy, a
marine chemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
Cumulative BP / Deepwater Horizon oil slick footprint (orange).
The study,
published Monday in ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,’
found that the oil spill has left several splotches in the Macondo well
area, some with more oil residue than the 1,200-square-mile “bathtub ring.”
Valentine said though there are no chemical signature tests given the oil has since degraded, the source of the oil is obvious. "There's this sort of ring where you see around the Macondo well where the concentrations are elevated," Valentine said, according to AP.
He
added that oil levels found inside the ring were as much as 10,000
times higher than outside the ring. A chemical ingredient of oil was
found on the sea floor, from two-thirds of a mile to a mile below the
water’s surface.
BP questioned the study’s findings, especially since the oil can no longer be tested given its degraded state.
A drilling platform near the Transocean Discoverer Enterprise drillship
burns off gas collected at the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill
on June
25, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. (Chris
Graythen / Getty Images / AFP)
The BP oil spill spewed 172 million gallons of oil into the Gulf in 2010.
In an email to AP, spokesman Jason Ryan said, "the
authors failed to identify the source of the oil, leading them to
grossly overstate the amount of residual Macondo oil on the sea floor
and the geographic area in which it is found."
Though such
chemical analysis is impossible at this point, study authors Valentine
and Reddy said other evidence point to the Deepwater Horizon disaster:
the depth of the oil, the area it encompasses, and the distance from the
Macondo well.
The study was praised by marine scientists Ed
Overton, of Louisiana State University, and Ian MacDonald, of Florida
State University, neither of whom were involved in its conclusions,
according to AP.
Though the spill is more than four years old, scientists are still measuring - and debating - the total ecologicalimpact
of the BP spill. For now, Reddy said they believed their findings
validated earlier research that found deep water coral was coated with
oil and damaged from the spill.
The Deepwater Horizon explosion
killed 11 people and polluted Gulf waters that wash onto the shores of
five US states as oil gushed from the drilling rig for nearly three
months before the flow was brought to a halt.
In all, prosecutors
said over 4 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf, making it the
largest accident of its kind in petroleum industry history. Around
16,000 miles of coastline were affected and, according to the National
Park Service, over 8,000 animals died as a result.
In early September,
a federal judge ruled that BP had acted with gross negligence before
the spill, indicating that the corporation may have to pay billions of
dollars in fines.
US District Court Judge Carl Barbier also wrote
in his ruling that two other oil companies — Transocean and Halliburton —
acted negligent as well, but failed to find them as responsible as BP
with regards to the spill. Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon rig,
but drilling rights were leased to BP; Halliburton was in charge of the “cementing” process on the doomed drilling site.
The three companies, Barbier wrote, are "each liable under general maritime law for the blowout, explosion and oil spill,"
but the bulk of the blame — specifically 67 percent — will rest on BP.
According to Bloomberg News, BP may next face fines as high as $18
billion — the maximum penalty under the Clean Water Act — and has
already put aside $3.5 billion to cover those costs.
Despite the
ruling, energy companies can count on political allies in states like
Louisiana to defend their interests. For instance, in June, Louisiana
Gov. Bobby Jindal signed into law legislation that rescued dozens of oil
and gas companies from a lawsuit over long-term damage done to the
state’s wetlands.
Waves carry in blobs of oil as it washes ashore from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on June 26, 2010 in Orange Beach, Alabama. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images / AFP)
The rig blew on April 20, 2010 and spewed 172 million gallons of oil into the Gulf through the summer. Scientists are still trying to figure where all the oil went and what effects it had.
The study by David Valentine, the chief scientist on the federal damage assessment research ships, estimates that about 10 million gallons of oil coagulated on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico around the damaged Deepwater Horizons oil rig. Valentine said the spill left other splotches containing even more oil.
New research shows that the BP oil spill left an oily "bathub ring" on the sea floor that's about the size of Rhode Island.
Experts said the law may very well thwart future claims against energy companies, including those against BP.
In a letter urging Jindal to veto the legislation, Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell wrote that the bill included “very broad and all-encompassing language” and “may have other potential serious unintended consequences." “No one can currently quantify or identify all of the causes of action which will be swept away if this bill becomes law,” the letter warned “In
the coming years perhaps the proponents of the bill can tailor
legislation more narrowly drawn which does not portend such a broad and
vague attack on the abilities of the State, and most importantly, local
governmental entities to protect their citizens.” - RT.
May 08, 2014 - FLORIDA, UNITED STATES- The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon well blowout vomited more than
210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and onto its
shores--the largest accidental, offshore oil spill in history. It killed
wildlife, tainted fisheries, and damaged coastal ecosystems from
marshes in Louisiana to beaches in Florida. But due to a paucity of
data, the true extent of the damage is still not yet known, especially
where bird mortality is concerned. What research does exist is
confidential property of the U.S. government, and will not see the light
of day until the lawsuit against BP has run its course, the next phase
of which begins in 2015.
A Brown Pelican. Rebecca Field
Into this vacuum step J. Christopher Haney, Harold Geiger, and Jeffrey
Short, three researchers with extensive experience in environmental
monitoring and post-spill mortality assessments. In their recent study,
which has been accepted for publication in Marine Ecology Progress Series, the authors estimate that up to 800,000 coastal birds died as a direct result of the Deepwater Horizon
spill. That number, as large as it is, is on the conservative side,
says Audubon Director of Bird Conservation for the Gulf Coast and
Mississippi Flyway, Melanie Driscoll. Once further studies are
conducted, says Driscoll, the number will certainly exceed one million.
In comparison, a quarter of a million birds are estimated to have died
as a direct result of the Exxon Valdez, a spill that was much smaller than that of Deepwater Horizon.
The study itself uses two models to estimate coastal
bird mortality. The carcass sampling model attempts to answer a
seemingly simple question: for every bird corpse found during clean-up
efforts, how many bird bodies were missed, due to factors such as
scavenging, or the bird dying at sea, or decomposition? The other model,
called the exposure probability model, attempts to quantify how many
birds of each species would have encountered the oil, given the size of
the slick at any given time and estimated population densities. Despite
these being two very different ways to estimate bird mortality, the
models agreed very closely with the possible range of bird deaths:
between 600,000 and 800,000 over the 95 days of the "acute phase" of the
spill. Another way to think about that: 8,000 coastal birds died every
day during the acute phase.
While the numbers are sobering on their own, drilling down to individual
bird species reveal population-level impacts on their numbers.
According to the paper, 36 percent of the entire Laughing Gull
population in the northern Gulf of Mexico died within that 95-day
period. Fifteen percent of Royal Terns perished, as did 12 percent of
Brown Pelicans. On Queen Bess Island, Driscoll saw an entire colony of
Royal Tern chicks oiled; they all subsequently died due to oil exposure.
The suffering that Driscoll observed during the actual spill
foreshadowed this devastating loss of bird life, and she says she has
feared that the toll could exceed a million birds. In the paper by Haney
et al., says Driscoll, the researchers went to great lengths to explain
how they used data from this and other spills to make their
calculations. The authors described sources for overcounting and
undercounting. For example, if oiled birds tend to fly toward shore, the
researchers may have overestimated the number of birds that died. But
sources of undercounting are far more prevalent: During the spill,
searchers only collected whole carcasses, and they did not search
breeding colonies until months after the initial spill. Further, the counts missed the carcasses that were either burned or skimmed away when rescue workers removed oil from the water's surface. The researchers also chose to not count live oiled birds and they deliberately excluded entire classes of birds--marsh-dwellers such as gallinules, rails, bitterns, and some herons and egrets.
More than 2,000 miles of marsh were affected by the spill, representing
a large number of bird deaths which are not accounted for in the
analysis.
The mortality from acute oil exposure is only a fraction of the damage
that Deepwater Horizon wreaked upon the Gulf. Four years after the
disaster, some200 miles of Louisiana beach is still contaminated with
oil. Studies on shrimp and dolphins have shown long-term health issues
with animals exposed to oil and dispersant during the Deepwater
Horizon--lowered reproductive success, chronic health problems, and
starvation due to loss of food sources.
The most distressing aspect of this entire situation, says Driscoll, is that, four years later,BP is putting more energy into stonewalling than restoring the Gulf.The
third phase of the lawsuit against BP for its violation of the Clean
Water Act will not begin until 2015--five years after the disaster. This
means that most compensatory funds to help restore the Gulf have not
yet materialized. Meanwhile, BP attempts to discredit studies that show
harm to Gulf resources and has started refusing to fund research to
understand delayed and chronic effects on birds and other wildlife, says
Driscoll. While birds and other wildlife in the Gulf struggle to
recover, the government and conservation communities use early
restoration money to repair damage and steward the birds, doing what
they can to make sure the animals get the best chance at long-term
survival.
- Audubon Magazine.
April 23, 2014 - EARTH - The following stories constitutes some of the latest incidents of mass animal die-offs across the globe.
Insect Population In Louisiana Marshlands Declining Four Years After BP Oil Spill
Weathered oil found coating the surface of the marsh in Bay Baptiste, Louisiana on April 9, 2014Julie Dermansky
Louisiana State University entomologist Linda Hooper-Bui
has been studying the impact of the BP oil spill on insects and spiders
for almost four years. She started her study shortly after the Macondo
well blew out on April 20, 2010, before any oil washed up on shore. Her
work documents the dwindling of the insect population in areas directly
hit with the oil.
On April 9th, she returned to Bay Jimmy and Bay Baptiste, areas that
were heavily impacted by the oil spill in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.
"Insects are the basis of the food chain. They are like nature's Twinkies," Hooper-Bui says.
Her studies also monitor fish and birds, since they eat insects. She
sweeps areas designated for her study by walking back and forth waving a
net, catching whatever insects are present. She then empties the net
into alcohol, preserving the insects for testing. She takes note of the
wind speed and temperature at each location and collects a sample of
sediment to be tested for hydrocarbons.
Back in the lab, Hooper-Bui sorts insects by
species. She sends some out for testing and stores the rest so other
scientists can study them. The results of the test reveal the nutrients
found in them, including carbon, nitrogen and sulfur. Knowing what the
insects are eating helps her evaluate changes in the environment. She
compares the data from sites that were oiled to those that were not.
Linda Hooper-Bui holds a bag containing insects collected in Bay Jimmy, one of the areas hardest hit by the BP oil spill
Hooper-Bui makes it clear that she is an independent scientist
collaborating with other scientists at other institutions. Her work is
not part of any government studies or studies subsidized by BP. Funding
for her work has come from competitive grants from the National Science
Foundation, the Northern Gulf Institute, the Gulf of Mexico Research
Initiative and two grants from LSU. She believes being a scientist is a
civic duty, and will not allow her work to be compromised.
Hooper-Bui's first peer-reviewed reports should be available by this
summer, but she has been sharing her observations with interested
parties all along. She hopes her work will be utilized by those who have
to deal with future spills and by those making policy decisions that
involve the oil industry as well as locals who are still dealing
directly with the aftermath of this disaster.
Since there are fewer insects and spiders for birds and fish to eat, she is seeing a decrease in other species' success.
"This is what happens when the ecosystem seems to be disrupted,"
Hooper-Bui says. Her studies show that not only does oil remain in the
marsh in Plaquemines Parish, it is still emitting volatile aromatics.
Preliminary results indicate the volatiles naphthalene and
methylnaphthalene remain in the oil contaminated parts of the marsh, and
could be responsible for the dramatic decline in insect population. Naphthalene is an insecticide, according to Hooper-Bui.
While standing on weathered oil on the shore of Bay Jimmy, Hooper-Bui
told DeSmogBlog, "I am looking at how an environment rebuilds itself
after a catastrophic disturbance. It is a chronic situation in the
marsh, not an acute one because the oil is still here," she notes. "The
oil gets remobilized when storms hit, and when the tide is low and the
temperature heats up, volatile compounds emit from the exposed weathered
oil coating the surface."
Weathered oil coats the surface on the marsh in Bay Jimmy, one of the areas hardest hit by the BP oil spill
Hurricanes affect insects too, so weather factors into Hooper-Bui's data
as well. She has been involved with research about storm effects on
insect populations since 2009. Her earlier work gave her benchmark data
on how insect populations are affected by storms.
"A healthy environment will rebuild itself after a storm," Hooper-Bui
says. "We know that from Isaac - a compromised eco-system is of concern.
The plants might look o.k. but the insects are constantly fumigated
when the water is not on the marsh (due to north wind or low tides) and
the temperatures are high - when sediment is exposed - the volatile
compounds come off the marsh and fumigate the insects and they die - we
have results for three years to show that, in the field and in the lab."
Critics of her studies claim there are no volatiles coming off the marsh. But Hooper-Bui stands by her findings.
"We put cages with insects in them where the only interactions the caged
insects had with the environment were with the air in the marsh - and
they were dying in oiled areas and surviving in non-oiled areas. When
the marsh's sediment is exposed and the temperature gets above 85
degrees Fahrenheit, the oil is being biologically degraded, the oil is
releasing volatiles and is killing the insects."
A report released by The National Wildlife Federation
before the fourth anniversary of the BP disaster deals with 14 species
higher up in the food chain than insects. On dolphins, the report cites
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report that
states, "NOAA researchers found strong evidence that the ill health of
the dolphins in Louisiana's Barataria Bay was related to oil exposure."
And on tuna, "20% of larval fish could have been exposed to oil, with a
potential reduction in future populations of about 4%. For a species
already in peril, reductions in reproductive success and lower
populations can be major impediments to recovery."
The report goes on to cite a study co-authored by John Incardona, research toxicologist at NOAA. From the NWF report:
"A more recent study shows that a chemical in oil from the spill can
cause irregular heartbeats in bluefin and yellowfin tuna that can lead
to heart attacks, or even death. The effects are believed to be
particularly problematic for fish embryos and larvae, as heartbeat
changes could affect development of other organs. The researchers
suggest that other vertebrate species in the Gulf of Mexico could have
been similarly affected."
BP refutes the report. BP spokesman Jason Ryan told UPI,
"The National Wildlife Federation report is a piece of political
advocacy, not science," he said. "It cherry picks reports to support the
organization's agenda, often ignoring caveats in those reports or
mischaracterizing their findings."
However, BP has been criticized for claiming the company will make things right in their advertisements.
BP's ads stress they are committed to the Gulf and committed to America
and that business is back to normal, yet BP continually objects to a claims settlement the company already signed off on. They have also been accused of acting as trolls on internet sites and spreading misinformation.
Linda Hooper-Bui checking sediment in Bay Jimmy, some of it mixed with weathered oil
Hooper-Bui explains, "Insects are important to study because they are
the basis of the food chain - and because people don't care about them, I
can manipulate them for my studies without upsetting anyone. Insects
are like a canary in a coal mine," she says. "There is a big problem
when they start dying."
To anyone who thinks the oil isn't still out there, Hooper-Bui says, "Come out here and I'll show you. It wasn't cleaned up." - Desmog Blog.
Millions Of Dead Fish Found Floating In Thondamanaru Lagoon, Sri Lanka
A shoal of fish, may be a couple of million - our reporter lost count
of it, were seen dead floating and lying in the shores of Thondamanaru
and around the Barrage area located in the Valvetiturai Kankesanthurai
Road.
Mysteriously all those dead fishes found in Thondamanaru Lagoon area
were almost one kind which in Tamil called "Thirali," a typical edible
small fish found solely in Palk Strait area.
These fishes were said to be dead and floating and were seen in heaps in the shore from last Thursday and Friday.
As the dead fishes started polluting the Selva Sannathi Temple area,
Karaveddy Divisional Secretary K. Sivasri, Valvetiturai Urban Council
Chairman N.Anandarajah and representatives of the Fisheries Societies
visited the area and took measures to remove dead fishes.
Asian Tribune learnt the Sri Lankan Army personnel were also involved in
the cleaning operation along with workers of Valvetitural and Valikamam
East Pradesha Sabhas.
Three tractor loads of dead fishes were collected and taken and buried around the sea shores in Thondamanaru.
It remains mysterious why particularly Thirali fish only died.
According to an opinion, due to very warm atmospheric conditions
prevailing these days, the sea water must have evaporated to a great
leve and the water might have turned more brackish and fishes would not
be able to bear up saltiness newly developed in the sea water.
- Asian Tribune.
Drug That Wiped Out 95% Of Indian Vultures May Cause An EU Eco-Disaster
Spain approves use of drug beneficial to mammals - that will kill any vulture that feeds on a carcass containing traces of it. Getty
Bureaucratic ignorance has allowed a drug that almost wiped out India's
vultures to be sanctioned for use in Europe - raising fears that
authorities will have to spend vast sums collecting and incinerating
animal carcasses which the birds usually dispose of.
Despite their unappealing looks, vultures make a vital contribution to public health in southern Europe.
But Spain, which is home to about 100,000 vultures, has horrified
conservationists and bird lovers by approving the use of diclophenac -
a powerful anti-inflammatory drug used that is beneficial to mammals
but will kill any vulture that feeds on a carcass containing traces of
the drug.
Diclophenac can also be used legally in Italy, where it was first
developed. The country also has a small population of wild vultures.
About 95 per cent of India's vultures disappeared after diclophenac was
introduced in the mid-1990s, before eventually being banned in 2006. The
result was a dangerous increase in rotting animal carcasses, which
caused a rapid rise in the number of feral dogs, and the spread of
rabies. One study put the resulting cost to Indian society at £20bn.
Spain, where vets can now legally use diclophenac, has about 90 per cent
of all Europe's vultures, including 97 per cent of one species, the
Black Vulture.
A campaign has now begun to get the European Union
to change its guidelines so the drug can be banned. A senior
Conservative MP, the former Tory deputy Chief Whip, Sir John Randall,
has promised to lobby the British Government to call for a Europe-wide
ban. Sir John, who was a professional bird watcher before becoming an
MP, said the introduction of diclophenac is "potentially devastating".
Sir John added: "There is a real problem of ignorance. There is a false
assumption that what is good for mammals is good for everything else, or
at least not harmful. People assume that vultures belong in the
Serengeti with the lions, but they are common in Spain and France; a
wild vulture has even been seen in Holland. There was a Black Vulture
spotted in Wales, but they think it escaped from somewhere. Vultures
have always been disregarded because of the way they look, but actually
they do a very, very good job."
José Tavares, director of the Swiss-based Vulture Conservation
Foundation, added: "Vultures fulfil an incredibly important role. They
clean the countryside, they provide an ecological service that is free
and unique. In a few depressed areas of Europe, they bring tourist
income. If diclophenac becomes widespread in Europe, carcasses would
have to be collected and incinerated at huge cost.
"There is some evidence that the drug may be toxic to other species. We
are trying to get that evidence published. In the UK, there are no
vultures, but if the drug is toxic to other birds of prey then the
problem starts to be extremely relevant to the UK," he added.
The Vulture Conservation Foundation has been lobbying the European
Commission and is planning to post a video on YouTube. An online
petition addressed to Janez Potočnik, the EU Commissioner for the
Environment, has attracted 21,000 signatures.
- Independent.
Another Report Of Dead Whales Stranded By Ice Off Newfoundland
Kayla Kendall tweeted this photograph on Saturday of a whale stranded at Rocky Harbour because of ice.
Kayla Kendall
The Canadian Coast Guard has issued a new report of dead whales off western Newfoundland.
Mariners have been warned about four whale carcasses at different locations at the entrance to Bonne Bay.
It has not said what kind of whales have died.
Earlier this month, at least nine blue whales died in ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
In March, dozens of dolphins were killed when they were crushed by ice near Cape Ray, on Newfoundland's southwest coast.
- CBC.
July 25, 2013 - GULF OF MEXICO -A Gulf of Mexico drilling rig has partially collapsed off the coast
of Louisiana after catching fire because of a ruptured natural gas well,
U.S. regulators said on Wednesday.
Hercules 265 rig fire that caused a collapse of the drill floor and derrick after an explosion on Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico. US Coast Guard via Reuters
Firefighters are continuing to
tackle the blaze, which broke out after a blowout on the Hercules 265
natural gas platform at around 10:45 p.m. local time Monday.
Eileen
Angelico, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental
Enforcement, said no one was on board when the fire started and it was
not known what sparked it.
A drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico, where a fire broke out on Wednesday has partially collapsed. AFP PHOTO / Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE)
She said an investigation into the cause of incident was "well underway"
The 44-strong crew who were evacuated
on two lifeboats, after the gas began spewing to the surface, will be
interviewed about how they lost control of the well, she added. None of
them were injured, NBC station WDSU reported.
WATCH: It appears that there are few environmental dangers evident in the collapse of a natural gas platform that is burning to the waterline more than 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
The beams supporting the derrick and portable drilling rig floor have
folded and have collapsed over the rig structure, operated by Hercules
Offshore.
Under bureau direction, Walter Oil & Gas Corp has
begun preparations to move a jack-up rig on location to drill a relief
well, the BSSE said in a statement. The company was expected to submit a
permit application for that relief well on Wednesday night.
WATCH: A natural gas well off the Louisiana coast caught fire, hours after a blowout that prompted the evacuation of 44 workers.
Both BSEE and Coast Guard Surveyed the fire from the air this morning to assess the situation.
A "very light sheen that dissipates quickly" was seen in the ocean near the rig, according to a BSEE/Coast Guard statement..
Experts from Wild Well Control, who specialize in tackling rig fires
are also being consulted on the best way to fight the fire.
Walter
Oil & Gas reported to the BSEE that the rig was completing a
"sidetrack well" — a means of re-entering the original well bore,
Angelico said earlier.
Sidetrack wells are sometimes drilled to remedy a problem with the existing well bore.
"It's
a way to overcome an engineering problem with the original well," Ken
Medlock, an energy expert at Rice University's Baker Institute told the
Associated Press.
"They're not drilled all the time, but it's not new."
In
2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded off the Louisiana coast,
killing 11 workers and eventually spewing millions of gallons of oil
into the Gulf of Mexico. - NBC News.
May 04, 2013 - GULF OF MEXICO - Crude oil toxicity continued to sicken a sentinel Gulf Coast fish species for at least more than a year after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to new findings from a research team that includes a University of California, Davis, scientist. With researchers from Louisiana and South Carolina, the scientists found
that Gulf killifish embryos exposed to sediments from oiled locations
in 2010 and 2011 show developmental abnormalities, including heart
defects, delayed hatching and reduced hatching success. The killifish is
an environmental indicator species, or a "canary in the coal mine,"
used to predict broader exposures and health risks.
The findings, posted online in advance of publication in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, are part of an ongoing collaborative effort to track the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on Gulf killifish populations in areas of Louisiana that received heavy amounts of oil.
Other species that share similar habitats with the Gulf killifish, such
as redfish, speckled trout, flounder, blue crabs, shrimp and oysters --
may be at risk of similar effects.
"These effects are characteristic of crude oil toxicity," said co-author
Andrew Whitehead, an assistant professor of environmental toxicology at
UC Davis. "It's important that we observe it in the context of the
Deepwater Horizon spill because it tells us it is far too early to say
the effects of the oil spill are known and inconsequential. By
definition, effects on reproduction and development -- effects that
could impact populations -- can take time to emerge."
Killifish are abundant in the coastal marsh habitats
along the Gulf Coast. Though not fished commercially, they are an
important forage fish and a key member of the ecological community.
Because they are nonmigratory, measurements of their health are
indicative of their local environment, making them an ideal subject for
study.
The researchers collected Gulf killifish from an oiled site at Isle
Grande Terre, La., and monitored them for measures of exposure to crude
oil. They also exposed killifish embryos in the lab to sediment
collected from oiled sites at Isle Grande Terre within Barataria Bay in
Louisiana.
"Our findings indicate that the developmental success of these fish in
the field may be compromised," said lead author Benjamin Dubansky, who
recently earned his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University.
Whitehead said the report's findings may predict longer-term impacts to
killifish populations. However, oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill
showed up in patches, rather than coating the coastline. That means some
killifish could have been hit hard by the spill while others were less
impacted.
Whitehead said it is possible that some of the healthier, less impacted
killifish could buffer the effects of the spill for the population as a
whole.
The research was supported by grants from the National Science
Foundation, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative and the National
Institutes of Health.
The other researchers in the study are Fernando Galvez, associate
professor of biological sciences at Louisiana State University; and
Charles D. Rice, professor of biological sciences at Clemson University
in Clemson, South Carolina. The researchers have tracked the impact of
the oil on killifish since the Deepwater Horizon spill occurred in April
2010. - Science Daily.
January 29, 2013 - GULF OF MEXICO - Today we had a wonderful treat. Our hard-working colleague and Gulf heroine Trisha James and her husband Mark joined us for a flight over the Gulf! On our way southward, we took a little extra time to check out some spots of concern along the Mississippi River, thanks to an alert from Scott Eustis of the Gulf Restoration Network. So in addition to what we can show you about offshore Louisiana today, you'll see some photos of two large coal terminals along the east bank of the Mississippi, as well as a new pass that the river is building in Bohemia, downriver of where the levee ends. You'll also see a dramatic wetlands fire that surprised us on our return back.
Unfortunately there are still some troubling sites offshore. The chronic Taylor Energy slick remains a heinous pollution situation, and today's quiet seas revealed that slick to be larger in size than it has looked to us before. What looks to be a natural seep about 10 miles southwest of the Macondo area, which we discovered last week, remains as it looked last week.
But the most troubling vision today was the Macondo area itself. The slick that we had first noticed last fall, which was spreading over the area within a half-mile or so of the scene of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, was huge today. It stretched over 7 nautical miles in the south-north direction and was almost a mile wide in some spots. There were some patches of rainbow sheen and even some weathered oil (brownish "mousse"), although overall it remained a light surface sheen. The ENSCO8502 drilling rig is still working in MC253 there; its presence provides scale in the photos. See all the photos HERE.
The two large coal piles we examined are the Kinder Morgan International Marine Terminal and United Bulk Coal Terminal. We are told that there are plans to expand these coal (and pet coke) terminals by nearly 400%, into Plaquemines Parish. Such coal terminals have been stopped in other parts of the country such as the northwest, for environmental protection reasons. Is this a case of Louisiana being willing to sacrifice and take risks that other more cautious states have refused? - OWOC.
November 30, 2012 - GULF OF MEXICO - For microscopic animals living in the Gulf of Mexico, even worse
than the toxic oil released during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster
may be the very oil dispersants used to clean it up, a new study finds.More than 2 million gallons (7.5 million liters) of oil dispersants
called Corexit 9527A and 9500A were dumped into the gulf in an effort to
prevent oil from reaching shore and to help it degrade more quickly. However, when oil and Corexit are combined, the mixture becomes up to 52 times more toxic than oil alone, according to a study published online this week in the journal Environmental Pollution. "There is a synergistic interaction between crude oil and
the dispersant that makes it more toxic," said Terry Snell, a study
co-author and biologist at Georgia Tech. Using dispersants breaks up the
oil into small droplets and makes it less visible, but, "on the other
hand, makes it more toxic to the planktonic food chain," Snell told
LiveScience.
This photograph shows windrows of emulsified oil (bright orange) sprayed with dispersant.
The photo was taken on April 26, 2010 as part of an aerial observation overflight.
Toxic mixture
That mixture of dispersant and oil in the gulf would've
wreaked havoc on rotifers, which form the base of the marine food web,
and their eggs in seafloor sediments, Snell said. In the study, Snell and colleagues tested ratios of oil and
dispersant found in the gulf in 2010, using actual oil from the well
that leaked in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and
the dispersant. The mixture was similarly toxic at the various ratios
tested, the study found. His group exposed several varieties of rotifers
to concentrations of the oil-dispersant mixture likely seen over a
large area of the gulf. "The levels in the gulf were toxic, and seriously toxic," Snell said. "That probably put a big dent in the planktonic food web for some extended period of time, but nobody really made the measurements to figure out the impact." The dispersant makes the oil more deadly by decreasing the size of the droplets, making it more "bio-available" to small organisms,
said Ian MacDonald, a researcher at Florida State University. "The
effect is specifically a toxic synergy — the sum is worse than the
parts," said MacDonald, who was not involved in the research.
A cautionary tale
This is one of the first studies to look at the impact of
the oil-dispersant mixture on plankton. A decline in populations of
plankton could impact larger animals all the way up to whales, he said.
In general, plankton can rebound quickly, although the toxicity to
larvae in sediments is concerning, since it reduces the size of the next
generation. This ocean-bottom oil slurry could also have impacted other
species that spend part of their life cycles here like algae and
crustaceans. "This is an important study that adds badly needed data to help us better understand the effects of oil spills and oil spill remediation strategies,
such as the use of dispersants," said Stephen Klaine, an environmental
toxicologist at Clemson University who wasn't involved in the research.
"Species' differences in the sensitivity to any toxic compounds,
including the ones in this discussion, can be huge." The results contrast with those released by the Environmental Protection Agency in
August 2010. That study found that a mixture of oil and Corexit isn't
more toxic than oil alone to both a species of shrimp and species of
fish. However, several studies have found the mixture is more toxic than
oil to the embryos of several fish species. The EPA could not
immediately be reached for comment. "To date, EPA has done nothing but congratulate itself on how Corexit
was used and avow they would do it the same way again," MacDonald said. However, Snell said the dispersant should not be used. It would be
better to let the oil disperse on its own to minimize ecological damage,
he said. "This is a cautionary tale that we need to do the science before the
emergency happens so we can make decisions that are fully informed,"
Snell said. "In this case, the Corexit is simply there to make the oil
disperse and go out of sight. But out of sight doesn't mean it's safe in
regard to the food web. It's hard to sit by and not do something," Snell said. "But in this case, doing something actually made it more toxic." - MSNBC.
