Tuesday, July 06, 2010
BP's Oil Disaster Is Increasing Gulf Arsenic Levels...
Damn if it just doesn't keep getting better and better. Good thing the Media is now subject to fines and jail time for reporting on this shit. GAH!
via News.Com.AU
In a further blow, an operation to permanently cap the ruptured well on the seafloor far below the surface cannot begin until engineers finish drilling relief wells, in mid-August at the earliest.
Imperial College London researchers warned the effect on the environment could worsen unless clean up efforts were hastened.
Researchers published a study which found oil stops the ocean’s natural filtering process of arsenic.
They said the arsenic then gets “magnified” up the food chain, as fish eat small amounts of the deadly poison and may eventually impact humans, researchers said.
Professor Mark Sephton said arsenic, which is found in seawater, was normally filtered out of the ocean when it combined with sediment on the sea floor.
“But oil spills stop the normal process because the oil combines with sediment and it leads to an accumulation of arsenic in the water over time," he said.
"Arsenic only needs to be a 10th of a part per billion to cause problems.”
He added: “Our study is a timely reminder that oil spills could create a toxic ticking time bomb, which could threaten the fabric of the marine ecosystem in the future.”
Prof Sephton called for a comprehensive mapping of arsenic levels around the world which would allow authorities to consider banning oil drilling in areas with dangerous levels of arsenic.
The findings were published this month in the journal Water Research.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world/more-bad-news-for-bp-as-arsenic-levels-rise-in-seawater-around-the-gulf-of-mexico/story-e6frfkyi-1225888272667#ixzz0sxWEPOQC
More at the link.
BP-- YOU are AWESOME! Boot to the head.
Meanwhile, not even NPR is spending more than a few minutes per hour on reporting on this fucking disaster, when it should ALWAYS be front and center in the News Cycle. It's old news, donchaknow. Don't want to hurt BP's feelings.
Of course, it will be somewhere around 2025 before we're allowed to even fish in the Gulf again. If fish are still alive in the Gulf by then.
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Labels: BP Fail, BP's Gulf Of Mexico Environmental Catastrophe
