I read an article the other day (can't find it now though, of course) that brought up the fact that there are bacteria in the water that are consuming the oil. However, they consume so much oxygen in doing so that other wildlife are suffering. No question there's a natural process to deal with it, it just doesn't work very well when we go putzing with things.Must mean that something in the water can remove oil. Then again, looks like if an oil spill occurs, the natural process is overloaded and then a lot of oil gets put on the surface of the water.
Nuclear power is your answer? Really? I mean, I know it's technically the safest "fuel burning" type of power generators we have. Probably the cleanest, too. 'till Chernobyl happens, of course. I just think I'd rather see the money that would go towards a nuclear overhaul instead go towards continued renewable energy sources. Solar panels, wind generators, wave generators, all of these technologies are generally in their infancy right now due to the cheap and available energy sources we've been siphoning off our planet for decades. Rather than spend our time working with stuff that kills us, why not use the elements that surround us to our advantage?Either way, we need nuclear power - French style. 78.8% of France's power comes from nuclear reactors. If applied to North America, it should reduce North American fossil fuel dependence somewhat. Then we need an answer to transportation. E85 isn't the answer - it still uses fossil fuels, and right now, it's based on corn and sugar cane. Get ethanol fuel without using food, make sure all cars can run on E85, and we'll have an answer to cut our fossil fuel dependence. Now if we could get to work on that. Anyway, if you don't like oil, then don't drive a car if it isn't necessary. Or, get an electric car. If you want to drive a car, then accept the fact that oil spills happen. Right now, all cars need gasoline, diesel, or natural gas for long distance trips. Can't say commuting because of the Chevrolet Volt, the Nissan Leaf, etc.
Ugh. I've been avoiding posting about this because, truth be told, I feel vaguely suicidal when I think of the damage this spill is doing. But that link... I think I'm going to go hang out with Bert in the Smiles thread.
Oh, and truth be told, BP isn't the only one who doesn't know how to operate
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100603/en_ ... ll_cameronWhile acknowledging that his contacts in the deep-sea industry do not drill for oil, Cameron said that they are accustomed to operating various underwater vehicles and electronic optical fiber systems.
"Most importantly," he added, "they know the engineering that it requires to get something done at that depth."
Among the key issues that Cameron said he is interested in helping the government with are methods of monitoring the oil leak and investigating it.
"The government really needs to have its own independent ability to go down there and image the site, survey the site and do its own investigation," he said.
"Because if you're not monitoring it independently, you're asking the perpetrator to give you the video of the crime scene," Cameron added.
We can use any element heavier than lead to produce energy through fission. We can use any element lighter than lead to produce energy through fusion. It would take several thousand years to use up just the amount of determine and tritium that is naturally occurring in the ocean for fusion energy, even when taking it to account exponential growth of our power needs.The only point I was trying to make about nuclear power is that regardless of how technologically safe our reactors are, we're still using radioactive materials and thus requiring to dispose of radioactive materials. It just seems to me that as a race we tend to latch on to these sorts of things and use 'em till they f*** us up big time.
We can use any element heavier than iron to produce energy through fission. We can use any element lighter than iron to produce energy through fusion. It would take several thousand years to use up just the amount of deuterium and tritium that is naturally occurring in the ocean for fusion energy, even when taking it to account exponential growth of our power needs.
soooooorry, i just couldn't let it go 
* Oil priceThe beaches of the Gulf Coast are a major attraction, and damage to the beaches or lengthy closures for cleanup will have a heavy impact on tourism, imposing serious losses for restaurants, hotels, recreation and tour operations such as sport fishing. Ecotourism will also suffer. The oil spill is also expected to damage the delicate swamps and wetlands near the coast—which are home to a variety of threatened and endangered birds and other creatures. The Delta National Wildlife Refuge is already threatened by the encroaching oil.
** End result: a conservative estimate of a $4.5 billion economic hit, with a subsequent hit to tax revenue, right at the start of an economic recovery from the worst recession in U.S. history since the Great Depression.For the Gulf Coast commercial fishing trade—a $2.4 billion per year industry in Louisiana alone—the oil spill is likely to have a devastating and long-lasting impact. Shrimp and oysters cannot be harvested in contaminated water. In addition to the mass mortality and contamination expected among fish and other ocean life, the effects of the oil spill on the reproductive ability of fish and other sea animals and the interruption of the natural food chain could damage the state’s commercial fishing industry for years.
Health Impact:The oil spill could severely damage fragile ecosystems for years, possibly decades. Beaches fouled by oil spills are very difficult to clean up. To make matters worse, the spill threatens beaches just as shorebirds are nesting and sea turtles are coming ashore to lay their eggs.
Even worse is the effect the oil spill could have on sensitive salt marshes and mangrove coastlines, which would be practically impossible to clean and that some fear might be permanently destroyed. These wetlands are considered the nurseries for the fishing and seafood industry and are a vital habitat and breeding ground for many species of wildlife. Because they cover much more land area than beaches, the risk of their exposure to damage is greatly increased.
Fully 98 percent of the fish and shellfish harvested in the Gulf of Mexico depend on estuaries, which are coastal waters where freshwater from rivers and streams mix with seawater. Estuaries are dependant on wetlands for their water quality and to provide a basis for aquatic food chains. Many species depend on wetlands for food, shelter, and breeding.
The waters of the Gulf of Mexico are home to hundreds of species of aquatic life. The longer the oil fouls the water, the more polluted the food chain becomes, which could result in large fish kills and seafood too contaminated for consumption.
The environmental damage caused by the BP oil spill could change the face of the Gulf Coast for generations, and some things may never be the same.
The health risks posed by the Gulf Oil spill and its fumes include:
* Short-term or contact illnesses: Exposure can cause immediate symptoms such as skin damage, headaches, dizziness, nausea, confusion, vomiting, coughing, respiratory difficulty, and chemical pneumonitis. Eye and throat irritation as well as difficulty breathing are also possible consequences, which is of particular concern to those people with asthma or other lung diseases.
* Long-term or latent diseases: In addition to immediate symptoms, toxic exposures can cause latent diseases—diseases that take longer to show up. Latent diseases that could develop include liver and kidney disease, lung damage, immune system suppression, abnormal hormone levels, infertility, anemia, nerve damage, mutations, and cancer.
* Risks to unborn fetus: Exposure to a pregnant woman can also cause toxic exposures and injury to a developing festus, including abnormal growth and development, skeletal deformities and other birth defects.
* Risks to children and the elderly: Children are at greater risk that adults to the effects of toxic exposures. Some of the possible consequences include abnormal growth, neurocognitive damage, cancer and other health conditions.
* Risks to the Elderly and Those with Preexisting Conditions: The elderly and those with preexisting medical conditions are also vulnerable to negative health effects. A person suffering from a preexisting condition, for example, could see a worsening of the disease even with short-term exposure.
Not only do these risks affect the tens of millions of people who live and work on the Gulf coast, due to the sheer size and volume of the oil volcano and its unfortunate timing at the beginning of summer, but the contamination of food source puts millions more at risk.
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