Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 01/18/2011 4:41:57 AM PST by bestintxas
Last April, an environmental disaster occurred that remained in the headlines for months. With each day, a new estimate seemed to be offered regarding the impact this event would have upon the Gulf region. You recall that event, don't you? It was the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the resulting oil spill. Now, a mere nine months later, consider the actual extent of the environmental and economic damage versus what was expected or warned of at the time the rig exploded.
In a study released earlier this month, a team of scientists stated that the natural gas released by the oil spill had almost completely disappeared. According to the study, tiny deep-water microbes have consumed the natural gas, methane, and other oil constituents released by the oil spill. The study estimated that 0.01% (one ten-thousandth) of the methane released from the accident actually remained in the ocean. It appears that the explosion and seepage of oil provided a feast for the microbes in the Gulf.
Not only did these bacteria enjoy the feast, but they consumed the methane gas rather quickly. By September, according to the study, only five months after the initial oil rig explosion, the methane was practically gone.
At first glance, these may be surprising figures, what with the "sky is falling" rhetoric that came from government officials and so-called experts. Consider a couple of the end-of-the-world quotes that were so typical of liberals during the time of the spill.
Mr. Louis Miller of the Mississippi Sierra Club: "This is going to destroy the Mississippi and the Gulf Coast as we know it."
Mr. Richard Charter of the Defenders of Wildlife: "You're looking at a long-term poisoning of the area. Ultimately, this will have a multidecade impact."
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
we do not need such interference in the way we produce and use energy.
The Media/Democrat complex milked an accident for more than it was worth, then reaped the political fruit of further damage to our free enterprise economy by handcuffing the oil companies drilling in the Gulf. Damned Communists!
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