Natural Petroleum Seeps Release Equivalent Of Up To 80 Exxon Valdez Oil Spills

Science Daily ^ | 5/18/09 | University of California - Santa Barbara

[Upstate NY Guy]

ScienceDaily (May 18, 2009) — Twenty years ago, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez was exiting Alaska's Prince William Sound when it struck a reef in the middle of the night. What happened next is considered one of the nation's worst environmental disasters: 10.8 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the pristine Alaskan waters, eventually covering 11,000 square miles of ocean.

Now, imagine 8 to 80 times the amount of oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez accident.

According to new research by scientists from UC Santa Barbara and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), that's how much oil has made its way into sediments offshore from petroleum seeps near Coal Oil Point in the Santa Barbara Channel. Their research, reported in an article being published in the May 15 issue of Environmental Science & Technology, documents how the oil is released by the seeps, carried to the surface along a meandering plume, and then deposited on the ocean floor in sediments that stretch for miles northwest of Coal Oil Point.

In addition, the research reveals that the oil is so degraded by the time it gets buried in the sea bed that it's a mere shell of the petroleum that initially bubbles up from the seeps. "These were spectacular findings," said Christopher Reddy, a marine chemist at WHOI and one of the co-authors of the new paper

[Upstate NY Guy]

continueing...

"Now, you still have thousands of compounds in that oil, but now we're seeing all of the evaporation and dissolution that happens to the slick, and then the biodegradation happens in the slick with oxygen present, and then when it falls to the sea floor, it continues to be biodegraded. All the oil seems to be biodegraded to the same point and then it just stops."

"It's dramatic how much the oil loses in this life cycle," Reddy said. "It's almost like someone who has lost 400 pounds."

Sounds to me like oil spills are not such a big threat to the ocean environment after all. Since this massive seepage is happening all the time, and biodegradation cleans it up, I say:
Drill, drill, drill!

[Mr. K]

"eventually covering 11,000 square miles of ocean"

Um... what?

Thats the entire length of the coastline from california to Alaska and 2 or 3 miles wide...

[Recon Dad]

Would I be wrong to guess that if this much oil is freely seeping up there might be a lot of oil down there. Would I also be wrong to assume that if you drilled and brought it up through said drilling you might reduce the seepage?

[dblshot]

The beaches in Prince William Sound that were steam cleaned after the Exxon Valdez spill took longer to recover than those that were left alone. Nature biodegrades the oil but where they steamed cleaned they killed off the biodegrading organisms.

[Red Badger]

Seeping ping!..............

[CaptainAmiigaf]

How can one person be so wrong? If American Oil companies were allowed to drill for that oil, they would gleefully generate further obscene profits on the backs of the poor. Thousands of Americans would have to be employed, reducing the number of people dependent on government handouts. Fuel sources would be taken from the control of foreign dictators striving to injure THIS country.
If you advocate the finding and drilling for oil HERE, you invite the hysterical wrath of the ENVIRONMENTALISTS and their allies, people dedicated to complaining while they lobby to prevent any solution to their complaints.
No you must let the oil remain in the earth, to seep up on its own and tease us.

[Recon Dad]

How about an open season on environmentalists....thin the herd.

[laker_dad]

Fill your bathtub with water & add one drop of oil. It’s amazing how much the oil can spread out.

[MainFrame65]

All we need to do is push Al Gore over a cliff. Most of the rest of them will probably follow him.

[ASOC]

The Sound has it’s own oil seeps. Natrual proceses alredy exist to remove the oil. ALl they had to do was remove the gross amount of oil and then go back and add fertilizer to remove the remainder.

On a related note - thank goodness oil tankers are loaded by ‘barrels’ of oil. Image how long it would take if they did it by the gallon.....

[weps4ret]

This is funny!

When I was stationed in Santa Barbara in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s we knew of this report. It had been shelved because it disproved everything the envirowhackos were saying.

Arco actually tented the seeps at one point in an effort to collect the oil. The average loss is around 600 barrels a day.

The Coast of Santa Barbara has the largest oil deposit of anywhere in the U.S. Sadly the term NIMBY originated in Santa Barbara. They did not care about the oil, just the fact that they could see the platforms. The county actually charged the oil companies a “View Distruction Tax”. Which the spent to pave over beaches so tourists could have more parking.

If you wanted to catch fish in the Santa Barbara channel you went fishing at Coal Oil Point. A very robust ecosystem there, which also disproved the ecoaxiom that oil was bad for the environment. Oil is an organic substance after all. The bad part about fishing there was you had to clean the oil off of the bottom of the boat.

Gunner

[Upstate NY Guy]

"Um... what? Thats the entire length of the coastline from california to Alaska and 2 or 3 miles wide..."

I'm guessing after it falls and biodegrades this is nothing more than the basic sediment found in many parts of the ocean.

[Upstate NY Guy]

'The beaches in Prince William Sound that were steam cleaned after the Exxon Valdez spill took longer to recover...."

Thanks, I did not know that but it makes perfect sense. Oil comes out of the ground and from under the sea. It stands to reason that the ocean surface and shorelines have been exposed to it lots of times throughout history. I don't see any evidence of harm.

[dblshot]

Oil is organic.

[Upstate NY Guy]

Thanks for this first hand info. This confirms what I suspected about the alarmist claims concerning oil.

Here in the Hudson River valley of upstate New York we have a massive multi-billion dollar PCB cleanup underway. A complete waste of money because the stuff is biodegrading on its own.

[Upstate NY Guy]

"Oil is organic."

Yes, according to the definition I was given in Biology and Chemistry classes an organic compund is a hydrocarbon.

When my wife drags me to the health food store and I ask the staff to define "organic food" they look at me like I have two heads. I still have no idea what organically grown or organic food means. I mean where is the inorganic food section?

[Upstate NY Guy]

Great idea! Obama says no.

[dblshot]

I mean where is the inorganic food section?
McDonalds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IGtDPG4UfI Organic stuff breaks down, well organically like oil will but check out this video...Youck!

[dblshot]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IGtDPG4UfI

[weps4ret]

All you have to do is look at the damage done by cleaning up the oil from the S.S. Exxon Valdez, the area is still sterile in many places.

Compare that to what was done after the first Iraq War when Saddam knocked the ends off of the pipes and let the crude flow into the Gulf. Three years later there was no sign of the oil and things were pretty much back to normal. No human intervention.

On a clean up 10% of the monies will clean up 90% of the problem. Diminishing returns after that.

Gunner