Giant Plumes of Oil Forming Below the Gulf's Surface

An anonymous reader sends in a NY Times article about the spread of oil from the BP gusher in the Gulf of Mexico. Quoting: "Scientists are finding enormous oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide, and 300 feet thick in spots. The discovery is fresh evidence that the leak from the broken undersea well could be substantially worse than estimates that the government and BP have given. ... The plumes are depleting the oxygen dissolved in the gulf, worrying scientists, who fear that the oxygen level could eventually fall so low as to kill off much of the sea life near the plumes. Dr. Joye said the oxygen had already dropped 30 percent near some of the plumes in the month that the broken oil well had been flowing. ... [Scientists on the Pelican mission] suspect the heavy use of chemical dispersants, which BP has injected into the stream of oil emerging from the well, may have broken the oil up into droplets too small to rise rapidly. ... Dr. Joye said the findings about declining oxygen levels were especially worrisome, since oxygen is so slow to move from the surface of the ocean to the bottom. She suspects that oil-eating bacteria are consuming the oxygen at a feverish clip as they work to break down the plumes."

Comments

That's a big problem

[Kohath]

That's going to be a big problem for all those people who live below the surface of the water in the Gulf of Mexico. Also for the people who live in boats floating over 5000 feet of water. What are all those people going to do?

Where's Sarah Palin

[PedoPope]

Haven't heard her say "Drill Baby Drill" in weeks. C'mon teabaggers - I can't hear you!

Re:Where's Sarah Palin

[antirelic]

Ironically, havent seen the libtards give up their cars and every modern convenience that relies on oil.

Come on Libtards!

Re:... Hear no evil. See no evil.

[genican1]

For BP, "response effort" means "when the fuck can we start pumping again?"

I'm betting that they will never be pumping from that well ever again, and they likely know this. They are going to have to plug this hole up tight to make it stop leaking, and there is a trashed rig over the hole. It would be easier and cheaper to drill a new hole a few miles away.

They do not know this. Hence the 'siphoning'. They could STOP the flow if they wanted, they are trying to RECOVER the oil.

Re:Free Market Man is here!

[thelexx]

What is your alternative proposal? Centralized planning of the economy? Government ownership of the means of production? Price controls? Tariffs? Rationing? I can't help but think that all the folks on slashdot decrying a free market economy weren't alive to watch that thinking fail spectacularly in the USSR. And aren't paying attention to the countries still doing that stuff and their epic levels of fail now (USA included). Like freedom itself, there must be safeguards, but to throw the baby out with the bathwater is just stupid.

Re:i LOL

[Hognoxious]

Yeah, thankfully it's a foreign multinational instead of an American one, or you - and Obama - wouldn't have anything to carp about.