Newly Discovered Bacteria Could Aid Oil Cleanup

suraj.sun passes along news from Oregon State University, where researchers have discovered a new strain of bacteria that may be able to aid cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. The bacteria "can produce non-toxic, comparatively inexpensive 'rhamnolipids,' and effectively help degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs — environmental pollutants that are one of the most harmful aspects of oil spills. Because of its unique characteristics, this new bacterial strain could be of considerable value in the long-term cleanup of the massive Gulf Coast oil spill, scientists say." In related news, Kevin Costner's centrifugal separator technology has gotten approval for deployment; now it is only waiting on funding from BP.

Comments

Re:This mess is just too much

[commodore64_love]

I've no clue what you're talking about.

But since you mentioned "princes" let's discuss the american version of a prince - President Obama. Why is it that NOAA and the DOE had plans to coral an oil slick and then burn-off that oil, but these plans were blocked from being being executed? Who's responsible? Obama? Cass Sunnstein? The head of NOAA or the head of DOE?

To me this looks like a repeat of the same Katrina-like behavior where the U.S. agencies sat by and did not act. Why is our union government paralyzed when faced with an emergency?