Gulf Bacteria Quickly Digested Spilled Methane

masterwit writes "From an AAAS news release: 'Bacteria made quick work of the methane released by the Deepwater Horizon blowout, digesting most of the gas within the four months after its release, according to a new study published online at ScienceExpress.' This study, however, did not deal with other chemicals (oil) from the disaster's fallout. A glimpse of good news from the disaster's aftermath." Reader iamrmani points out a related article suggesting that things may be looking up for BP after the Presidential Commission said blame for the disaster should be shared with service contractors and government regulators.

Comments

Re:"Our" Fault?

[roman_mir]

Crazy folks, ha?

Crazy folks, who think that gov't should not be ever involved with any private companies in any way shape or form, helping them, working for them OR regulating them?

Sure, you can call them crazy. Or you can call them the only sane people.

You know why? Because it is the only sane position to take, that gov't should not be involved in any private enterprise at all ever.

It is the only sane position to take that gov't should not be insuring, stimulating, bailing out, giving out free money, giving out contracts, lobbying on behalf of, taxing for, subsidizing in any way, regulating for monopolies and against competition.

It is the only sane position to take, that gov't should NEVER EVER be in any insurance business.

Do you know what happened with BP (beyond the fact, that this is the company, which enjoys such intimate contact with US and UK gov'ts that in the past it even got those gov'ts to remove democratically elected gov't of Iran)? The $10,000,000 liability cap - gov't insurance, that's what happened.

10 MILLION dollars CAP on liability for BP, that's what happened. Gov't contracts, gov't stimulus, gov't subsidy, gov't not carrying about proper royalties, gov't not carrying about one thing: not to create a moral hazard.

That's right, you call people who believe that gov't shouldn't be in business doling out moral hazard insane all you want, but here is what gov't moral hazard has brought you (and this is very very very incomplete, short list in no order of any kind):
*BP
*Catrina
*9/11
*Iraq
*Vietnam
*Korea
*1920 recession
*1929 recession / depression
*1980 recession
*Internet bubble, with the subsequent bail out through 1% short term interest which was part of housing bubble
*FDIC and moral hazard of banks gambling with deposits
*Freddie/Fannie moral hazard, coupled with 1% short term interest and FDIC, resulting in the housing bubble and mortgage derivative speculations
*2008 market crash with subsequent bailouts and stimulus, etc.
*The impending US bond crash, which will wipe out US economy (not world, just US) and hyper-inflationary stagnation, since USD will be printed out of existence to monetize all gov't debt, including federal, state and municipal
*Insane prices for health insurance due to gov't involvement into insurance business starting with Nixon
*High unemployment through minimum wage, SS, EI
*The destruction of US jobs market through destruction of US production capacity due to all the high costs of doing business in US, thanks to all the regulation and taxation

etc.etc.

AFAIC, your worst enemy is sitting in your gov't, passing laws, passing regulations, taxing your income and preventing you from saving and starting your own business, printing your currency out of existence.

--

Surely, you will call this insane, but I call the people who look at all of the above and completely missing the point, that gov't has been usurped by politicians working with their preferred monopolies, to steal the money of everybody through printing and low short term interest and debt and trade deficit due to destruction of free market capitalism (which is in very short supply in the West) insane.