Visit SaveOurGulf.org for information on BP's Drilling Disaster from other Waterkeepers in the gulf south. Please make a donation and support local groups doing work for local people.
LEAN member and New Orleans photographer Jerry Moran revisited Raccoon Island on August 8, 2010 to find more of the same death and destruction that he found on his visit on July 18, 2010.
"death is everywhere and I mean everywhere, even though visible oil is much less an issue, which concerns me greatly. A lot of the birds that weren't dead, were obviously poisoned, almost acting drunk and dazed. Some were hardly walking, and some were alive, but lying where they will surely expire, some were actually fighting each other for food(surely contaminated).......It is really hard for me to believe that nothing can be done to curb what is no less than the extermination of our beloved state bird, along with thousands of other birds and animals. There are not many times where I have just stopped shooting and left....yesterday was one of those day's."
"The difference this time was that there were not as many (living) birds...... probably at least 60% less but just as much death if not more. Pelicans, Seagulls, Bull Redfish, Drum....you name it it was dead on the beach. Oil had hit Raccoon Island last week and the island was obviously manicured, BP had set up tents on the 2 adjoining Islands. All of the boom that was on the island and on top the jetties was gone, and the island was flat where it once had a more natural terrain....two of the pelicans had died very recently, and it was most disturbing that one of them was hooked to a sparkle beatle (a kind of fishing lure) which was tangled in dead mangrove.......I have no doubt that either Wildlife and Fisheries or BP workers had to have seen this Pelican while alive and just left him there to die. A lot of the dead birds stomach cavaties were open and a brown sludge covered the inside, with the scent of oil."
The question, 'where has all the oil gone?' has been answered in the
media in recent days by scientists providing much speculation about how
the oil may go away but little hard data about what is actually
happening in the Gulf. We cannot let the future of the Gulf rest on
speculation.
The
danger of this conjecture is that people are already beginning to tune
out and assume that everything is fine, even within the spill response.
So, where is the oil?
Oil in grass between Oyster Bayou and Taylor's Bayou, St. Mary's Parish,
Louisiana, July 30, 2010, Photo Credit: Antonia Juhasz.
The BP oil can be found on the shores of St. Mary Parish. Just yesterday,
July 30, 2010, stretches of shoreline along St. Mary Parish were found
that were significantly oiled. This area was believed to be safe from
the spill and was not given any attention by Unified Command. Even the
St. Mary Parish President thought that they would not receive oil. (1)
Oil South end of Oyster Bayou, St. Mary's Parish, Louisiana, July 30, 2010, Photo Credit: Antonia Juhasz.
The BP oil can be found under the shells of post-larval blue crabs all
across the northern Gulf of Mexico. As reported in a previous E-ALERT,
researchers in Mississippi had found post-larval blue crabs with oil
under their shells. Now the researchers have given another update on
their findings and it is sobering. Nearly all of the crab larvae that
the researchers have collected to date, from Grand Isle, LA to
Pensacola, FL, have BP's oil under their shells, but it doesn't stop
there. Chemical analysis suggests that the crabs may also contain the
Corexit dispersants used on the spilled oil. Only time will tell if
this contamination will affect commercial harvests but equally
troubling is the potential for toxic materials to make their way into
the food chain as these tiny crabs are important food sources for a
host of other sea creatures. (2)
Yellow oil droplets can been seen under the shell of a post-larval blue crab.
Scientists
saying that the effects of the BP oil spill will be minimal are
speculating from very little data. It may make the media happy and the
news more interesting but it is not good science to speculate on the
outcome of the oil spill studies before they are even well underway.
The BP oil can also be found in "plumes" of dispersed oil floating around
deep under the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. Researchers at the
University of South Florida have confirmed that these "plumes" are, in
fact, clouds of BP's oil. (3)
Because of the massive use of
dispersants, which conveniently shield the impacts from view, the real
damage is much harder to quantify. The dispersal of the oil has caused
an unknown, but undoubtedly very large, portion of the spilled oil to
be mixed into and spread all through the Gulf waters in tiny little
bits.
The damages caused by this sub-surface oil may not be
apparent for some time. Like the crabs; the juvenile forms of fish,
shrimp and many other species as well as the plankton they feed on will
be exposed to the toxicity of the oil and the dispersants.
Imagine your city filled with smoke from a large fire. Now replace the air with water and the
smoke with tiny droplets of dispersed oil and you have a better sense of how the
'plumes' of oil are impacting sea creatures.
That
damage is difficult to quantify but to dismiss it as minimal is
irresponsible. Many commercial and sport species in one of the most
biologically productive areas of the world are being exposed to a
mixture of materials that are known to be toxic and we really don't
know what the effects will be.
It is too early to be speculating
about the impacts of the millions of barrels of BP oil on Louisiana and
the Gulf of Mexico. It is especially problematic when its done by
scientists in the media. We need to be focused on figuring out what
actually is going on in the Gulf with thorough research and sound data.
The
real answer to the question is this: significant amounts of the oil are
still out in the Gulf environs and we really don't know what the long
term effects will be.
Scientists: BP dispersants have made spill more toxic
Group working for law firms suing BP cites 'compelling evidence
by Amna Nawaz, Rich Gardella and Lisa Myers, NBC News
NBC News Investigative Unit
Lisa Myers' report on oil dispersants will air tonight, Friday July 30, on NBC Nightly News!
Amid growing concern about the use of dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico, a group of scientists working for law firms suing BP says their testing indicates that the dispersants being used to break up the oil are making this spill even more toxic to marine life.
Dr. William Sawyer, a toxicologist, is part of a team of scientists hired by law firms - led by Smith Stag of New Orleans - that are representing Louisiana fishermen and environmentalists.
The scientists collected and analyzed globs of oil, sand, and water from more than a dozen sites in four states along the Gulf.
Sawyer told NBC News that the findings are troubling. "We now have compelling evidence that the dispersant has enhanced and increased the toxicity from the spill," he said.
Last week, a group of independent scientists called for an "immediate halt" to the use of dispersants. In what was called a "consensus statement," they warned that dispersants pose "grave risks to marine life and human health."
Spreading the damage?
So far, the federal government has approved use of more than 1.8 million gallons of dispersant in the Gulf. Most of it is Corexit 9500.
Former BP oil spill clean up worker Kellie Fellows discusses her experiences working on a beach cleanup team cleaning up oil from BP's Gulf oil disaster.
