A group of scientists says that as much as 79 percent of the BP oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico is still present. The scientists released a report this week to counter a rosier picture presented by the federal government that says three-quarters of the oil was recovered, dissolved, burned, skimmed or dispersed. Whichever report is right, so much oil spilled, that millions of barrels of oil still threaten the Gulf ecosystem. And most of the remaining oil cannot be cleaned up.

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A 22-mile-long invisible mist of oil is meandering far below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, where it will probably loiter for months or more, scientists reported Thursday in the first conclusive evidence of an underwater plume from the BP spill.

The most worrisome part is the slow pace at which the oil is breaking down in the cold, 40-degree water, making it a long-lasting but unseen threat to vulnerable marine life, experts said.

The absent 75% was soaked up by feathers and drank up by dolphins. Nature has a remarkable way of cleansing itself.
- steve 8-19-2010 11:56 pm [add a comment]