The Deadly Toll for Life in the Gulf
The article below, from sheilagh, does not go far enough. Yes the people on the oil rig were killed. But the number of people injured, crippled, and killed by the oil &/or Corexit is vast in comparison.
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Thu Apr 14, 2011 at 05:06 PM PDT
The Deadly Toll for Life in the Gulf
by hester for Gulf Watchers Group
Wednesday April 20 it will be a full year since the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. It was a monumental catastrophe with the loss of life of eleven men and untold numbers of birds, marine mammals, turtles, fish, even invertebrates.
More than 200 million gallons of oil spewed into the gulf over a period of 5 months. About 1/4 of the oil was removed, leaving over 150 million gallons to sink, or to be further mixed with poisonous dispersants. The combination of dispersant and oil forms micelles, which can actually enter cell membranes faster than either oil/dispersant can alone...
Recently the Center for Biodiversity has reviewed the government's numbers and consulted with scientists to provide a more accurate estimate of the damage to the region.
Summary below, details below the squiggle.
In total, we found that the oil spill has likely harmed or killed approximately 82,000 birds of 102 species, approximately 6,165 sea turtles, and up to 25,900 marine mammals, including bottlenose dolphins, spinner dolphins, melon-headed whales and sperm whales. The spill also harmed an unknown number of fish - including bluefin tuna and substantial habitat for our nation’s smallest seahorse - and an unknown but likely catastrophic number of crabs, oysters, corals and other sea life. The spill also oiled more than a thousand miles of shoreline, including beaches and marshes, which took a substantial toll on the animals and plants found at the shoreline, including seagrass, beach mice, shorebirds and others.
The human toll
But first I am going to mention each of the 11 men who lost their lives.
h/t to daily hurricane
- Shane Roshto, 22 from Franklin County, Mississippi, survived by his wife and child.
- Adam Weise, 24, from Yorktown, Texas.
- Roy Wyatt Kemp, 27, from Jonesville, Louisiana. He is survived by his wife and 2 girls.
- Karl Kleppinger, 38 of Natchez, Mississippi, who left behind a son and his wife, Tracy.
- Gordon Jones, 28 from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He left behind his wife and a son, and his 2nd son was born less than a month after the blowout.
- Jason Anderson, 35 of Midfield, TX. He is survived by his wife and 2 children.
- Dale Burkeen, 37 from outskirts of Philadelphia, Mississippi. He left a wife and 2 children.
- Stephen Curtis, 40, of Georgetown, Louisiana. He also had a wife and 2 kids.
- Donald Clark, 49 of Newelton, LA. He had four children and a wife who miss him.
- Dewey Revette, 48 of State Line, Mississippi. He is survived by his wife and 2 girls.
- Blair Manuel, 56 of St. Amant, Louisiana. He had 3 girls and is missed by them and his fiancée.
The lives of those families will never be the same. Nothing BP does can make that right, right that wrong, or bring them back.
The Wildlife Toll
Since 1964 there have been 320 known spills in the GOM involving off-shore drilling. There is plenty of remaining oil in the gulf. Oils spills are catastrophic to ecosystems and their dependent wildlife.
Approximately 25 percent of the oil was recovered, leaving more than 154 million gallons of oil at sea. In addition to the oil, nearly 2 million gallons of toxic dispersants were sprayed into the Gulf’s waters. This did not actually reduce the amount of oil left in the ocean, but merely broke it into smaller particles, which may actually make the oil more toxic for some ocean life and ease its entry into the food chain.
The full effect of the catastrophe won't be known for years. But one thing is very clear: the reported numbers of oiled/harmed/killed birds, dolphins and other mammals, sea turtles and fish were a small fraction of the real toll. The dying continues. Peraspera has reported here on the increase in dolphin deaths. They were miscarrying. Also being reported is an increase in sea turtles washing ashore. Pelicans are trying to nest on filthy beaches that are still littered with tar balls and subsurface oil.
The Center for Biological Diversity used scientific reports, government figures and new sources to extrapolate out a more accurate estimate for the wildlife death toll. They used multiplication factors that are use by leading researchers in the field. Those extrapolated figures give a better estimate of the projected rather than observed number of dead.
Birds
102 Species of birds were harmed by the spill. From Galveston, Tx to Fort Myers, Fla oil birds have been collected: including Brown Pelicans, Common Loons, several species of Terns. The official numbers of oiled birds did not include those observed but not picked up. Bird experts routinely estimate a 10 fold mortality over what is reported.
To date more than 8,200 birds have been collected, indicating that more than 82,000 may have been harmed by the spill. Of particular concern are brown pelicans and federally threatened piping plovers. Brown pelicans were removed from the endangered species list just five months before the Gulf disaster. Since the spill, 932 brown pelicans have been collected, so it can be assumed that more than 9,300 have likely been harmed. Scientists are reporting that oiled pelicans are still being found a year later. Despite good intentions, cleaning oiled pelicans doesn’t necessarily save their lives, and cleaned pelicans that do survive may never be able to reproduce. Only one dead piping plover has been collected, but oil pollution has soiled the bird’s critical habitat on the Chandeleur Islands.
Sea Turtles
All 5 sea turtle species found in the gulf (Kemp's ridley, hawksbill, leatherback and loggerhead) are all listed as endangered. Like with the birds, oiled turtles were collected from Texas to Florida. More recently sea turtles have been washing up dead.
Pass Christian resident Shirley Tillman has witnessed 13 dead sea turtles washing up on beaches near her home, nearly all in the past few weeks. Earlier this week she found four on one day. She says in several cases she’s called the IMMR and NOAA authorities and given them coordinates to have the turtles picked up, only to go back and find they haven’t been picked up for days. link These dead sea turtles are not being added to the government totals because of the "ongoing federal criminal investigation".
The estimate of dead/oiled is ~6,000, quite a lot more than the 1,146 reported so far by the government.
Marine Mammals
The center reports that at least 4 different species of mammals were killed by the gulf oil spill: bottlenose dolphins, spinner dolphins, melon-headed whales and sperm whales. As has been reported here, many of the recently reported dead dolphins were infants. It is known that oil impairs mammalian reproduction. Orca whales that were oiled >20 years ago in the Exxon Valdez spill have not reproduced since.
As with birds and sea turtles, the number of marine mammals reported as harmed by the spill grossly underestimates the true number affected. Scientists estimate that the number of marine mammals harmed may be up to 50 times higher than the number that have been collected. The government has collected 128 dead or affected dolphins and whales whose harm was attributed to the BP spill, indicating that at least 6,400 marine mammals may have actually been harmed. Though oil on some of the dolphins that have washed ashore this spring has been traced to the BP disaster, the government is not adding those dolphins to the official tally because of the ongoing criminal investigation. The media has reported 390 strandings this spring. If these animals are included in the tally, then it can be estimated that up to 25,900 marine mammals may have been harmed by the oil spill to date.
Fish
The numbers are impossible to determine. Over 88,000 square miles was fouled by the oil. The gulf has > 500 species of fish. Ones particularly vulnerable and at risk of extinction are: Atlantic bluefin tuna, Gulf sturgeon, smalltooth sawfish and the dwarf seahorse.
Invertebrates
No one can estimate the damage to the invertebrates living in the gulf: corals, crabs, oysters, clams, starfish, zooplankton, sand-dwellers... it's impossible. The resources that invertebrates rely on have been badly disturbed. According to Samantha Joye
We were able to document the impact of the leak on the seafloor. In the places we sampled, it was devastating. Often you saw this oily mucus, blanketing everything. There are these bacteria in the sea that eat oil. When their oil-laden waste gets heavy, it falls to the floor. And it must have been falling like a blizzard for months, because it covered the sediment.
Typically, the seafloor is teeming with invertebrates sticking out - little animals with tubes, with shells, anything that filter-feeds. Well, the tubes were still there, but the animals were dead. I suspect they were suffocated when the oily waste rained down on them. The things that could run away, the fish, did. Yet even some of the mobile fauna - when we’d find them - were discolored and slow. Usually you poke a crab and it takes off running. These guys would just sort of sit there and look at you like they were dazed and confused.
The ability of invertebrates to recover is very limited.
In November, fishermen reported pulling up tar balls in their shrimp nets, and the closure on royal red shrimp fishing lasted until February. Oil pollution will persist for decades or longer in the Gulf, resulting in continued disruption to invertebrate life. Scientists tracing the fate of the dispersed oil in the water column have found that oil particles are being transferred within the food web, which poses ongoing risks to all marine life in the Gulf. Forty years after an oil spill off the coast of Massachusetts, fiddler crabs are still being harmed by persistent pollution.
What now?
The Center has a list of persistent threats that should be addressed.
- Close the categorical exemption loophole, which allowed BP and allows other oil companies to be exempted from environmental review. Last May the President said he would close the loophole. That hasn't yet been accomplished. Drilling leases are being given w/o any environmental review........still.
- Revise the environmental impact statement for off-shore oil/gas exploration. Leases are still being approved w/r/t rules antedating the spill. That has to stop.
- Cut down on risky gulf drilling. THere are already 4000 oil/gas 'enterprises' in the gulf.
- Increase the liability cap or lift it completely.
- Review dispersant use with the help of knowledgable scientists.
- Put a moratorium on drilling in the Arctic.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/04/14/966984/-The-Deadly-Toll-for-Life-in-the-Gulf