Biggest Environmental Toxicology Experiment Ever
Lubbock Online:Tech scientists hold nothing back in battling effects of Gulf spill
Excerpts:
"Ron Kendall said Tuesday in his office at Texas Tech’s Insitute of Environmental & Human Health, the well has already spewed enough oil to coat ecosystems all along the Gulf Coast."
"As one of the world’s foremost experts, even Kendall can’t wrap his mind around it. The Exxon Valdez back in 1989 - he was there in Alaska helping to clean up the wrecked tanker’s 11-million-gallon mess. This current spill, he continued, is exponentially more tragic. An Exxon Valdez roughly every four or five days for months. “It’s unbelievable,” Kendall said. “It’s still unfolding. This is a catastrophe of enormous proportions. To me, this is the biggest environmental toxicology experiment we’ve ever conducted.”"
[on the surface] "“It’s so thick. It’s like chocolate mousse,” he said, referring to just the fraction on the surface, using his hands to demonstrate its weight. “You can’t even pick it up.”
[below the surface] "The oil is suspended in mammoth globs below the surface, out of the reach of the best natural dispersant - the sun. The temperatures at those depths are basically preserving the giant globs “like a giant refrigerator.” “I think (the plumes are) the beast that we’re going to have to deal with in the future,” he said, especially once more hurricanes and tropical storms stir them."
"Sperm whales. Dolphins. A whole array of bird species. Blue-finned tuna. All have died. Many will join the list of endangered species. And then, of course, there are the turtles. When the turtles ingest the oil, Kendall said, it ravages their throats and stomachs, causing ulcers. Then it destroys their livers along with their immune and nervous systems."
Gambit Weekly's Blog of New Orleans: Today in BP Oil Disaster: Day 92
"Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals says 290 oil-related exposure cases have been reported since the disaster began, including 216 from workers on oil rigs or doing cleanup, and 74 from those living along the coast. Some were reported through the toll-free line via the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center, which handled BP’s exposure-related calls. Other reports came from Acadian Ambulance, doctors, clinics and emergency care facilities."
Mother Jones:BP's Secret Ticket Request Line
"For more than a decade, BP has operated a hush-hush phone line that California lawmakers can call to request box seats to NBA games and concerts at the Sacramento stadium named after its West Coast subsidiary."
Excerpts:
"Ron Kendall said Tuesday in his office at Texas Tech’s Insitute of Environmental & Human Health, the well has already spewed enough oil to coat ecosystems all along the Gulf Coast."
"As one of the world’s foremost experts, even Kendall can’t wrap his mind around it. The Exxon Valdez back in 1989 - he was there in Alaska helping to clean up the wrecked tanker’s 11-million-gallon mess. This current spill, he continued, is exponentially more tragic. An Exxon Valdez roughly every four or five days for months. “It’s unbelievable,” Kendall said. “It’s still unfolding. This is a catastrophe of enormous proportions. To me, this is the biggest environmental toxicology experiment we’ve ever conducted.”"
[on the surface] "“It’s so thick. It’s like chocolate mousse,” he said, referring to just the fraction on the surface, using his hands to demonstrate its weight. “You can’t even pick it up.”
[below the surface] "The oil is suspended in mammoth globs below the surface, out of the reach of the best natural dispersant - the sun. The temperatures at those depths are basically preserving the giant globs “like a giant refrigerator.” “I think (the plumes are) the beast that we’re going to have to deal with in the future,” he said, especially once more hurricanes and tropical storms stir them."
"Sperm whales. Dolphins. A whole array of bird species. Blue-finned tuna. All have died. Many will join the list of endangered species. And then, of course, there are the turtles. When the turtles ingest the oil, Kendall said, it ravages their throats and stomachs, causing ulcers. Then it destroys their livers along with their immune and nervous systems."
Gambit Weekly's Blog of New Orleans: Today in BP Oil Disaster: Day 92
"Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals says 290 oil-related exposure cases have been reported since the disaster began, including 216 from workers on oil rigs or doing cleanup, and 74 from those living along the coast. Some were reported through the toll-free line via the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center, which handled BP’s exposure-related calls. Other reports came from Acadian Ambulance, doctors, clinics and emergency care facilities."
Mother Jones:BP's Secret Ticket Request Line
"For more than a decade, BP has operated a hush-hush phone line that California lawmakers can call to request box seats to NBA games and concerts at the Sacramento stadium named after its West Coast subsidiary."