Are you an oil-covered turtle?
Times-Picayune: Oil spill plugged, but more oiled birds than ever are being found
"Before BP plugged the well with a temporary cap on July 15, an average of 37 oiled birds were being collected dead or alive each day. Since then, the figure has nearly doubled to 71 per day, according to a Times-Picayune review of daily wildlife rescue reports.
"The figures for sea turtles have climbed even higher, with more oiled turtles recovered in the past 10 days than during the spill's first three months."
CNN: In the Gulf, scientific questions still lurk beneath the surface
"When Ed Overton looks at the remains of what's happened to the Gulf of Mexico over the past few months, he sees a stale, unsolved crime scene.
""We can see the beaches; we can see the dead animals; we can get a count on turtles and whales and all this stuff -- and all of that is eye-level observation," said Overton, a professor emeritus at Louisiana State University and a veteran of oil-spill science. "What we don't know is what damage is done ... to little creatures down below the surface -- or just at the surface -- that we never see."
"If the larvae of a vulnerable fish species like the bluefin tuna are completely wiped it, it may not matter that many of the adults appear to have survived."
Huffington Post: Scientists Find Evidence That Oil And Dispersant Mix Is Making Its Way Into The Foodchain
"We're looking at long-term ecological effects of having this oil in contact with marine organisms."
"Dispersant doesn't make the oil go away, it just puts it from one part of the ecosystem into another. The decision was to keep as much of the oil subsurface as possible. As a result, the immediate impact on coastal wildlife was mitigated. But the effects on ocean life are less clear -- in part because there's less known about ocean ecosystems than coastal ones."
Tampa Tribune: Beach beauty is skin-deep
"University of South Florida professor estimates cleanup work along Panhandle beaches and elsewhere across the Gulf Coast has removed only about 25 percent of the oil that has stained the shorelines."
Florida Panhandle officials notice "what looks like a congealed glob of Vaseline that is hovering just offshore".
Veterans Today: Disappearing Oil and Gulf Seafood: Passing the Sniff Test
HuffPost: Oilgate! BP and All the President's Men (Except One) Seek to Contain Truth of Leak in the Gulf
BK Kim, Newsvine: Why is BP's Macondo blowout so disastrous & Beyond Patch-up.
"Before BP plugged the well with a temporary cap on July 15, an average of 37 oiled birds were being collected dead or alive each day. Since then, the figure has nearly doubled to 71 per day, according to a Times-Picayune review of daily wildlife rescue reports.
"The figures for sea turtles have climbed even higher, with more oiled turtles recovered in the past 10 days than during the spill's first three months."
CNN: In the Gulf, scientific questions still lurk beneath the surface
"When Ed Overton looks at the remains of what's happened to the Gulf of Mexico over the past few months, he sees a stale, unsolved crime scene.
""We can see the beaches; we can see the dead animals; we can get a count on turtles and whales and all this stuff -- and all of that is eye-level observation," said Overton, a professor emeritus at Louisiana State University and a veteran of oil-spill science. "What we don't know is what damage is done ... to little creatures down below the surface -- or just at the surface -- that we never see."
"If the larvae of a vulnerable fish species like the bluefin tuna are completely wiped it, it may not matter that many of the adults appear to have survived."
Huffington Post: Scientists Find Evidence That Oil And Dispersant Mix Is Making Its Way Into The Foodchain
"We're looking at long-term ecological effects of having this oil in contact with marine organisms."
"Dispersant doesn't make the oil go away, it just puts it from one part of the ecosystem into another. The decision was to keep as much of the oil subsurface as possible. As a result, the immediate impact on coastal wildlife was mitigated. But the effects on ocean life are less clear -- in part because there's less known about ocean ecosystems than coastal ones."
Tampa Tribune: Beach beauty is skin-deep
"University of South Florida professor estimates cleanup work along Panhandle beaches and elsewhere across the Gulf Coast has removed only about 25 percent of the oil that has stained the shorelines."
Florida Panhandle officials notice "what looks like a congealed glob of Vaseline that is hovering just offshore".
Veterans Today: Disappearing Oil and Gulf Seafood: Passing the Sniff Test
HuffPost: Oilgate! BP and All the President's Men (Except One) Seek to Contain Truth of Leak in the Gulf
BK Kim, Newsvine: Why is BP's Macondo blowout so disastrous & Beyond Patch-up.