Off-Topic: Good news.....can't find the oil in the Gulf

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	Name:	lakngulf -
	Subject:	Good news.....can't find the oil in the Gulf
	Date:	7/27/2010 3:53:18 PM (updated 7/27/2010 4:06:44 PM)

I wish I could be as optimistic as you are MM. The part of the gulf I have seen has received what I would call minor impact from the oil spill, and yet the results are not good. These areas have received nothing compared to what the marshes have experienced. The water is contaminated, and I am not an expert enough to know how long it takes to get oil out of the water. I do not know how long the natural process will take. I have seen videos of various samples of water being tested and the results were not good. Were they just trying to pull the wool over my eyes? Maybe so, but when I picked up a quarter size tar ball, that was among a whole area of tar being washed up, I could not get it off my hands until I got to some cleaning material.

My information may be wrong, you probably have access to much better, but I understand that the dispersant sent much of the oil to the bottom. A great PR move but at what costs to sea life? I am no tree hugger, save the turtles environmentalist. I am ok seeing the oil / natural gas rigs in the gulf; I am also ok with every precaution to be taken to avoid disaster.

What does it look like in Mississippi? Louisiana marshes? At the bottom of the gulf? I do not know. But here are some pictures from my little section:

Each night the machines come through to "remove" the oil. All these little black dots are pea sized tar balls that are left on what used to be pristine beaches:

http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab104/lakngulf/BP%20Oil%20Spill/bp100725002.jpg

Sea weed continues to wash up, from the bottom of the gulf. This we can deal with, and have forever. Look closely and you will also see some sizeable tar balls that have washed up with it. How much is out there?

http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab104/lakngulf/BP%20Oil%20Spill/bp100725005.jpg

The folks who still try to enjoy the beach, and there are many, cannot avoid the oil and tar. It is in the water, on the sand, under the sand. It is tracked onto the boardwalks, into the hallways, and into the condos. I stopped some folks in UTV's who had EPA on their shirts. I mentioned to them the thousands of small tar balls left by the machines, and the oil in the sea weed. They said they were still in mass removal frame of mind, and it would be a while before they got to the smaller stuff.

So, no oil? no tar? Not quite.