(Lake Martin Specific)
111,143 messages
Updated 4/25/2024 7:30:23 PM
Lakes Online Forum
83,605 messages
Updated 4/25/2024 9:33:24 PM
Lakes Online Forum
5,193 messages
Updated 4/3/2024 3:47:36 AM
(Lake Martin Specific)
4,169 messages
Updated 4/16/2024 3:16:57 AM
Lakes Online Forum
4,169 messages
Updated 4/15/2024 11:05:05 PM
Lakes Online Forum
4,260 messages
Updated 3/24/2024 9:24:45 AM
Lakes Online Forum
2,976 messages
Updated 3/20/2024 11:53:43 PM
(Lake Martin Specific)
169 messages
Updated 5/31/2023 1:39:35 PM
Lakes Online Forum
98 messages
Updated 4/15/2024 1:00:58 AM
|
|
|
| Name: |
MartiniMan
- 
|
|
| Subject: |
Update on Gulf Oil Spill
|
|
Date:
|
4/15/2011 9:33:01 AM
|
Below is from an article about the lessons learned from the spill. I particularly like this one because it proves what I have been saying all along about the long-term impact of the spill and the efficacy of natural attenuation processes. So head to the gulf this summer and fear not....and eat the shrimp.....and swim in the water.
5. In the first few weeks after the blowout, BP CEO Tony Hayward was excoriated in the news media for stating that the “Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean” and “the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest.” It now appears that he was right. The Gulf oil spill is, indeed, much less of a calamity than most people expected. Said one environmental scientist in late July: “Mother Nature is doing what she is supposed to be doing and we’re losing most of [the spilled oil] to microbial degradation in the open ocean.” By early August, an oil slick that had been the size of Kansas had all but disappeared, idling hundreds of skimmers.
|
| Name: |
lakngulf
-
|
|
| Subject: |
Update on Gulf Oil Spill
|
|
Date:
|
4/15/2011 9:45:04 AM (updated 4/15/2011 9:45:19 AM)
|
Well, you knew that had to get some response, so here goes.
First of all, let me say that I am headed to the gulf at 1pm today. Can't wait. I will be enjoying some great seafood, getting my toes into some white sand, and breathing some fresh air. Our snowbirds enjoyed their sixth winter at the gulf and have booked for a return next year. We are pleased that things are looking up. We have several reservations for the spring and summer.
My caution would be (1) What is the source of your article? Science or propaganda (2) I know what is in the sand in front of the condo. No amount of "sifting" and idle skimmers will get rid of it. (3) My main concern was the longer effect on the marshes and sea life along Mississippi and Louisiana coast. (4) This discusssion that you and I have happens almost every day on the Gulf Shores forum from al.com. Some say things are great, and others warn of long term effect. I have no idea who is right
|
| Name: |
MAJ USA RET
-
|
|
| Subject: |
Update on Gulf Oil Spill
|
|
Date:
|
4/15/2011 10:48:03 AM
|
I was there (Orange Beach) last October. I did not see one single bit of evidence there had been an oil spill. I did see lots of expensive workers in Tyvek riding up and down the beach in expensive tractor parades. There is NO WAY that they could have removed every stain. The oil spill was more of a media event than a catastrophe. In the (then) words of a smart liberal, born on the beach, Jimmy Buffett, “Mother nature is wounded – not dead.”
|
| Name: |
lakngulf
-
|
|
| Subject: |
Update on Gulf Oil Spill
|
|
Date:
|
4/15/2011 11:08:03 AM
|
"The oil spill was more of a media event than a catastrophe"
With all due respect, I disagree with that statement
|
| Name: |
MAJ USA RET
-
|
|
| Subject: |
Update on Gulf Oil Spill
|
|
Date:
|
4/15/2011 12:47:26 PM
|
…and, I respect your right to disagree. Debate is civil disagreement.
|
| Name: |
lakngulf
-
|
|
| Subject: |
From Mobile Press Register
|
|
Date:
|
4/15/2011 12:47:52 PM
|
GULF SHORES, Ala. -- Coastal leaders say tarballs from the Gulf oil spill are still hitting Alabama beaches, and they say daily cleanup work is still needed.
Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft says workers have collected more than 9,600 pounds of tarballs on the Alabama coast in the last two weeks. He says that's reason enough to keep workers on the beach every morning.
BP says daily maintenance and monitoring began last week, but a spokesman says future work will be dictated by needs.
Elected leaders are trying to reach an agreement with BP on beach maintenance through the spring and summer. They also want the oil giant to to keep cleaning equipment near the beaches in case a storm dredges up oil off the floor of the Gulf of Mexico. Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/04/13/2165003/mayor-tarballs-still-hitting-ala.html#ixzz1JbxInXdO
|
| Name: |
MAJ USA RET
-
|
|
| Subject: |
From Mobile Press Register
|
|
Date:
|
4/15/2011 12:57:02 PM
|
Got to keep those BP dollars coming! Strange I haven’t seen any tar balls on the mile and a half of beach I walk.
|
| Name: |
MartiniMan
-
|
|
| Subject: |
Update on Gulf Oil Spill
|
|
Date:
|
4/15/2011 1:06:27 PM
|
Several responses to your posts:
First, the summary was not from a science journal but the studies they refer to come from scientists working for NOAA and the responsible parties. Other than agenda driven psuedo-scientists working for trial lawyers and NGO's trying to make a buck off the spill there is general agreement on this point. There is still some discussion of the oil captured in deeper portions of the Gulf that is being studied and will take some time to sort out. The real question is how effective natural degradation processes are in deeper water with colder temperatures and lack of light.
Second, you asked about long-term effects but you have to define what you mean by that. If you look at the history of the Valdez spill in an area that is not nearly as conducive to natural degradation processes there is reason to be optimistic. But the thing with long-term effects is that you have to be long term in order to study them. We are not there yet but Alaska is at least a reason to be optimistic.
Third, on the tar balls these will be a problem for a while but it sounds like BP will respond as needed. I will reiterate that based on our direct experience the number of active crews were significantly pared back because they had nothing to collect. I suspect there will be more activity early in the season as reports from vacationers dictate the need. But I will also say that I have been going to the gulf for over 30 years and there have always been tar balls. Some from exploration/production releases and some from natural seeps.
My whole point was that I indicated early on when all the purveyors of gloom and doom were prognosticating that the Gulf would never recover that in fact they were wrong......and they were wrong. Will there still be lingering effects? Of course. Should they prevent you from going to the beach, swimming in the water and eating the food? Absolutely not! Other than those activities, how much time do you spend wallowing around in the marshes looking for degraded oil? The marshes look fine, the birds are flying, the fish are swimming. The vast majority (if not all by now) of the chemical toxicity should be gone from the BP spill and it is only a year ago.
|
| Name: |
lakngulf
-
|
|
| Subject: |
Update on Gulf Oil Spill
|
|
Date:
|
4/15/2011 1:16:11 PM
|
Well said. Now on to Doc's on Canal Road for the full seafood platter and some sweet tea. "Laid back local stuff"
|
| Name: |
Mack
-
|
|
| Subject: |
Update on Gulf Oil Spill
|
|
Date:
|
4/15/2011 1:34:40 PM
|
Oh, you dirty Rat!! You had to mention Doc's, didn't you?? Made my mouth water.
BTW, do you think the food would suffer if Doc's was remodeled or the parking lot holes were filled in with gravel? Nah. Wouldn't be the same, would it?
|
| Name: |
lakngulf
-
|
|
| Subject: |
Update on Gulf Oil Spill
|
|
Date:
|
4/15/2011 1:37:49 PM
|
There is another Doc's over on Hwy 59, across from Neptune's. Beautiful building, nice booths, smooth floors, and a paved parking lot.......but food is not the same. It is good, but not the same.
|
| Name: |
Mack
-
|
|
| Subject: |
Like I Said,,,
|
|
Date:
|
4/15/2011 8:04:20 PM
|
Stick with the original. When they pave the lot or add an area for internet users laptops, strike it dead.
|
| Name: |
MAJ USA RET
-
|
|
| Subject: |
Doc's
|
|
Date:
|
4/16/2011 8:47:48 AM
|
We don’t care about the parking lot. The food is great… but, the odor in there is nauseating.
|
|
|
New Post
Search
Off-Topic Forum
Reply
»
Alabama Lakes
»
Lake Martin
Login
|
Home
