Good News for a Change: Gulf Oil Is Slightly Less Toxic Than Most Crude Oil → Washingtons Blog
Good News for a Change: Gulf Oil Is Slightly Less Toxic Than Most Crude Oil - Washingtons Blog

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Good News for a Change: Gulf Oil Is Slightly Less Toxic Than Most Crude Oil


The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released a summary of the chemical composition of the Gulf oil

The oil is slightly less toxic than most crude oil. As NOAA notes:

[The Gulf] oil is less toxic than crude oils generally because it is relatively much lower in polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are highly toxic chemicals that tend to persist in the environment for long periods of time, especially if the spilled oil penetrates into the substrate on beaches or shorelines. Like all crude oils, [the Gulf] oil contains volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, toluene, and xylene.

This is a little bit of good news for a change, especially since hurricanes could spread oil inland.

3 comments:

  1. Funny you should mention benzene dumping in the Gulf. In the 90's there was a big stink about corporations that set up shop right on the Mexican side of the border and took advantage of Mexico's loose environmental laws and non-existent enforcement to dump tons of benzene into the gulf. Several children were stillborn and several more were born with terrible mutations of the eyes and brain as a result.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Given human nature as an undeniable constant, everyone should be sure we are NOT being told anything like -the truth- about what is going on in the Gulf of Mexico.

    And the only "good" news, even moderately "good" news, -that could be reported, would be if-and-when a large group of people were held strictly accountable for the conspiracy that is no doubt taking place -controlling every aspect of the oil industry, -including this Gulf oil spill.

    Aside from a good understanding of human nature, why do I say -there is some sort of conspiracy behind -this- astonishing and horrifying Gulf news-item?

    Because way-too-much-money is resting on the outcome either way. The VAST AND IRRESISTIBLE TEMPTATION OF GREED is the overwhelming force in this infinitely complex reality surrounding offshore oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

    Doesn't anyone remember that shortly after Obama took office -oil was trading below $35 a barrel? And isn't anyone aware the decline in the demand for oil has continued almost unabated since that time a year and a half ago, as unemployment has increased and as the economy continues to shut down, -all- while the price of oil has more than doubled?

    Oil should be trading at $10 a barrel right now, if not $5. But we are not going to see it.

    If offshore oil drilling were given the Palin "drill baby, drill" GREEN LIGHT, we would see conditions that would deliver $10 oil for decades.

    I do not agree with Palin.

    But I do not agree with the oil companies either.

    And, more importantly, I do not believed the government -about anything-.

    The government is headed toward fighting its tenth year of a wholly fictional war on terrorism. What is there to believe?

    And, I am absolutely sure the Kenyan-born Barack Obama is an exceptional liar. That's how he got the job.

    Obama was brought up in a culture that admires good liars. Both Kenya and Malaysia, where -the then- Barry Soetoro spent much of his youth, are cultures that admire and value a good liar.

    These are cultural differences I am pointing out, -and not some racist slur.

    In some cultures, lying is an admired skill, and the measure of a man, -or the measure of a fool, -who doesn't know how to lie. I authoritatively cite Herbert Spencer's "Principles of Ethics".

    I remain unconvinced there is an unintentional oil spill in the Gulf, even if "spill" is the right word for what it is. It is my firmly held belief this is all just another in a long line of heinous and even murderous PR stunts.

    My instinct tells me, this is exactly like Swine Flu, but better executed, and more like 9-11 than anything else.

    Wait and see.

    Once the oil industry gets what it wants, this thing will only require a memorial to the destruction that is occurring to the Gulf environment, ALL OF IT -I believe- unleashed in order to push someone's agenda through Washington D.C.

    Sinister? You'd better believe it.

    Cynic? Not a chance. You're reading about what is going to make the condition of our humanity shape up, -right here-.

    The people who did and continue to cover-up 9-11 are going to be made an example of, -and so are the liars behind this latest horror in the Gulf.

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  3. the stand you took here is worth a praise.

    ReplyDelete

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