Gulf oil spill problems aren't over yet
Exactly where did all of that dispersant go? Just because we don't hear of the spill in the news anymore doesn't mean its effects aren't still present.
By Shawna Feinman, Local CorrespondentThu, Feb 03 2011 at 8:12 PM EST
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IT'S STILL THERE: Just because we don't hear about it in the news, doesn't mean the troubles are over in the Gulf. (Photo: USFWS/Southeast/Flickr) According to an article in the McClatch-Tribune, 800,000 gallons of oil dispersants were dumped into the Gulf of Mexico during the infamous oil spill. Now studies are showing that the dispersants didn't just disappear — they lingered for months.
Surprised? I'm not.
It seems silly to me that people will think they can just dump stuff into a body of water and then act like it "went away."
Elizabeth Kujawinski, a chemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, discovered that the compound used in the dispersants "had degraded a low rate or not at all." Any lower concentration calculations were merely a result of dilution.
Though the concentrations found were lower than the limits on published studies that cited toxicity on small fish and other marine animals, Kujawinski thinks more studies need to be done to determine the ongoing effects of this oil spill.
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