Biggest disaster in history?

An underwater robot bumping into a vent at the Deepwater Horizon site in the Gulf forced BP to remove the cap that’s been containing a portion of the spillage – meaning that oil was gushing out unhindered for hours. Luckily, the cap is back on thanks to remote-controlled submarines. The cap had been off for much of the day, allowing up to 104,000 gallons per hour of black oil to gush into the Gulf.

Meanwhile, a report prepared for Russian President Medvedev by Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources has warned that the BP oil spill in the Gulf may soon be the biggest environmental disaster in human history, threatening the whole Eastern U.S. with “total destruction”.

Russian scientists are basing their apocalyptic destruction assessment due to BP’s use of millions of gallons of the chemical dispersal agent known as Corexit 9500 which is being pumped directly into the leak of this wellhead over a mile under the Gulf of Mexico waters and designed, this report says, to keep hidden from the American public the full, and tragic, extent of this leak that is now estimated to be over 2.9 million gallons a day.

The dispersal agent Corexit 9500 is a solvent originally developed by Exxon and now manufactured by the Nalco Holding Company of Naperville, Illinois that is four times more toxic than oil (oil is toxic at 11 ppm (parts per million), Corexit 9500 at only 2.61ppm).

In a report written by Anita George-Ares and James R. Clark for Exxon Biomedical Sciences, Inc. titled “Acute Aquatic Toxicity of Three Corexit Products: An Overview” Corexit 9500 was found to be one of the most toxic dispersal agents ever developed. Even worse, according to this report, with higher water temperatures, like those now occurring in the Gulf of Mexico, its toxicity grows.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in discovering BP’s use of this dangerous dispersal agent ordered BP to stop using it, but BP refused stating that their only alternative to Corexit 9500 was an even more dangerous dispersal agent known as Sea Brat 4.

Mind-boggling numbers

The Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been the focus around the world, and many have wondered what the impact on the price of oil and the amount of oil we have left will be. Most of the experts have concluded that, given the limited data available and the small amount of time to process that data, the best estimate for the average flow rate for the oil leakage is between 25,000 to 30,000 barrels per day, but could be as low as 20,000 barrels per day or as high as 40,000 barrels per day.

Assuming 20,000 barrels per day, the total leak in 52 days would be 1,040,000 barrels, or 43,680,000 gallons. Assuming 40,000 barrels per day, the total leak in 52days would be 2,080,000 barrels, or 87,360,000 gallons.

A calculation by University of Delaware Prof. James J. Corbett shows that all the oil lost could have powered, as of Wednesday June 9, a total of 38,000 cars, 3,400 trucks and 1,800 ships for a full year.

The oil spill could worsen and expand the oxygen-starved region of the Gulf labeled "the dead zone" for its inhospitability to marine life, suggests Michigan State University professor Nathaniel Ostrom. It could already be feeding microbes that thrive around natural undersea oil seeps, he says, tiny critters that break down the oil but also consume precious oxygen. (Pic shows the oil spill nearing the Mississippi delta, taken from a Nasa satellite)

The dead zone is believed to stem from urban runoff and nitrogen-based fertilizers from farmland swept into the Gulf by the Mississippi River. Higher springtime flows carry a heavier surge each year, nourishing algae blooms that soon die and sink. Those decay and are eaten by bacteria that consume more oxygen, driving out marine life and killing that which can't move, such as coral. The dead zone can grow to the size of a small state.

Introspection time

On the energy and environment, it is the biggest story that continues to be highlighted for a fortnight. And why not, considering that as much as 5,000 barrels per day are escaping into the Gulf after Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and collapsed, letting oil from the well gush into the ocean. Some say the number is closer to 1.1 million gallons—approximately 26,500 barrels—per day. A barrel of crude equals about 42 gallons. The large element of doubt is because this is based on guesswork based on a cascade of satellite images and thickness estimates derived from visual descriptions of the slick. So far, somewhere between 4 million gallons and 21 million gallons have spilled.

BP's attempts to contain the spill using two huge domes to catch and siphon the oil have failed. The next tactic is going to be something they call a junk shot. They're actually going to take a bunch of debris, shredded up tires, golf balls and things like that and under very high pressure shoot it into the preventer itself and see if they can clog it up and stop the leak. What better use for garbage??!

The final hope is in a relief well that will be dug or a series of them nearby to take the pressure off the spilling well. But that will take 2-3 months and meanwhile the oil spill continues spreading (as shown in the picture taken by NASA.

The spill has made international bodies sit up and take note of a lack of regulations regarding offshore drilling which can cause untold pollution and environmental problems. With many nations eyeing the melting Arctic region with a view to tapping the seafloor, the world seems set for another 'cold' war. The erstwhile Soviet Union has made quite a mess of the Arctic with abandoned fuel barrels strewn around. Putin has pledged funds to its geographical society for 'developing' the Arctic.

The region's potentially enormous oil and gas reserves are becoming more accessible, prompting what Agence France-Presse called "a diplomatic tug-of-war" between the five countries that border the area -- Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway, and the United States. Even China has shown more than passing interest. After all, the Arctic belongs to all!

The Arctic region also sits on what is believed to be tons of peat that keep a close lid on methane gas. If drilling is to proceed merrily, what can happen is a nightmare. Peak oil or not, looks like it is time we got unhooked from oil. What do you think? Or is it simply a matter of lax regulations?

From the oil to the fire

Ever since the explosion of April 20 aboard the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform, oil has been oozing into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of at least 5,000 barrels per day. And now, adding to the woes is a rain of chemicals meant to control the spill.

BP and the U.S. Coast Guard are dumping large amounts of "dispersants" both on the surface and underwater. Dispersants are surfactants that break oil down into small droplets that sink into the water. They are dumping almost a third of the world’s supply of dispersants!

Emergency workers dropped 100,000 gallons of the stuff into the Gulf. But what precisely is being dumped is surprisingly being kept a secret!

However, an agency did manage to identify one product currently being used, called Corexit, which includes 2-butoxyethanol, a "compound associated with headaches, vomiting and reproductive problems at high doses." To take the sting off one deadly bite, yet another bite!

Serious questions remain about the wisdom of using dispersants to treat spills. The possibility of photoenhanced toxicity and particulate/oil droplet phase exposure is generally not considered. A number of laboratory studies have indicated toxicity due to PAH increases significantly (from 12 to 50,000 times) for sensitive species in exposures conducted under ultraviolet light (representative of natural sunlight), compared to those conducted under the more traditional laboratory conditions of fluorescent lights.

Toxicity aside, what dispersants do is to remove the oil from the surface and send it deep into the waters where it stays undisturbed for long, causing untold misery to many species.

Yet another reason to phase out fossil fuels and shift to renewables, would you say?