HARD LESSONS ABOUT OIL & WATER

BP oil spill presents researchers with unwelcome opportunity of a lifetime
Dan Zak, June 3, 2010 (Washington Post)

"For some people, a giant underwater oil leak isn't solely an environmental disaster…[For the 100 scientists who gathered at Louisiana State University to confer with federal officials, it is] also a delicious, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for research…

"What they know: The oil will be a matter of concern and study for generations…What they don't know: Where exactly the oil is going, how much there is, and what exactly it will do to wildlife and industry…What they need to know: How to choreograph dozens of state, local and federal players, and how to harmonize streams of data into an accessible, coherent set that guides future action."

From the Washington Post (click to enlarge)

"…Jane Lubchenco, administrator of NOAA, updated the crowd on the federal response, which in the next two months will remain focused on both the movement and immediate impact of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak. Within six months, the government hopes to calculate the impact of dispersants, conduct seafood surveys and quantify the injury to natural resources. In the longer term, it plans to study the impact on and the possible restoration of ecosystems, as well as the socioeconomic fallout in coastal states…

"The brisk rundown irked [Piers Chapman, head of the department of oceanography at Texas A&M University because]…there's no central database…[which gives the impression of] a conspiracy to hide data…"

From the Washington Post (click to enlarge)

"But the passion to share research and knowledge -- one of the prime reasons everyone gathered…should take a back seat to cleanup efforts, [according to one scientist]…"

[Edward B. Overton, chemistry professor emeritus, LSU:] "There's massive amounts of oil on the surface that is eminently skimmable…If there's a skimmer in the world, it ought to be in the gulf today. . . . I'm happy we're studying it but we have to make sure we keep as much oil as possible off the shore. BP needs to stop the bloody well and the rest of the community needs to make sure that oil does not get to the shoreline."