Belize campaign to push the government for a referendum to ban off shore oil exploration has gathered enough signatures to force the referendum! The next step is a massive education campaign to get the votes. It is time for the government to step up with regulatory reform and offer compromise. Many people will agree to drilling in terrestrial protected areas if government makes strict regulation and bans offshore drilling.
Dr. KC Mattes
For more info: go to: www.BelizeMarineTREC.com
_______________________________________________
Coral-List mailing list
Coral-List@coral.aoml.noaa.gov
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list

http://www.pnj.com/article/20110602/OPINION/106020301/Editorial-big-chemistry-

Palm Beach Post: Editorial

9:00 PM, Jun. 1, 2011 |

Questions about the ultimate impact of the BP oil spill continue to pile up. New findings about the effect of the oil dispersant Corexit on the Gulf of Mexico confirm what has become increasingly – and disturbingly – evident over time: The response to the oil spill was a crap shoot from Day 1.

Really, that’s what we’re learning. Despite all the assurances from the oil industry – and the government supposedly regulating that industry – no one really knew what they were doing. The industry’s approach to dealing with a big oil spill was to hope it didn’t happen. At least, that’s the generous interpretation. It might be more accurate to say they didn’t really care.

The government’s approach to dealing with a big oil spill was to put all its trust in oil industry assurances that it had things under control. At least, that’s the generous interpretation. It might be more accurate to say it didn’t really care. So when the well the Deepwater Horizon rig was drilling deep in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, both were caught with their oil-stained pants down.

Their attitude toward dispersant chemicals? Inject a few million gallons into the oil stream and let’s see what happens.
Now a University of West Florida researcher is raising questions about whether the dispersant really worked, and worse, if the impact of the dispersant – alone or in combination with the oil – on marine life was worse than the oil itself.

You would think that before approving the use of large amounts of this chemical into the Gulf that such questions would have already been answered. Instead, we have what amounts to a huge chemistry experiment: add millions of gallons of a powerful chemical to millions of gallons of toxic oil and natural gas, and see what happens.

While the dispersant might have functioned well to break up the oil, the supposed point was to allow natural forces – especially bacteria – to consume the oil faster. But what might have happened was that it made the oil more toxic in the ecosystem by spreading it out more finely.

Maybe dispersing the oil reduced the amount that spoiled beaches and clogged marshes. But maybe the trade-off was more damage to the Gulf food chain. Hopefully, scientists will come up with some answers. But what we might discover is the folly of taking action when you don’t know what the impact of that action might be.

______________________

http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/06/02/234653/corexit-makes-oil-spills-worse-not-better-scientists-find/

Our guest blogger is Kiley Kroh, Associate Director for Ocean Communications at the Center for American Progress.

In yet another alarming glimpse at the long-term effects of the BP disaster, the preliminary findings of two new studies show that the nearly two million gallons of toxic dispersants applied to the more than 200 million gallons of oil that gushed from its exploded rig may have been more damaging to the ecosystem as a whole than the oil alone.

The government approved application of the dispersants in an attempt to prevent oil and tar mats from washing into the marshes along the coast. BP maintained the dispersants would break down the oil and allow more of it to be eaten by bacteria that would consume some of the most harmful products in the oil. But initial experiments conducted by Wade Jeffrey, a biologist with the University of West Florida’s Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation, point to the opposite. After adding BP oil to seawater and combining with Corexit, Jeffrey found that the chemicals did not have their intended effect:

The way we’re doing the experiment, the Corexit does not seem to facilitate the degradation of the oil.

In fact, Jeffrey found that the combination of Corexit and oil was more toxic to phytoplankton in the sample than oil alone and did not prompt the oil-eating bacteria to consume the oil any faster.

A similar study, conducted by Susan Laramore of Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and also released last week, looked at the effects of the oil-Corexit mixture on slightly larger species, including conch, oysters and shrimp. Early results point to the same conclusion – that the oil and dispersant mixture is more toxic than the oil alone. Laramore notes that her study runs directly counter to the assurances BP and others presented to the public when making the case for dispersant use:

These results are backwards of what the oil companies are reporting.

In the immediate aftermath of the spill, BP quickly stockpiled and deployed massive quantities of Corexit with the aim of keeping the oil from fragile marshlands – and out of the public eye. As E&E News uncovered, the chemical is manufactured by “a company that was once part of Exxon Mobil Corp. and whose current leadership includes executives at both BP and Exxon.” According to EPA data, “Corexit ranks far above dispersants made by competitors in toxicity and far below them in effectiveness in handling southern Louisiana crude.”

The oil giant simultaneously worked to convince an uneasy public that the chemicals, previously untested at such depths, would naturally biodegrade. In an official statement last year, BP called the chemical “one of the most well-studied dispersants” and asserted that it would rapidly biodegrade, in many cases in a matter of days. Even when it became clear the company was using the chemicals in “unprecedented volumes” and the EPA demanded BP find a less toxic alternative, the oil giant refused to comply, calling Corexit “the best option for subsea application.”

Both the Jeffrey and Laramore studies, however, clearly debunk BP’s claims that the materials would prove benign. Frustrated by the lack of federal response to their requests for a less-toxic alternative and no longer willing to subject its coasts and citizens to the harmful chemicals, the state of Louisiana has taken matters into its own hands – the senate is moving forward this week with a bill that would effectively ban the use of dispersants in responding to oil spills in Louisiana waters.

Special thanks to Richard Charter.

Excerpt from article. Kinda puts the horror of the BP Horizon into perspective. DV

Evaluating impacts of human activities on marine ecosystems is difficult when effects occur out of plain sight. The Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the largest in the U.S. history, but some reports implied modest environmental impacts, in part because of a relatively low number (101) of observed marine mammal mortalities. The authors estimate historical carcass-detection rates for 14 cetacean species in the northern Gulf of Mexico that have estimates of abundance, survival rates, and stranding records and their preliminary analysis suggests that carcasses are recovered, on an average, from only 2% (range: 0-6.2%) of cetacean deaths. Thus, the true death toll could be 50 times the number of carcasses recovered, given no additional information. While there are caveats to this estimate, it does provide a counterpoint to illustrate the magnitude of misrepresentation possible in presenting only observed carcass counts.

Williams R, Shane Gero, Lars Bejder, et al (2011) Conservation Letters

Special thanks to Richard Charter

Home

I hope we have a gigantic turnout this year! DV

WHEN: June 25, 11:30 am
WHERE: Everywhere

Sign up to join or organize an event today»

Last year, as gallons upon gallons of noxious oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, thousands of people around the world joined hands and drew a figurative and literal line in the sand to say NO to dirty fossil fuels.

This year, with many in Congress trying to expand offshore drilling, we are joining together again to reaffirm our opposition to offshore drilling and support clean energy.

Will you join hands with me on June 25 and with thousands of other ocean lovers all over the world?

The concept is simple, the message is profound. On June 25, groups will gather on beaches, in parks, and on sidewalks all over the world, to join hands in a demonstration against offshore drilling and to show support for clean energy.

WHAT: Hands Across the Sand
WHEN: June 25, 11:30 am
WHERE: Your hometown, the Capital, Australia, Chile – all over the world

Right now, events everywhere are being organized. Sign up to attend or set up your own event today»

Thank you for joining hands with me and thousands of other committed ocean lovers, too.

For the oceans,
Matt Dundas
Oceana

http://www.keysnet.com/2011/05/27/343690/bahamian-oil-firm-ready-to-drill.html

Crude oil prices rise, but gas prices down as demand lowers

By David Goodhue
dgoodhue@keysreporter.com
Posted – Friday, May 27, 2011 11:58 AM EDT

In the wake of news that a deep-water oil-drilling rig will likely be operating off the coast of Cuba close to Key West by the late summer or early fall, the head of a petroleum investment firm announced that drilling in the Bahamas could begin next year.

Paul Crevello, chief executive officer of the Bahamas Petroleum Company, said this month that seismic experts are surveying the prospective wells, which span about 1,155 square miles of sea floor of the southern Bahamas. He said that information about the potential oil reserves that BPC and the seismic companies it hired have gathered so far indicates that drilling is “imminent.”

“These results and newly signed agreements confirm that the company is progressing well with its exploration program and is expecting to be drilling in 2012,” Crevello said in a May 16 statement to investors.

Original seismic interpretations of recent surveys show multiple underwater structures with four-way closures up to 75 miles long and three miles high, Crevello said. He said that the structures have never been breached and the reservoir and seal remain intact.

“What is most exciting is the scale and the size of the structures we have been able to map… .,” Crevello said. “The structures identified are similar to supergiant structures of the Mexican fields in the southern Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East.”

Crevello said some of the fields BPC is leasing in its agreement with the Bahamas could have yields as high as 500 million barrels of oil.

BPC already has an agreement with Norway’s StatOilHydro to be the operators of three of BPC’s offshore licenses in the Cay Sal area of the Bahamas, about 120 miles east of where Spanish oil company Repsol plans to start drilling off Cuba in September.

That project, which involves a giant, semi-submersible rig built in China and Singapore, has raised the concern of several U.S. lawmakers, including Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. Each vowed to try to stop the project through diplomatic pressure and legislation punishing companies and individuals doing business with the Cuban government and its energy programs. [See the related story on Page 5.]

Gas prices down for now

Meanwhile, as talk about offshore drilling heats up, gas prices in the U.S. have dropped slightly this week. Economists and industry watchers expect fluctuation as summer nears, but they also say drivers may see some continued relief.

“Where they go after that is very hard to say,” said Frederick Joutz, an economics professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. “There are supply issues and geopolitical events that could raise the price once again.”

According to AAA, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline on Wednesday was $3.81, down from $3.92 a week ago and $3.86 a month ago. Discount prices in the Upper Keys were about $3.72 a gallon at press time.

But the price of gasoline is linked with the price of oil, which went up above $100 a barrel again at the beginning of the week after forecasts for the price of Brent crude from the North Sea were higher than expected from investment firms Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.

Still, Jessica Brady, a spokeswoman with AAA South, does not expect the forecasts to impact gasoline prices in the coming months. Where oil closes at the end of the week on the New York Mercantile Exchange is a more predictable indicator, she said.

Brady said gas prices are coming down because world economic growth has slowed and fuel demand is down. Also, the U.S. dollar is strengthening a bit against the Euro. Oil is priced in dollars, and it goes higher the more the dollar weakens because of international investors holding other world currencies.

Mark Isaac, an economics professor at Florida State University, said drivers shouldn’t get comfortable with the lower prices — or expect prices to come down much more. The price of oil is always one disaster away from skyrocketing, he said.

“As usual, there are political and regular economic factors at play. Right now, the politics is pretty quiet — Libya is at a stalemate — so that’s factored in. But politics can turn on a dime on one day’s headline, as we’ve seen,” Isaac said.