Complexity of Cleaning Oil

This layer of oil uncovered by USF geologists illustrates the complexity of cleaning oil off our beaches. The dynamic movement of sand on beaches has covered the oil with a 6-8 inch layer of sand. If the clean up crews only look at the surface of the beach when cleaning the oil how much will they miss? What is the ecological impact to the important animals that use the beach? How will this effect nesting sea turtles? And how long before this layer gets exposed again?

As we learned from the lasting ecological impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, one thing is certain. We will be addressing these impacts for decades to come.

Click here for more photo's from the St. Petersburg Times

Spill Ends After 74 Days, But............

Irregular Times reports:


Of course, a good deal of oil that’s already leaked still has to come up to the surface, and the pollution resulting from the spill is spread out over tens of thousands of square miles. The environmental impact of the spill is likely to persist for decades – long enough for another spill to take place, unless a moratorium on offshore drilling is put into effect.




But hey, let’s look on the bright side. The Montara offshore drilling platform did not collapse into the sea. It just turned into a melted, oily, twisted, smoking, disgusting, useless heap.

And reportedly:

• The cleanup of the pollution from the oil spill will take 7 years to complete.


• PTTEP Australasia, the oil company responsible for the ten week long oil spill will begin drilling again in the same oil field in a matter of months.


• A PTTEP spokesperson says that his company knows what caused the oil spill, but won’t tell anyone else what that cause was.