One of the interesting things we learned in the fluids lab at UNC was that the oil coming out of the BP Macando well was probably coming out at between 100 and 300 degrees F meeting water that was just above freezing. that alone combined with its great velocity would be enough to cause it to entrain sea water and become neutrally or negatively buoyant and form cloud layers. The professors told us that the smaller the droplets of oil the longer they will persist in the ocean in stratified layers. BTW -- The oil was hot because it was coming from so far deep in the earth. Great thanks to UNC Chapel Hill and Professor Roberto Camassa and Professor Rich McLaughlin.
Baldwin County, AL -- The beaches were open in Alabama’s Gulf Shores. they looked clean but the locals avoided the water. The beaches were not as crowded as they normally would be that time of year and this gentleman who had worked as a manager in the oil industry gave some insight into the local take on the safety of the water on that day, and the job done by the national television press in their coverage.
LAFAYETTE, LA - As you may already know some of the news you see on television is actually produced by the companies that are part of the news story. All the major news networks CNN, MSNBC, and FOX were sponsored by BP during their coverage of the contamination of the Gulf. BP is of course a large company but smaller companies often cooperate by forming an association to promote their causes and handle public relations. One of those associations is the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association or LOGA. LOGA produces it’s own news and that news finds it’s way onto the major networks. In that way, LOGA is able to promote their industry and point of view.
Is the seafood safe to eat after the biggest oil contamination in US history has been mixed into the Gulf of Mexico and is now invisible to the naked eye. Would you serve it to your children? What about at a rally against the temporary ban on new Deepwater Drilling at the Cajundome in the heart of Cajun Lafayette Louisiana where traditional Cajun cuisine usually is pungent with the flavor of seafood and fishing is part of the state motto.
Is the Gulf safe to swim in? And if not, are the fish safe to eat? and if not do water and fish stay in one place? Here is one person whose husband worked for oil companies and died from exposure to “Benzene-Ethyltoluene”. He loved his employers and begged her on his deathbed not to sue the oil companies that exposed him.