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    BP and MMS Secretly Rehearse Deep Water Oil Spill in 2000 in Norway

    This video exposes a confidential report on a secret experiment called “DEEP SPILL” carried out by the US government and a group of oil companies including BP in the year 2000. One of the conclusions was that the most toxic part of the oil would be caught in the water unable to be recovered. Was it a surprise that most of the oil from the BP well stayed in the Gulf of Mexico, at depth, in clouds of small particles? It may have been to us but it shouldn’t have been to BP or MMS (the government agency whose job it is to regulate deep water drilling). It also should have come as no surprise to NOAA (the government agency that regulates anything in the sea around the U.S.) All of those institutions did deny the first reports of the clouds when they were found by the Pelican research vessel and the University of Missisippi’s Dr. Ray Highsmith and his crew. But they must have known because MMS and the oil companies paid for, and conducted an experiment off the coast of Norway in 2000 to see what would happen in a deepwater oil well blowout. Remember all that “this is a new problem” you heard on television? Well the study showed that the oil would not all rise to the surface to be collected but would tend to form cloud layers of neutrally buoyant particles that might be the most toxic part of the oil.

    Here’s a direct quote from the report:

    “This is important information, because the water-soluble compounds are generally the most toxic ones when exposed to marine biota. The results from these measurements show that the rising of the oil through the water column represents a kind of a “stripping” process of some of the most toxic compounds in the oil. The end result is therefore that a portion of the most toxic compounds is left in the water column.”

    here is the whole final report
    DEEP SPILL FINAL REPORT

    Where’s the Oil? UNC Scientists Demonstrate BP Oil Spill Fluid Dynamics

    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.

    Where is the Oil Going? More BP Oil Spill Scientific Analysis at UNC

    Here is some more technical information on how the BP oil is flavoring the Gulf of Mexico in layers like a sludgy wet cake.

    Dispersants Before Deepwater – Interview with Airport Director

    HOUMA, LA -- Houma is home to the airport that BP uses for sending out aircraft that spray dispersants on top of the water. After the gusher in the Gulf BP used dispersant at the well-head down near the sea floor in a place they named the Macondo Prospect. You might think spraying dispersants that are toxic chemicals would be something not done before the deepwater disaster. In fact “spilling oil” is a very common thing here in Louisiana and dispersants are used frequently to mix the oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Mixing crude oil into the seawater has the effect of making it pretty much invisible. Here in Houma the airport has a contractor who has three aircraft that are used regularly to spray dispersants into the Gulf. Two of the dispersants widely reported to be used are called COREXIT 9500 and COREXIT 9527. After some prodding the formulae for COREXIT was made public and is now on the EPA web site. But all the ingredients are not listed. Some of the most important ingredients from a health standpoint are just listed generically, like secret herbs and spices. And they kind of are since they are sprayed on seafood all the tim