And you thought the Valdez oil spill was bad.

[Eagler]

"Bahamas-flagged tanker Prestige.. "

hmm, wonder why its registered there??

[OIO]

Its interesting to see how people panic nowadays when ONE of these vessels "spills".

Its bad yes, but hell, how is this one lousy tanker compare to the hundreds of ships (including fuel tankers) that were sunk in the last set of world wars?

The oil is biodegradable, if it was a huge load of silly putty or some other plastic junk id say "holy $#@$#", but oil? Yes it will kill wildlife, yes it may seriously affect the economy of the affected region... and yet its one ship in more than a decade to have had this kind of accident, hardly a catastrophe.


Link to info on the Valdez spill research, 10 years after:

http://www.valdezscience.com/wiens/index.html

Now granted, the full impact that the valdez spill wouldve had was seriously diminished by human cleanup efforts. Once this spill has a similar (even if half-assed) effort it should turn out the same.

[MrLars]

Originally posted by OIO



Link to info on the Valdez spill research, 10 years after:

http://www.valdezscience.com/wiens/index.html

Now granted, the full impact that the valdez spill wouldve had was seriously diminished by human cleanup efforts. Once this spill has a similar (even if half-assed) effort it should turn out the same.

I have never seen that site but the surveys I participated in are represented in it and their conclusions are what I expected.

It's good to see all the hard work of the scientists, biologists and support people come together in an informative site that's easy for people to understand like that.

[Thrawn]

Thanks for the informative posts MrLars.

Is oil spill clean up your job?

[Eagler]

me thinks ppl would freak if they knew what was pumped out of the holds on tankers daily all around the world before they pull into port empty

its much cheaper to do it at sea than have the shipyard do it for them

thank goodness mother nature is as strong as she is

read/heard somewhere that more oil seeps through cracks in the earth crusts on the ocean floor than any man made oil spill has ever produced - just gets ground up in the scheme of things

[Curval]

Originally posted by Eagler
"Bahamas-flagged tanker Prestige.. "

hmm, wonder why its registered there??

Eagler..you will find VERY VERY few American registered fleets.   Most ships are registered in Panama, Liberia, Bahamas and Bermuda...even US cruise liners.

[MrLars]

Originally posted by Thrawn
Thanks for the informative posts MrLars.

Is oil spill clean up your job?

No, I worked for a production company that specialized in oil industry safety issues. The '69 blowout of Platform A in Carpinteria, Ca. < my home town > piqued my interest in the prevention/cleanup of oil spills.

Creating safety and training films for the varrious Oil Spill Co-ops throughout the country gave me and my crew the experience and knowledge necessary, as well as training, to work in the field during spills of all sorts.

Once you get your name known in the business, especialy if you deal with highly sensitive issues and are trusted with that information, you are included in their list of who to call when an incident occurs.

So, a scientist I'm not, just more of an industrial visual documentarian. I used to be a grunt with a gun, then it was more like I was a geek with a bunch of cameras

It's been 8 years since I was in that business now I'm simi retired and operate a large screen projection rental business.

[midnight Target]

Originally posted by Cobra
Geez MT, a little arrogant here aren't we, especially when you were rightfully called on a hyperbolic analogy.

Oh wait... I do get it...Big Oil is Hitler......The Captain is Hess, the Exxon Valdez is Aushwitz, and the birds are humans....ahhh..ok, I guess I still lack the "wit" to see your connection.

How about this.  The area recovered after a horrible, and avoidable, oil spill.  While wildlife suffered a great loss, it did recover in this area, and nature made a comeback, although we shouldn't expect to continue to abuse our planet this way and expect it to keep coming back and recovering.

Cobra

I might have been a little rude, but arrogant? I don't think so. My point wasn't that my analogy was so good, only that analogies are not "always wrong".

And while I appreciate your little poke, the point is this:

Lack of permanent damage does not equate to no assault.

[MrLars]

Originally posted by midnight Target


Lack of permanent damage does not equate to no assault.

While true, an assult doesn't always have long lasting tragic results.

What the 'environmentalists' were saying about the lasting adverse effects of the spill in Valdez just didn't come to pass.

In fact, if someone had the incentive and balls to be arrogant enough to state that the PWS is better off now than if the spill hadn't occured, the true science couldn't disprove his position.

The marine ecosystem of PWS is now most likely THE most studied ecosystem in the US, much of that is a direct result of the Exxon Valdez spill and Exxons deep pockets.

[Dowding (Work)]

Regarding sunk warships - there's a British ship torpedoed in Scapa Flow that has recently started spewing diesel. There's a large slick floating above it.

[Eagler]

Originally posted by Dowding (Work)
Regarding sunk warships - there's a British ship torpedoed in Scapa Flow that has recently started spewing diesel. There's a large slick floating above it.

there's a U-Boat off the coast of Aruba (not to far off the beach)which does the same thing

[DA98]

A synthetic aperture radar image of the oil spill, dated 17-nov, when the ship was still afloat (it can be seen as one of the white dots at the left extreme of the oil slick)


For more info:

http://www.esa.int/export/esaSA/ESAGFD7708D_earth_0.html