Straw Men
I can't decide if this idea is genius or the dumbest thing I've ever seen. I'll just point out that there's a big difference between a laboratory and Mother Nature. Decide for yourself.
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Hat-tip to Kirk M.
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Hat-tip to Kirk M.
posted by Jar(egg)head at 15:54
2 Comments:
Wow, talk about reinventing the wheel! In the early years of remediation of petroleum contaminated sites, peat moss was used to soak up petroleum in water. Yeah it works however take a water sample and checkout what is left behind.
In addition now you have to scoop up all that hay. What about the disposal of the hay? The Treatment Storage and Disposal facilities charge for disposal by the ton and it is not cheap.
Notice at the beginning of the dog and pony show, they state their true intentions as a consultants, “Give us the work!” Being a consultant a long long time ago, sometimes you feel just like a lawyer chasing that ambulance.
Burning the hay is an option, but again, I don't know of many facilities that are set up to burn such a product, however it is a clever idea that costs a lot less than all the booms and centrifuges and caps and other crazy expensive crap they are trying now. Especially since the Earth is built to handle oils spills as in this segment from an article;
The day after it enters the water, chemicals in the oil begin to transform, both at the water's surface and farther into the water column. Trace elements lurking in water can speed or slow the process while the sun fuels the breakdown, decomposing even the most complex of oil's components over time. The warmer the water temperature and the more sun exposure, the faster the oil breaks down.
During the first few days after a spill, between 20 to 40 percent of oil's mass turns into gases, and the slick loses most of its water-soluble hydrocarbons—what's left are the more viscous compounds that slow down the oil's spread across the water.
When components of crude oil evaporate and its lighter fractions dissolve or are chemically transformed, oil clumps form. These sticky masses are found in all types of water environments, in open and coastal waters and on beaches. They have an uneven shape and can measure tenths of inches to 4 inches in length. The oily masses serve as a base for developing bacteria and one-celled algae, while invertebrates such as crustaceans, resistant to the impact of oil, use them as shelter. These clumps can exist from months to years in enclosed seas and for years in the open ocean—eventually, they degrade.
Essentially, the oil breaks down and provides nutrients to lower and single cel life forms starting the food chain. There is an initial off kill of higher forms of life (ie, fish, birds, other aquatic life) but the world will go on. the article even states that the chemicals we use to disperse and "destroy" the oil are harmful. The real question we have to ask is why were so deep in the first place? Folks don't want their beach view ruined by an oil rig.
The article is here : http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/coal-oil-gas/oil-spill-water-chemistry
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