My conspiracy theory of the day
I mentioned on my radio show the other day that the BP oil spill has all but disappeared from the news. It’s not because the well is plugged, though that’s obviously a big deal – the news had died down a fair bit before it was plugged.
No, the main reason you’ve heard almost nothing about the spill in the last few weeks is that the oil is disappearing. If oil were washing up on shore anywhere, the liberal media, eager to bash oil companies, hurt Republicans (even though Democrats in the Gulf area mostly support drilling as well), and especially to show images of oil-soaked animals, would be barking from every hilltop about the devastation caused by the disaster.
I’m not saying they’d be wrong to report on such news, even if they would make it sound worse than it is. But one would think that the interest of real “fair and balanced” reporting, they would make some mention of the fact that the oil seems to be disappearing at a rate nobody could have predicted and few seem able to explain well.
My conspiracy theory for today involves the media – in this case the “new media” – continuing to try to downplay the fact that the BP oil spill will likely be much less damaging than anybody expected.
Here’s the story: The top headline in Yahoo’s financial news this morning was this story from Reuters: “Nearly 3/4 of BP Spill Oil Gone from the Gulf“.
However, clicking on the link – a link to a story which doesn’t help Barack Obama – takes you to this story instead: “Service sector grows more quickly in July“, a story which is helpful, or at least not harmful, to him.
While Yahoo is keeping you from reading the story, I’ll give you a link that actually works:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0424782620100804
Interestingly, while human action has been responsible for eliminating some of the oil, the majority of the oil disappearance has been due to natural causes. In a way, the earth’s self-corrective response reminds me of one of the biggest errors that global warming alarmists make, namely assuming that neither natural systems nor human civilization can adapt to changes.
p.s. I don’t really believe that Yahoo is conspiring to keep you from reading the story, especially since the error makes them look incompetent. But it’s still fun to write/think about…and the (lack of) oil story is an important one.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Rossputin on 08/04/10 at 11:33:51 am . Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. |
Yours truly
-
Following Obama's Economic Policies
Facebook NetworkedBlogs
XML Feeds
08/04/10 @ 12:25:55 pm
Not to pat myself on the back (well, maybe a little), I said early on to anyone who cared that once the oil stopped, the oil that had escaped would degrade quickly. This is simple physical chemistry - hydrocarbons degrade much more quickly in a hot environment (Louisiana and 88 degree GOM water) than it does in a cold environment (Prince WIlliam Sound, water never warmer than 45 deg. or so). Also, the components that evaporate first are the most toxic. What's left is mostly tar, similar to that which we use on our roads all over the country.
Not to mention that the if the volume of oil (200 million gallons) were dissolved in a cubic mile of sea water, the oil concentration would be 200 parts per million.
The biggest tragedy in all this is the 11 lives lost, of course.
That this did not result in an environmental "catastrophe" is lamented only by the environmental lobby et. al., who had hoped to get a cap and trade energy bill out of the not-to-be-wasted "crisis."
08/04/10 @ 04:30:45 pm
Just wait till Obama and his green energy comrades BP, show us how easy it is to cap 100 more wells.
BP will make more money from alternatives than they ever could from oil.
There’s your conspiracy.
Yes the ocean can digest oil however it has not disappeared rather only diluted. Poor a can of dark soda pop in your swimming pool and tell me it disappeared.
God made the world big and humans small so we could never break it, although we give it our best shot.
08/04/10 @ 04:35:33 pm
J,
I hate BP...they've been in bed with this "green" and cap-and-trade crap for longer than any other oil company, I believe.
By the way, you're wrong about the oil only being diluted. I'm sure there's some of that, but the Gulf has a lot of oil-eating bacteria and they eat the oil, becoming food for plankton in the process. It's absolutely NOT just diluted.
08/04/10 @ 06:15:33 pm
Ross,
I clearly said that the sea will digest oil however it is only diluted for the time being.
Those microorgannisms are not magic.
Watch this video while you are in the mood to be wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEx6MBSOTsQ
08/05/10 @ 07:50:32 am
J,
I am watching the video now.
What am I wrong about?
08/05/10 @ 10:11:30 am
Norton and Penny’s character or should I say lack of character. The video proves they have lied and tarnished a private citizen. Can’t wait till Greg files a libel and defamation suit.
Back to the oil. Do you have a figure on how many gallons of dispersant BP used? Do you understand that dispersant cause’s oil to cling to water? Break apart. Hide. Spread. Dilute. So BP used chemicals (dangerous chemicals) to break the oil apart, make it invisible.
Do you have any reports on random water samplings of the area? What are the parts per million of hydrocarbons? What was it before the leak?
The oil is there. Only time will allow the microorganism to digest near all of it.
Any ways, conspiracy theories are fun. I have thought all along there was more to this oil spill than meets the eyes. Was it a humane alternative to war? Wars are how they fix depressions. Was it terrorism? Was it on purpose to allow wells to pump directly to ships without the costly platform? Will it open the door to several hundred wells being capped?
82+ days to cap a well is staggering. I would have taken this at face value if they fixed this the first time, within 3 weeks. Too big of show not to have ulterior motives.
08/05/10 @ 10:21:50 am
J,
I agree that there is plenty of dispersed oil. My non-expert guess is that it will be eaten by bacteria very rapidly.
The NOAA "oil budget" is sorta interest, but not without controversy:
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/PDFs/DeepwaterHorizonOilBudget20100801.pdf