Dead dolphins wash up in Gulf; oil role unclear

[joeybee12]

HORN ISLAND, Miss. - Federal wildlife officials are treating the deaths of six dolphins on the Gulf Coast as oil-related even though other factors may be to blame.

Blair Mase of the National Marine Fisheries Service said the carcasses have all been found in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama since May 2.

Samples have been sent for testing to see whether a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico helped kill the dolphins. At least 4 million gallons of oil has spewed into the Gulf in the three weeks since a Transocean Ltd. rig operated by BP PLC exploded and sank, killing 11 workers.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37105656/ns/us_news-gulf_oil_spill/

______________________________________________

You know, if there is a God, we are gonna pay in the afterlife for how we have treated this planet and its creatures.

[Bluebear]

1. Yeah, oil role "unclear" my ass.

[joeybee12]

9. You'd think the article itself, because of the title, would come with this...

:sarcasm:

[Bluebear]

32. +

[WeDidIt]

2. Yep, the cause is "murky" at the moment. It's a slippery situation.

Fuckers.

[Junkdrawer]

3. It's just a coincidence I tell you...

And anyone who says otherwise is a tree hugging eco-terrorist who should be feeling guilty about THEIR oil consumption.

Pant...pant...(did I get it all covered?)

[Kalyke]

4. Yeah... sure... "oil role unclear."

If anyone believes that dodge, I've got a 6,000-feet suspension bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell.

:eyes:

Poor dolphin. :cry:

P.S. And I had the dolphin as my avatar before reading this story. Makes it more poignant now. Sigh.

[lpbk2713]

5. There will be more. Many more. Count on it.

That uncapped well has been gushing for weeks. Get used to the Gulf of Mexico being a gooey lifeless cesspool.


Greedy bastards. All they can do is point fingers at one another.

[Junkdrawer]

7. Add to that the proprietary goo that they've been spraying en mass...

to make the oil less visable....

[no_hypocrisy]

6. I believe some extrapolation is allowed in this situation, followed by testing

and verification.

[fishwax]

8. I wonder if we'll ever know the cause

Such a sad mystery.

(Quick! Look over there! :yoiks: )

[L. Coyote]

10. ***** Official "Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Offshore Drilling" House Hearing Thread *****

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8321064

[joeybee12]

13. Thanks for the cross-post...

...these guys need to be tarred and feathered, but you know that isn't going to happen.

[L. Coyote]

11. Rec this up!!!

[Bluebear]

41. +

[L. Coyote]

12. Keep this kicked and visible!

[Junkdrawer]

22. Kick

:kick:

[Junkdrawer]

39. Kick

:kick:

[flamingdem]

14. Article: Dolphins have been declared the world's second most intelligent creatures after humans

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article69...

Dolphins have been declared the world’s second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as “non-human persons”.

Studies into dolphin behaviour have highlighted how similar their communications are to those of humans and that they are brighter than chimpanzees. These have been backed up by anatomical research showing that dolphin brains have many key features associated with high intelligence.

The researchers argue that their work shows it is morally unacceptable to keep such intelligent animals in amusement parks or to kill them for food or by accident when fishing. Some 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die in this way each year.

“Many dolphin brains are larger than our own and second in mass only to the human brain when corrected for body size,” said Lori Marino, a zoologist at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, who has used magnetic resonance imaging scans to map the brains of dolphin species and compare them with those of primates.

[joeybee12]

15. I'm sorry, but if humans average in Glen Beck and Sarah Palin...

...dolphins come in first.

[florida08]

28. 2nd that

[L. Coyote]

16. Meanwhile, dolphins just classified humans as the most dangerous and stupid species

and of mortal danger to all life on earth!

[flamingdem]

20. !!! nt

[joeybee12]

25. Amen! n/t

[earth mom]

17. God damn those bastards-may they burn in hell!!!

I'm agnostic, but I really hope there is a hell for those fucking assholes responsible for this disaster!!! :grr:


:cry:

[Octafish]

18. Dolphins have saved human beings lots of times...

http://www.dolphins-world.com/Dolphins_Rescuing_Humans.html

It'd be nice to return the favor.

[Rex]

19. Wow, could they have defend the oil gusher anymore in this article?

Why not just get down on your knees for the gusher? It was just another non-taxpayer that died, so move on nothing to see here. Ari will be out in a few minutes to explain how all that oil is actually going to help the coastline. Series.

[TheKentuckian]

21. The gut is saying the dispersants are affecting airbreathers

All the chemicals being dumped could cause problems other than those created by the crude.

[L. Coyote]

23. Dispersants have two main components: a surfactant and a solvent.

Solvents are toxic and injurious if inhale.

http://www.itopf.com/spill-response/clean-up-and-response/dispersants/

When used appropriately, dispersants can be an effective method of response to an oil spill. They are capable of rapidly removing large amounts of certain oil types from the sea surface by transferring it into the water column. Following dispersant application, wave energy will cause the oil slick to break up into small oil droplets that are rapidly diluted and subsequently biodegraded by micro-organisms occurring naturally in the marine environment. They can also delay the formation of persistent water-in-oil emulsions. In common with other response techniques, the decision to use dispersants must be given careful consideration and take into account oil characteristics, sea and weather conditions, as well as surrounding environmental sensitivities.

Dispersants are a group of chemicals designed to be sprayed onto oil slicks to accelerate the process of natural dispersion. Significant environmental and economic benefits can be achieved, particularly when other at-sea response techniques are limited by weather conditions or the availability of resources. In certain situations, dispersants may provide the only means of removing significant quantities of surface oil quickly, thereby minimising or preventing damage to important sensitive resources. Their use is intended to minimise the damage caused by floating oil, for example to birds or before the oil may hit a sensitive shorelines. However, in common with all spill response options, the use of dispersants has limitations and its use should be carefully planned and controlled. Dispersant use will also depend upon national regulations governing the use of these products. .....

Natural dispersion of an oil slick occurs when waves and other turbulence at the sea surface cause all or part of the slick to break up into droplets and enter into the water column. The addition of dispersants is intended to accelerate this natural process.

Dispersants have two main components: a surfactant and a solvent. Surfactants molecules are made up of two parts: an oleophilic part (with an attraction to oil) and a hydrophilic part (with an attraction to water). When dispersants are sprayed onto an oil slick, the solvent will transport and distribute the surfactants through the oil slick to the oil/water interface where they arrange themselves so that the oleophilic part of the molecule is in the oil and the hydrophilic part is in the water. This creates a reduction in the surface tension at the oil/water interface and small oil droplets will break away from the oil slick with the help of wave energy. These droplets will be of varying sizes and although the larger ones may rise back to the surface some will remain in suspension and will drift apart and become degraded by naturally occurring bacteria. If dispersion is successful, a characteristic brown plume will spread slowly down from the water surface a few minutes after treatment.

[tekisui]

31. But, most importantly the dispersant makes the impact harder to photograph.

Which benefits BP and the government.

[Uncle Joe]

24. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, joeybee.

[greencharlie]

26. or maybe it's the damn chemicals they're spraying on the oil? nt

[florida08]

27. oh damn

poor things. Come up to get a breath of air and inhale oil. Breaks your heart

[florida08]

30. the dispersants

will kill anything thats left. Money won't fix this

[Bluebear]

35. heartbreaking

[florida08]

38. yes it is Bluebear :-(

[tekisui]

29. kick

[amborin]

33. "role unclear" sickeningly complicit media

they are totally falling in line to sanitize this catastrophe

[pleah]

34. Shrimpers were given the green light to harvest as much as possible before

the oil got to close to shore. That may have more to do with it than the oil. May explain the 25 sea turtles that were found dead in Louisiana,too.

[Saphire]

36. I have a feeling there will be a lot of things washed up on shore.

[WeDidIt]

37. I bet they don't find sa drop of crude in any of them

but we'll never hear they were all poisoned by the dispersants.

[BreweryYardRat]

40. Goddammit!

I used to sit in a deck chair near the Intercoastal Waterway here in FL and watch the dolphins swim by in the evenings.

This really hits home. And it makes me angry as hell!