Oil-eating bacteria on my garage floor!

[PCIntern]

I restore cars as a hobby, and over the years I've had a few drops of 10W-40 spill on my garage floor and a little bit of old oil from some less-than-perfect crankcases. During the 15 years I've lived here, those spills have actually shrunk, about, say 15%! Not insubstantial!

Now if you simply change the amount of oil from, say three fluid ounces to half a billion barrels, and the consistency of the oil from refined within an inch of its life to the gooey mess that is this particular brand of crude, then it will only take about a quadrillion years...or maybe more, for this to...VANISH! Just like Rush says it will...just like Rush's ex-wives have...and just as the traces of the dinosaurs upon which we rode 6000 years ago!

[dipsydoodle]

1. Its not just him saying it

It's a simple fact of life that bacteria do feed on oil droplets aside from which a substantial amount of the oil in the Gulf will evaporate. The analogy of you garage floor don't hold water - pun intended. I'm trying to diminish the seriousness of this issue - just pointing out some facts.

[PCIntern]

2. Yes of course...

but if you talk to anyone who's familiar with the remnants of the Valdez nightmare, all you have to do this many years later is lift some rocks and there's a ton of tarry goo underneath. that stuff ain't going anywhere in our lifetimes. sludge is sludge and the amount of toxic and carcinogenic material released is beyond our comprehension.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Yes but

that's oil which wasn't broken up by dispersant into literally droplets. I appreciate its a no win situation : you benefit in one direction from use of dispersants but then maybe suffer in other ways.