The story about the Oil eating Microbes lives....and grew bigger legs today.

[Mira]

Quoting what was sent to me just now by a friend:

Scott Holmes, very good friend of ours, is the representative for a product called BADD BUGS – a microbe that EATS oil, literally. Unlike harsh the harsh dispersants currently being used on the Gulf spill, this product is harmless to the environment, people and wildlife.

Scott has been fighting through the politics and red tape for nearly 6 weeks now trying to bring attention to the fact that this is at least a partial solution to the Gulf disaster cleanup. After many trips to the affected states and hundreds of phone calls, he ran into a friend of his in Vero late last week and told him the story.
This friend, who is a boat manufacturer, has a business partner - and the partner happens to be a guy named Jimmy Buffett. So, he just called Jimmy.

Scott demoed it for Jimmy, who was impressed but, wanted the product checked out by a reputable authority. Now, Buffett happens to be a grad of the University of Southern Miss….. so yesterday, after a simple phone call on Friday, Scott flew to Miss with Buffett and did a demo for the President the heads of the Biological Sciences Department at the University of Southern Miss. The results were met with great success. Buffet then went on to meet up with Charlie Christ and tour the beaches in the Fl panhandle where Jimmy is opening a new Margaritaville in a couple of weeks.

This story hit the media all along the Gulf Coast yesterday and is being swept along now at a rapid pace. Today, the President of the company that produces the product will be interviewed on nationwide TV – CNBC Power Lunch at 12:00.

Who knows where it goes from here but, I predict it will turn out to be one huge success story.

I wanted you to know about this for three reasons. One is that this is something that might well play a crucial role in cleaning up the mess. Scott has put together a consortium of crop duster spray planes that covers the area from Key West all the way to Texas. These guys are ready to spray marshes and beaches as soon as they get a green light. Secondly, this story shows how very powerful a single individual –any of us- can be when we combine our personal sphere with great persistence. Thirdly, it demonstrates just how fast the flood gates can open when we finally break down that last barrier.

==========================

Here is the link to that interview as it happened today

http://cid-38747afe76d907c0.spaces.live.com/

[hedgehog]

1. One question: After the bacteria get done eating all the oil, what do they eat

next?

[iamtechus]

9. They die. When their favorite food is gone, they cease to exist.

[Autumn Colors]

2. Another question

What happens to the microbes if they come into contact with the dispersant that's been spread for weeks now?

[Lerkfish]

4. good question.

If the dispersant is more toxic than the oil, its possible the dispersant would kill the microbes.

[izquierdista]

10. Die

Too much contact with detergent in the dispersant will dissolve their cell wall. A little bit, they might be able to eat, otherwise, bye bye, bugs.

[whoneedstickets]

3. What happens if they get 'wild' and eat all of the worlds oil?

There is a sci-fci doomsday scenario here....

[Lerkfish]

5. That might actually be a good thing for the world

instead of a doomsday, it would force us to turn to alternative energy, and oil companies could no longer enforce the political stranglehold they have on the planet.

it might actually benefit us in the long run.

[whoneedstickets]

14. That would depend on the pace...

..if it got loose and ate all the oil too fast, we wouldn't have the infrastructure for alternative energy and we'd be in some sort of apocalyptic scenario with energy scarcity. But if it was slow and steady (but still unstoppable) then you're right.

[jgraz]

15. Except eating the oil is almost the same as burning the oil

At least where global climate change is concerned.

[ejbrush]

18. Here ya go!

http://books.google.com/books?id=wWIgO72HZXoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Ill+Wind+anderson&source=bl&ots=2uooJpe0Xs&sig=NHHAC8OUi_R7Tvny1NPAG_XlVAQ&hl=en&ei=hZsRTK3eHsznnQe3-IWSAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Mira]

6. What if they got a hold of Cheney?

(Just adding another question to the list.)
This one though I'd like to visualize to the bitter end.

[jgraz]

16. Can a bacteria vomit?

:shrug:

[Mira]

17. ...

You made me smile big.
(BTW every time I see your name I think of Graz, Austria, where my parents got married)

[jgraz]

21. Heh... glad to be of service.

Usually, I'm pissing people off on this site. ;)

[Jamastiene]

23. DUzy!

:spray:

[hunter]

7. Plenty of bacteria eating oil already -- just not as fast as it spews.

I'm skeptical about this.

Myself, I'd like to create a bacteria that eats offshore oil platforms.

[Wednesdays]

20. Maybe there's a bacteria that eats only oil executives

There's a thought.
:think:

[alfredo]

22. There is: greed.

[dccrossman]

8. Effect on oxygen in the water

Do you know the effect of these microbes on Oxygen in the water?

Not that this could ever be worse than the oil insanity, but just curious.

(Edit for small typo in subject)

[flyingfysh]

12. they use up the oxygen in the water

That is why people are afraid the oil will result in a long-lasting dead zone in the Gulf - no oxygen.

[LanternWaste]

11. Bacterial version of Kudzu...nt

Bacterial version of Kudzu...nt :P

[hedgehog]

13. All joking aside - there are bacteria out there now eating oil.

If there weren't there'd be an oil sheen on every body of water, fresh or salt, from all the petroleum products spilled accidentally or deliberately over the years.

There's also a group that eats old rubber. that's why our roads aren't knee deep or worse in bits of old tires. ( Where do you think the rubber goes when your tires wear down?)

[FBI_Un_Sub]

19. General Electric filed for the patent in 1972

General electric filed for the patent in 1972, http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=3&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=chakrabarty.INNM.&s2=general.ASNM.&OS=IN/chakrabarty+AND+AN/general&RS=IN/chakrabarty+AND+AN/general"> United States Patent 4,259,444, Anand Cakrabarty, Microorganisms having multiple compatible degradative energy-generating plasmids and preparation thereof which covers

Unique microorganisms have been developed by the application of genetic engineering techniques. These microorganisms contain at least two stable (compatible) energy-generating plasmids, these plasmids specifying separate degradative pathways. The techniques for preparing such multi-plasmid strains from bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas are described. Living cultures of two strains of Pseudomonas (P. aeruginosa and P. putida ) have been deposited with the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Northern Marketing and Nutrient Research Division, Peoria, Ill. The P. aeruginosa NRRL B-5472 was derived from Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain 1c by the genetic transfer thereto, and containment therein, of camphor, octane, salicylate and naphthalene degradative pathways in the form of plasmids. The P. putida NRRL B-5473 was derived from Pseudomonas putida strain PpG1 by genetic transfer thereto, and containment therein, of camphor, salicylate and naphthalene degradative pathways and drug resistance factor RP-1, all in the form of plasmids.

Translate: The bugs eat oil and excrete CO2 and H2O.