In an article on Wednesday and a followup on Thursday, my colleague Leslie Kaufman and I reported on a new government report that says that about three-quarters of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill has effectively been dealt with through capture, skimming, burning, dispersion or dissolution. The implication is that the oil poses little additional risk to shorelines or at the ocean’s surface.
Further damage in the deep sea from undersea plumes of dispersed oil cannot be entirely ruled out, government scientists said in releasing the report, but testing has shown that the hydrocarbon levels in those plumes are exceedingly low. Many toxicologists consider additional damage from the plumes to be unlikely.
The report estimated that about 8 percent of the oil that spewed from BP’s well was dispersed by using chemicals, and that once again raises an issue that has been a focus of intense public concern.
Could the dispersants themselves pose a risk to marine life, or to human health if they accumulate in seafood?
To read the rest of the story, please go to: The New York Times.