http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/louie-gohmert-deepwater-horizon-oil-nature_us_5a023a86e4b06ff32c9435e3
[Sigh. links and images in on-line article]
GOP Congressman Says Nature Has A Way Of Cleaning Up Massive Oil Spills
Louie Gohmert of Texas claims he drove along the Gulf Coast looking for
oil after Deepwater Horizon exploded but found only "a drop or two here
and there.”
11/08/2017 01:40 EST | Updated 5 hours ago
Chris D'Angelo
WASHINGTON — In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, a concerned
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) jumped in his car and drove from Tyler,
Texas, to somewhere southeast of New Orleans. He brought along a
high-definition video camera, planning to document the effects of what
would prove to be the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
“I was going to film the destructiveness to the beaches,” he said during
a legislative hearing Tuesday. But instead he claims to have found
almost no oil — “a drop or two here and there,” as he put it — along
the coast between New Orleans and Panama City, Florida.
“I was going, ‘Where’s all the oil?’” he said.
People — who, Gohmert didn’t say — kept telling him, “Oh, [the oil is]
10 miles down the beach,” he said. “I never found it. I don’t know what
happened to it, but somehow nature does amazing things.”
Ironically, the story came during a hearing Tuesday to discuss a package
of bills that reads like the wish list of the oil and gas industry. Not
only did Gohmert ignore the devastating environmental impact and the
massive years-long cleanup that took place throughout the Gulf of
Mexico, he suggested that Earth somehow managed to clean up the mess on
its own — and is perfectly capable of handling future oil spills.
Gohmert didn’t say how soon it was after the April 20, 2010, explosion
that he took his road trip, which might have explained the lack of oil
he says he found along the beach. What is clear, however, is that oil
spewed from the well for the better part of three months, with more than
200 million gallons of crude ending up in the Gulf.
In all, oil was found along 1,313 miles of coastline in Louisiana,
Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Texas, scientists detailed in a a
study published last year. By the end of 2013, crews had collected more
than 106,000 tons of oily material from along the Gulf Coast.
At the peak of the disaster response in summer 2010, more than 47,000
response personnel and 7,000 vessels were involved in the cleanup
effort, according to the Congressional Research Service. In July 2016,
BP pegged its costs related to the disaster at $61.6 billion.
As for where the oil ended up, the Congressional Research Service
crunched government data and in a December 2010 report noted that
roughly 41 percent was directly or chemically recovered, burned or
skimmed. About 24 percent is believed have evaporated or dissolved. The
remaining 35 percent was either “naturally dispersed” or persisted in
the environment.
Studies indicate a significant amount may have settled onto the ocean
floor. A 2015 study led by Jeff Chanton, an oceanography professor at
Florida State University, found that the amount could be as high as 10
million gallons.
“This is going to affect the Gulf for years to come,” Chanton said in a
statement at the time.
That’s the thing about oceans: They are big. And despite what Gohmert
might tell you, just because oil — or any number of other pollutants —
isn’t visible, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
In the case of Deepwater Horizon, however, the effects could be seen
from space.
