It Won't Go Away

In our modern era, it is the nature of disasters -- both human-caused or "natural" ones -- to make a big splash across the mainstream media and then quietly to disappear. Remember the earthquake in Haiti? We were treated to round the clock coverage for nearly one week, then the news organizations pulled up stakes and the "human tragedy" in Haiti became a non-story.

This same trajectory is taking place in the gulf region. As long as oil was pouring from the destroyed rig, the BP oil disaster was THE news. Now that the well supposedly is capped, the mainstream media is moving onto other sensational stories.

The chief problem with this kind of tack is that the real story begins once the camera lights fade. Haiti is STILL in shambles and much of the pledged aid has yet to materialize. In the gulf, regardless of what the federal government and BP wants the viewing public to believe, the oil and dispersants have not gone away and will cause serious repercussions long into the future.

My intent is not to follow the lead of the mainstream media. While the focus of this blog certainly is not on the BP oil spill, I have -- and will continue to -- share my thoughts and various articles on this important topic. While most politicians hope this disaster fades from your memory so they can continue on with "business as usual," I intend to remind all of us that this disaster will remain a disaster for some time.

Here's a snippet of an article, "Crabs Provide Evidence Oil Tainting Gulf Food Web" posted on CommonDreams.org:

To assess how heavy a blow the BP oil spill has dealt the Gulf of Mexico, researchers are closely watching a staple of the seafood industry and primary indicator of the ecosystem's health: the blue crab.

Weeks ago, before engineers pumped in mud and cement to plug the gusher, scientists began finding specks of oil in crab larvae plucked from waters across the Gulf coast.

The government said last week that three-quarters of the spilled oil has been removed or naturally dissipated from the water. But the crab larvae discovery was an ominous sign that crude had already infiltrated the Gulf's vast food web - and could affect it for years to come.

"It would suggest the oil has reached a position where it can start moving up the food chain instead of just hanging in the water," said Bob Thomas, a biologist at Loyola University in New Orleans. "Something likely will eat those oiled larvae ... and then that animal will be eaten by something bigger and so on."

Tiny creatures might take in such low amounts of oil that they could survive, Thomas said. But those at the top of the chain, such as dolphins and tuna, could get fatal "megadoses."

Marine biologists routinely gather shellfish for study. Since the spill began, many of the crab larvae collected have had the distinctive orange oil droplets, said Harriet Perry, a biologist with the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.

"In my 42 years of studying crabs I've never seen this," Perry said.

She wouldn't estimate how much of the crab larvae are contaminated overall, but said about 40 percent of the area they are known to inhabit has been affected by oil from the spill.

Tulane University researchers are investigating whether the splotches also contain toxic chemical dispersants that were spread to break up the oil but have reached no conclusions, biologist Caz Taylor said.

If large numbers of blue crab larvae are tainted, their population is virtually certain to take a hit over the next year and perhaps longer, scientists say...