Noticed this story Eshlemon, but my BS detector went on "DefCon 2" alert simply because it is quite convenient that after the largest oil spill in US history the idea is being floated that bacteria will dispose of the spilled oil.

As I thought about it, where are the metrics for how much oil the bacteria can consume? At that rate, how long could it take for the bacteria to dispose of the oil?

I've yet to see that mentioned but yet, to "Joe Average" the idea has been planted "Oh, that oil spill, bacteria ate it all"..that is the sort of shallow point that Cable News and the Limbaughs of the world will parrot but never bother to ask any questions whilst parroting.

Now what is fascinating to me is whether or not different forms of bacteria actually produce Crude Oil in the first place as the meme is "Oil, it comes from decayed dinosaurs!"

Err..no it doesn't...

 

I'm still getting a good laugh at the expense of those who believed there was oil everywhere and that this was an enormous environmental disaster.

That's what you get when your primary source for the supposedly devastating environmental consequences of the spill is Mother freaking Jones.

 

You are crowing far to early Des, the real damage will have occured at the photoplankton/small crustacean level and will genuinely take 3 yrs to asses the impact on things such as fishing and shrimping industries.

Those creatures have a very fast life cycle so large scale damage will appear relatively quickly.

 

You misinterpret me. I'm not saying that there is no environmental damage. I'm saying that the underwater apocalypse everyone was afraid of did not occur. There's a vast difference of scale here.

Also, the feds have already said it's safe to eat seafood harvested from the Gulf, so I'd imagine any trickle up effect would be minimal at best.

Take that, Mother Jones.

 

The planet will be fine.... it's the people that are screwed!

 

Carlin put it in a slightly different way. :shifty:

 

Yeah, still, he had a damn good point. lol

 

:hi5: