U.S. Claims 3/4 of Oil Cleared
A new report suggests that there has been a significant amount of progress in removing the oil from the BP oil leak:
The Obama administration says in a report out Wednesday that a combination of Mother Nature and Uncle Sam has recovered or dispersed three-fourths of the estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil that gushed into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the BP calamity.
And the oil that’s left — 26 percent of the total — “is in the process of being degraded, ” the document reports.
Administration officials say the figures show the government’s response has paid off. The document constitutes a promising ecological prognosis and the first time the government has said authoritatively that the disaster’s impact may not be as bad as many experts had feared.
The five-page report is titled, “What Happened to the Oil?”
“[I]t is estimated that burning, skimming and direct recovery from the wellhead removed one quarter (25%) of the oil released from the wellhead,” the report says. “One quarter (25%) of the total oil naturally evaporated or dissolved, and just less than one quarter (24%) was dispersed (either naturally or as a result of operations) as microscopic droplets into Gulf waters.
Click here to read more.“The residual amount — just over one quarter (26%) — is either on or just below the surface as light sheen and weathered tar balls, has washed ashore or been collected from the shore, or is buried in sand and sediments. Oil in the residual and dispersed categories is in the process of being degraded.”
