Back to the Gulf Coast

You will notice an increase in the number of ads touting tourism in the Gulf Coast region all sponsored by BP. And there is their latest effort to put some closure to the oil spill of the Gulf. But the legacy lives on and will live on for generations. We're only now getting a glimpse of the beginnings of the damage to the marine life there. And I think I'd trust the scientists studying the situation a bit more than some CEO guarding his bonus. No BP you lied to us from the get go then lied again. No amount of pretty ads with pristine beaches will alter that lack of trust.

So what's going on? Here's a list of scientists and their credentials and what they found:

Dr Darryl Felder, Department of Biology, University of Louisiana, Lafayette. Runs a research lab that studies the biology of marine crustaceans. Dr Felder has been monitoring the seafloor in the vicinity of BP's blow-out Macondo oil-well both before and after the oil disaster began. He was studying samples from the seafloor in the Macondo area pre-spill via funding from the National Science Foundation, which provided him a grant to log the effects of all the drilling in the area. His funding now comes from the Gulf Research Initiative (GRI), which is funded by BP.
Dr Jim Cowan with Louisiana State University's Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences has been studying Gulf seafood, specifically red snapper, for more than 20 years. Funding is primarily via LSU, although LSU has also received funding via GRI.
Dr Andrew Whitehead, LSU, his lab conducts experiments and studies on Evolutionary and Ecological Genomics. He recently published "Genomic and physiological footprint of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on resident marsh fishes" in the National Academy of Sciences. Much of his funding also comes from the Gulf Research Initiative.


Summary
Felder: Studies carried out from January 2010 to present in BP's Macondo well area. Found abnormalities in shrimp post-spill, whereas pre-spill found none.
Cowan: Studies carried out from Nov 2010-present, from west Louisiana to west Florida, from coast to 250km out. Found lesions/sores/infections in 20 species of fish, as many as 50 per cent fish in some samples impacted. Pre spill levels were 1/10 of one per cent of fish.
Whitehead: Species such as the Gulf Killifish, in and around the Gulf of Mexico, will continue to be subject to negative effects of the BP oil spill disaster of 2010. The Killifish, which researchers consider a good indicator of water quality in the Gulf of Mexico, is showing signs that the oil spill is having a negative impact on its health. Tracked killifish for the first four months after spill across oil-impacted areas of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Considering the shear volume of oil and the amount of chemicals they used to try and sink the oil is it any wonder the Gulf is in such bad shape? And lying about it is not going to help their case. Had they come forward and admitted everything I might have some sympathy but not now.