The data being presented on the actual size of the oil “spill” varies between different sites. Clearly there is a game being played to minimise or misrepresent the real size of the disaster. What purpose does it serve to disseminate misleading information about the actual physical size of the disaster?

ERMA – interactive map of the disaster area
NOAA – updated daily
USGS – environmental monitoring for Gulf Oil Disaster
Florida Disaster . org
ESRI – timeline and projected forecast
If it was my home – Comparison to size of major population centers – June 14

In addition there is an immeasurably large amount of Methane gas in the ocean which is colorless and odorless and creates dead zones which cannot be traced from satellite imagery. After two weeks of containment efforts starting from June 7, BP’s non independently verified official figures were stated as “burning about 30 million cubic feet of natural gas daily from the source of the leak”. That adds up “about” 450 million cubic feet in 15 days. That’s enough gas to heat about 450,000 homes for four days.

The oil volcano erupted on April 25 and the first signs off at least partially effective siphoning of the oil flow started on the 7 June. That means there were 44 days of complete freeflow of toxic pollutants including Methane Hydrate gas and the highly toxic benzene along with the oil erupting out of the underwater volcano. If we use BP’s figures as an indicator of the real amount there is at least 1.3 billion cubic feet of methane gas distributed in the gulf which is untraceable by satellite imagery and completely toxic to nearly all forms of sea life.

The Gulf measures approximately 1,600 kilometers from east to west, 900 kilometers from north to south, and has a surface area of 1.5 million square kilometers. That is equivalent to 4,995 billion square feet (1,500,000×1000x3.33=4,995,000,000,000). The average depth of the Gulf of Mexico is 1615 meters or 5383 feet with maximum depths ranging from 3,750 m to 4,384 m. There is enough Methane gas to create a deadzone 1 foot deep spanning approx 400,000 square kilometers (1000mx3.33=3330cf), (1300000000cf/3330cf=390390sq/km). That’s a deadzone a foot deep and a kilometer wide stretching up or across for upto 400,000km! The circumference of the earth is only 40,075.16 km. So far there is enough Methane released to create a deadzone at least 1 kilometer wide and a foot deep that can go around the world 10 times. At a meter deep it will only make it round 3 times. The scale gets more comprehensible when we look at larger depths.

At 10m deep the area is 40,000 sq/km. At 100m deep it is 4000 sq/km in length. We are looking at a deadzone 1km square and 100 meters deep that can stretch from New York City to Los Angeles – 3935.55km. At 1000m deep it is 40 square kilometers in length. That means a potential deadzone 1 kilometer deep and 40 kilometers wide.That’s a long way to swim when you can’t breath! If you were unlucky enough to swim into it from any direction it would be almost impossible to swim out of it once you realized you couldn’t breath.

Things get even worse when the toxicity of Methane Hydrate in ppm is considered. Scientific studies concluded that 70% methane to oxygen levels is enough to kill mice after 18 hours of exposure. Not to mention the explosive nature of Methane when is is mixed with air. A 5% methane:air ratio is enough to allow burning. When ignited by plasma lightning bolts and travelling at wind speeds of more than 100miles per hour things start to get pretty hairy. The air can literally catch on fire! Hurricane Alex is just the first hurricane of the 2010 season. In addition the chemical reactions that take place when Methane Hydrate in very large quantities is exposed to the environment are not fully understood. Another issue is methane consuming algal blooms which also consume the surrounding oxygen depleting the oxygen content in the water and increasing the methane:oxygen ratio. Add to that the vast amounts of highly toxic chemical pollutants that have been pumped into the oil stream in an attempt to disperse and breakdown the oil, and the other highly toxic naturally occurring chemicals such as Benzene (deadly to humans and animals in as little as 1000 ppm) that are streaming out of the rupture, and the massively increased Carbon monoxide production in the area from burning off 30mil cf of methane every day since June 7, plus the pollution from the “controlled” surface burnofss and we can start to see a more complete overview of the scale and unprecedented damage of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico Ecological Disaster.

What the real figures are we will probably never know. Suffice to say that as BP have been attempting to down play the size of the disaster since the eruption began with misleading data on the volume of the flow it is reasonable to conclude the actual amount of pollutants flowing from the undersea Methane Hydrate/Oil volcano is far greater than they are prepared to divulge. Even with the “strategically” minimized numbers they have presented as “facts” we are seeing the worst man made ecological disaster in the history of Humanity which will have an unfathomable negative impact on the entire world for many years to come.

BENZENE

Health Concerns in connection with Benzene

a) Benzene is present in varying concentrations in some crude oils and the MSDS shall be consulted each time before cargo handling.

b) Benzene gas has poor warning qualities, as its odour threshold is well above the TLV-TWA limits. Exposure to concentrations in excess of 1000 ppm can lead to unconsciousness and death. Benzene can also be absorbed through the skin and becomes toxic when ingested.

c) If there is evidence that dissolved benzene is present in the liquid cargo in quantities of 0.5% by volume or more, respiratory protection is required when conducting tank de-mucking or standing up wind from tanks containing benzene are being vented;

TLV (Threshold Limit Value) TWA (Time Weighted Average)

The airborne concentration of a Toxic substance averaged over an 8 hours Period, usually expressed in parts per million (ppm)

TLV – STEL (Short Term Exposure Limit)

The airborne concentration of a Toxic substance averaged over any 15 minute period, usually expressed in parts per million (ppm)

Gas IACS RECOMMENDATION Limit 8 Hour work shift (ppm) (STEL) Limit 15 min working (ppm) Benzene (C6H6) 1 5 Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) 5 20 Carbon Dioxide (CO2) 5 30 Carbon Monoxide (CO) 25 50 Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) 1 3 Nitrogen Monoxide (NO) 25 50 Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) 2 5

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