INSTITUTE INDEX: Oil and death after BP
Ten months after BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, scientists are still uncovering evidence of the disaster's long-term repercussions.
Number of aborted or stillborn baby dolphins that have washed ashore so far this week along Mississippi's coast: 4
Number of dead baby dolphins that have been found on beaches in Alabama and Mississippi since the beginning of the year: 24
Total number of dead adult and infant dolphins found in the area during that time: 30
Number of times the normal rate of stillborn and infant deaths that represents: 10
Percent of toxic pollutants that move from mother dolphins' fatty tissue into the milk they feed their first-borns, who consequently have a much higher mortality rate than successive generations: 80
Number of research expeditions to the Gulf taken by University of Georgia marine scientist Samantha Joye: 5
Number of core samples of the sea floor Joye and her colleagues took before concluding that much of the spilled oil remains: 250
Depth of oil on the Gulf floor as measured by Joye: 3.9 inches
According to Joye's research, the amount of hydrocarbon gases injected into the Gulf as a result of the BP disaster, which in turn could result in persistent oxygen depletion: 500,000 tons
That amount measured in equivalent barrels of oil: 1.5 million to 3 million
Proportion by which the gas discharges increase the accepted government estimates of total hydrocarbon discharges from the disaster: 1/3
Amount of time Joye says it may take before the oil spill's full effects on the Gulf are apparent: 10 years
Date on which the head of the agency in charge of the health of the Gulf said she thought that "most of the oil is gone": 2/19/2011
Date by which the BP spill compensation czar says the Gulf will be largely back to normal: 2012
(Click on figure to go to original source.)
Number of aborted or stillborn baby dolphins that have washed ashore so far this week along Mississippi's coast: 4Number of dead baby dolphins that have been found on beaches in Alabama and Mississippi since the beginning of the year: 24
Total number of dead adult and infant dolphins found in the area during that time: 30
Number of times the normal rate of stillborn and infant deaths that represents: 10
Percent of toxic pollutants that move from mother dolphins' fatty tissue into the milk they feed their first-borns, who consequently have a much higher mortality rate than successive generations: 80
Number of research expeditions to the Gulf taken by University of Georgia marine scientist Samantha Joye: 5
Number of core samples of the sea floor Joye and her colleagues took before concluding that much of the spilled oil remains: 250
Depth of oil on the Gulf floor as measured by Joye: 3.9 inches
According to Joye's research, the amount of hydrocarbon gases injected into the Gulf as a result of the BP disaster, which in turn could result in persistent oxygen depletion: 500,000 tons
That amount measured in equivalent barrels of oil: 1.5 million to 3 million
Proportion by which the gas discharges increase the accepted government estimates of total hydrocarbon discharges from the disaster: 1/3
Amount of time Joye says it may take before the oil spill's full effects on the Gulf are apparent: 10 years
Date on which the head of the agency in charge of the health of the Gulf said she thought that "most of the oil is gone": 2/19/2011
Date by which the BP spill compensation czar says the Gulf will be largely back to normal: 2012
(Click on figure to go to original source.)
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Chris Kromm
Chris Kromm is executive director of the Institute for Southern Studies and publisher of the Institute's online magazine, Facing South.