Newly Discovered Bacteria Could Aid Oil Cleanup

suraj.sun passes along news from Oregon State University, where researchers have discovered a new strain of bacteria that may be able to aid cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. The bacteria "can produce non-toxic, comparatively inexpensive 'rhamnolipids,' and effectively help degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs — environmental pollutants that are one of the most harmful aspects of oil spills. Because of its unique characteristics, this new bacterial strain could be of considerable value in the long-term cleanup of the massive Gulf Coast oil spill, scientists say." In related news, Kevin Costner's centrifugal separator technology has gotten approval for deployment; now it is only waiting on funding from BP.

Re:This mess is just too much

[commodore64_love]

>>>OPEC decides how much we should pay and supplies that much

OPEC only generates 30% of the world's supply. So no OPEC doesn't "decide" the price, because they are just one piece of the market. If they charge too much, we have other cheaper options like Russia, Canada, and so on. It's equivalent to if Microsoft turned stupid & started charging $100 for Internet Explorer - people would simply jump ship to a cheaper browser.

Good for Costner

[blind biker]

I don't know of any person in the world that has put his/her money so consistently where their mouth is. Costner has spent most of his fortune in developing various environmentally friendly technologies, such as super-fast flywheel energy storage. Honestly, I thought such a altruistic business proposal could never succeed in the world we live in. Maybe I wasn't 100% right.

Re:This mess is just too much

[Anonymous Coward]

I do and I'm not a whack job. Been living here right on the water in Navarre all my life (46years). I have gone through more hurricanes than I can remember and will go through many more. I have 4 acres and lost 150+ trees from one storm alone. You would be amazed how well nature recovers and I have lots of new trees. The man-made stuff is insured so that's easily replaced.
This spill is not a natural problem and will seriously impact the ecological balance of the gulf. I'm right on the intercoastal waterway that runs between P-Cola Bay and Choctawhatchee Bay. It's a major spawning area for redfish, grouper, trout and many other species. Not only will people making a living on these fish suffer but so will the wildlife that feed on them such as pelicans, hawks, herons and other fish. This is a fight to save an ecological balance nature created but man is disrupting.

Also note the use of dispersant is even worse than the oil itself. Yes allowing the oil to reach the surface will kill hundreds of mammals but when the oil stays suspended it also kills the most basic life forms that are the start of the food chain, planktons and larvae . Their argument that these lowest forms can bounce back faster is backwards thinking. It still disrupts the food chain and the mammals will still die, but from starvation instead.

Surface oil will also turn into a tar ball. Tar balls become inert fairly quick (5-10 years) and studies have found creatures inhabiting old tar balls from previous spills

Same Crude Material

[phexx]

As people have already pointed out, introducing a single bacteria in the mass quantity that it would take to actually facilitate improvement would probably end up changing the the entire makeup of the gulf. It could have far reaching effects that we couldn't even predict. To a degree, the sad reality of this situation is that with our limited technology, we are going to have to roll up our sleeves and do this by hand as there is no quick fix. BP is using dispersant chemicals only to avoid pictures of sea animals dying of suffocation, but truth be told this area of the gulf is already decimated. I say this all with a heavy heart because it is in my own backyard. Oh and two interesting points. I highly recommend people read Zodiac, by Neal Stephenson, which covers a good deal about this kind of tactic without adequately predicting the outcome in a fictional but well researched context. Also, make note that these oil consuming bugs have been around for quite some time. The first stable version came around in the 70's. In practice, I've understood them to not really be that effective.

Re:This mess is just too much

[commodore64_love]

There's nothing complicated about learning to fly a jumbo jet and then fly it into a building (times three). That was Osama Bin Laden's plan, and a lot simpler explanation then to believe thousands of demolition engineers wired the buildings with TNT, rented some planes, flew them into buildings, set off the explosives, and nobody saw them do it..... or none of them felt guilty about what they did, and talked.

Only a complete nutter would believe the latter explanation to be true
.