Bill Nelson Warns Of The Invisible Spill
As terrible as the vision of thick oil washing ashore from the wreckage of the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig has become, Florida’s U.S. Senator Bill Nelson has warned that there is yet more to fear. There is an invisible toxic threat as well, from hydrocarbons that dissolve from the oil spill, then disperse through the water, remaining toxic but invisible to the human eye. This sea water seems safe, but can be deadly. Senator Nelson explained,
“At a commerce hearing on May 18, Dr. French-Mckay, a Ph.D. in biological oceanography, testified that the lighter hydrocarbons in the oil–chemicals like benzene and toluene–would dissolve by the time the oil reaches Florida’s coral reefs. These hydrocarbons in solution might be just as toxic as they would be if they were still in the oil–but you won’t be able to see when they hit. Yesterday, the University of South Florida issued a press release about research they had done that confirmed that there are dissolved hydrocarbons northeast of the spill that you cannot see with the naked eye. The only way you will know the effects of the hydrocarbons on coral and on the entire food web is to know the baseline amounts of these dissolved chemicals present in the water before the spill hits.”
At noon this Friday, there will be a protest in Washington D.C. outside of the headquarters of BP, the oil company responsible for the drilling catastrophe at the Deepwater Horizon site. The address of the protest is 1101 New York Ave, NW.
Dear Senator Nelson,
Please hold BP totally responsible. Regarding OSRA which would increase BP’s financial responsibility to 17 billion, there should be NO cap. There is no cap on the amount of crude spewing into our once beautiful Gulf of Mexico. There is no cap on the destruction of wild life habitate. There is no cap on the destruction happening to the environment. Please make and keep BP totally and completely responsible.
We wish to thank you for your continuing efforts in the senate. Saving our state’s waters is priority #1 at this time. The catastrophy in the Gulf is truly of epic proporitions.
Ed and Karen Dugo