Stealth Oil

The old joke goes like this: The CEO of a defense contractor takes the US President to a military air base and says, "Mr. President, parked here on the tarmac is the new Stealth Bomber- price tag a mere $2B each".  POTUS replies, "but sir, I don't see any airplane!".  "Of course not, Mr. President that's because our stealth technology makes them very difficult to detect".  The leader of the free world replies, "That's fantastic!  I'll take 4 dozen."

2 WHOI scientists review recent US Gov't
grant to search for missing Gulf Of Mexico oil.

Fast forward to 2010, where the Associated Press reports that-- Major study charts long-lasting oil plume in Gulf.


Excepts and commentary (emphasis mine):

FOLKS THESE ARE QUOTES!  YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP!






"A 22-mile-long invisible mist of oil is meandering far below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, where it will probably loiter for months or more, scientists reported Thursday in the first conclusive evidence of an underwater plume from the BP spill."   "The most worrisome part is the slow pace at which the oil is breaking down in the cold, 40-degree water, making it a long-lasting but unseen threat to vulnerable marine life, experts said."  "Earlier this month, top federal officials declared the oil in the spill was mostly "gone," and it is gone in the sense you can't see it. "
Comment: Sounds like the Stealth Bomber story to me.

"Monty Graham, a scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama who was not involved in the study, said: "We absolutely should be concerned that this material is drifting around for who knows how long. They say months in the (research) paper, but more likely we'll be able to track this stuff for years." 
Comment: Poor Monty, he isn't shown in the above picture so didn't get in on the first government grant.  However, if he can glum on to the fact this is a persistent problem maybe he can get in on round 2 of the money.

"The scientists used complex instruments...to detect the chemical signature of the oil that spewed from the BP well after it ruptured April 20. The equipment was carried into the deep by submersible devices."   Comment: They used rare equipment that nobody can understand and conducted the experiments where no one could confirm they were doing anything.

* * * I THINK WE SHOULD GIVE THESE GUYS MORE MONEY * * *