Scientists Fault Response of Government to Oil Spill in Gulf [View All]

Source: New York Times

Tensions between the Obama administration and the scientific community over the gulf oil spill are escalating, with prominent oceanographers accusing the government of failing to conduct an adequate scientific analysis of the damage and of allowing BP to obscure the spill’s true scope.

Go to Blog The scientists assert that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies have been slow to organize necessary scientific expeditions, especially to get a better handle on problems that may be occurring from large plumes of oil droplets that appear to be spreading beneath the ocean surface.

They point out that in the month since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, the government has failed to make public a single test result on water from the deep ocean. And the scientists say the administration has been too reluctant to demand an accurate test of how many gallons of oil are flowing into the sea from the gushing oil well. “It seems baffling that we don’t know how much oil is being spilled,” Sylvia Earle, a famed oceanographer, said Wednesday on Capitol Hill. “It seems baffling that we don’t know where the oil is in the water column.”

The administration acknowledges that its scientific resources are stretched thin by the disaster, but contends that it is moving to get better information, including a more complete picture of the underwater plumes.

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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/science/earth/20noaa.html