Oil spill impact: Signs looking good?

Some of the researchers most familiar with the northern Gulf of Mexico say the ocean looks like it should as fall begins, but they agree it could be years before any losses related to this summer's Deepwater Horizon oil spill become apparent. "Working from the grand caveat that most of the information we have is anecdotal and suggestive," said Monty Graham, a biologist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, "it does not appear that there are large pools of oil running around on the bottom, wreaking havoc." (Source: Mobile Press Register, 10/03/10) Earlier last week, a NOAA scientist said more than 30,000 samples taken in the Gulf of Mexico show the Gulf is recovering from the spill. Janet Baran, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist who is co-leading the subsurface oil monitoring program, said samples taken in about 10,000 locations in shallow to deep water, as well as the ocean floor, show no visible signs of oil. Oil content of the samples is now being described as being in parts per billion rather than million, representing a thousand-fold decrease in the amount of oil in the water, she said. (Source: Mississippi Press, 09/30/10)