Oil-eating microbes - seen this?

[farmmom]

I wonder if this has been tried. It *sounds* good.

YouTube

[7thswan]

Yes, I heard about this weeks back. Even someone called into a show, saying he has been trying to get ahold of someone(WH ,Coast Gaurd, BP everywhere) says it's a nightmare trying to contact someone. Says they use it in other countrys.

[Wolf mom]

There's lots of things and countries that'll help. Last I heard, it was 27 countries that offered to help us.

Due to environmental & maritime regulations that "O" won't suspend, we'll never be able to use them. Or like now, when it's too late.

Why do we always seem to be behind the 8 ball rather than proactive?

[Prismseed]

Sounds like a great solution, but the price tag is possibly in the way. Though I'm a little curious what the side effect of this bacteria will be, granted can't be much worse than the toxic dispersants they've used already.

[Nevada]

He's right, but he's not telling you the whole story.

There are a lot of microbes that are capable of eating crude oil. For example, our old friend E. Coli (found virtually everywhere) can eat heavy oil. The problem is that it takes a while. Think of it like making wine. Refineries think of oil processing rates in terms of throughput, not vintage.

Then you also have the problem of having the oil & microbes in a controlled environment so they can thrive well enough to eat enough oil to make a difference. That will require gathering and containing the oil in something that the bacterial process can take place in. As it is, if they can gather oil in one place they would rather torch it and move on, or at least gather it and transport it to a refinery.

In the end, microbes will play an important role in the final cleanup of this spill, since natural microbes in the ocean will remove the last traces of oil.

[Terri]

What nevada said: the microbes have been around for decades.

But, with the oil spewing out in thousands and thousands of barrels, no bacteria could work quickly enough, though it might be helpfull once the bulk of the oil has been cleared up.

[FourDeuce]

There was a sci-fi book written years ago about a big oil spill in San Francisco bay, and the government tried some oil-eating bacteria to help with the clean-up. It didn't go exactly as planned(as government operations sometimes do ), and the bacteria ended up being more of a problem than the original spill was.
That's one of the problems with tampering with nature. You don't always get the results you wanted.

[SteveD(TX)]

I think that there is some concern that by eating all that oil, the microbes will turn into THE BLOB. And that thing, my dear friends, will eat EVERYONE.

[7thswan]

Originally Posted by Wolf mom

There's lots of things and countries that'll help. Last I heard, it was 27 countries that offered to help us.

Due to environmental & maritime regulations that "O" won't suspend, we'll never be able to use them. Or like now, when it's too late.

Why do we always seem to be behind the 8 ball rather than proactive?

Yes, it's the Jones Act, and O refuses to suspend it. Might po his Union buddies. Bush suspended it in Katrenia.

[Danaus29]

Tried in Alaska, didn't work.

http://www.genengnews.com/analysis-a...ster/77899329/

Still years away from refinement, even if it did work there would still be oil under the shore rocks for decades.

[Bearfootfarm]

Yes, it's the Jones Act, and O refuses to suspend it.

That has been repeated quite a bit, but it is NOT true.

The Jones Act does nothing to prevent those ships from coming to help

From the 2006 version:
Jones Act 46USC 101 et. Seq.
“55113. Use of foreign documented oil spill response vessels.
“§ 55113. Use of foreign documented oil spill response vessels “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an oil spill response vessel documented under the laws of a foreign country may operate in waters of the United States on an emergency and temporary basis, for the purpose of recovering, transporting,
and unloading in a United States port oil discharged as a result of an oil spill in or near those waters, if–
“(1) an adequate number and type of oil spill response vessels documented under the laws of the United States cannot be engaged to recover oil from an oil spill in or near those waters in a timely manner, as determined by the Federal On-Scene Coordinator for a discharge or threat of a discharge of oil; and
“(2) the foreign country has by its laws accorded to vessels of the United States the same privileges accorded to vessels of the foreign country under this section.

If anything, The Jones Act makes it perfectly fine for them to help

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/18/...es-act-waiver/

[Vette Eaterr]

We used a similar thing is a factory I worked at, we would have a hydraulic leak/spill, and clean it up and throw some "bugs" on it and it would eat it up it until the concrete looked new. The only draw back is the gas the "bugs" let off smelled like onions, very pungent.

[ladycat]

Originally Posted by SteveD(TX)

I think that there is some concern that by eating all that oil, the microbes will turn into THE BLOB. And that thing, my dear friends, will eat EVERYONE.