A recent study shows that microbes in the Gulf of Mexico are eating away the crude oil left by the BP oil spill. The hydrophobic oil filling the waters and damaging marine life is slowly being dissipated by the hungry bacteria.
“This is a natural process,” said Van Yogdburg at California’s Riverside Laboratory, “The bacteria do in fact help, but they’re going to need more help.”
A government survey taken earlier this month estimated that 75% of the oil spilled has been skimmed, evaporated, or burned in a safe manner.
“We could have an excess of this bacteria,” calculated Dr. Franco L. Muronovich a Marine Biologist at the Lab, “but they should be perfectly harmless given their environment and the amount of oil in the water.”
Hard evidence from California’s Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory confirms this study; that these microbes are in fact degrading the oil in the Gulf.
There is still much work to be done in the Gulf, but BP can use all the help they can get.
No comments:
Post a Comment