Photographer dives into Gulf - sees only oil
BY RICH MATTHEWS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO
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Photographer Rich Matthew dives into the Gulf of Mexico and sees only oil.
I jump off the boat into the thickest, reddest patch of oil I've ever seen. I open my eyes and realise my mask is already smeared. I can't see anything and we're just five seconds into the dive.
Dropping beneath the surface with an oxygen tank some 64km out into the Gulf Of Mexico, the only thing I see is oil.
To the left, right, up and down - it sits on top of the water in giant pools and hangs suspended 4.5m beneath the surface in softball-size blobs. There is nothing alive under the slick, although I see a dead jellyfish and handful of small bait fish.
I'm alone because the other divers with me wouldn't get in the water without Hazmat suits on, and with my mask oiled over and the water already dark, I don't dive deep.
It's quiet, and to be honest scary, with extremely low visibility. I spend just 10 minutes swimming around taking pictures, taking video. I want people to see the spill in a new way, a way they haven't yet.
I also want to get out of the water. Badly.
I make my way to the back of the boat unaware of just how covered I am. To be honest, I probably look a little like one of those poor pelicans we've all been seeing for days now.
The oil is thick and sticky, almost like a cake batter. It does not wipe off. You have to scrape it off, in layers, until you finally get close to the skin. Then you pour on some Dawn dishwashing soap and scrub.
I think to myself: No fish, no bird, no turtle would ever be able to clean this off itself. If any animal were to end up in this same puddle, there is almost no way it could escape.
The cleaning process goes on for half an hour before the captain will even think about letting me back in the boat. I'm clean, so I stand up.
But the bottoms of my feet still had oil, and I fall back in the water. The process starts again.
Another 30 minutes of cleaning, and finally I'm ready to step into the boat.
- AP
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to stop the leak I have two words air bags.
JohnR #35 - what on earth makes you think that regulations "forced" BP to drill in the gulf??
Deep drilling for oil is occuring because that is where the oil that is left is - other than the massive reserves in places like the Mid East and maybe Siberia.
It's not regulations that "forces" BP to drill in the gulf - it is our greed for oil inall it's shapes and forms.
Regulation used to _prevent_ deep drilling in the gulf - it is only recently that it has been allowed, and regulations requiring various safety measures weer loosened.
perhaps we should all start breeding big dogs to ride on, or small horses that emit 'biodegradable pollution' instead of relying on this evil from the dwelling of the devil. humanity is so smart, eh? truly self aware and so full of themselves they cannot see the end result of this 'life enhancing fluid from below'. ikt wasn't so bad when the planet only had 10 or 200 million people, but now 6 billion of us all want the same stuff
BP and other oil companies are drilling in deepwater because there is no 'easy oil' left, this is why the price per barrel has risen significantly in recent decades. Unless you buoycott petrol altogether this won't make the slightest bit of difference - most oil companies don't actually own petrol stations anymore as there is no money to be made at the pump, and you could very well be purchasing petrol that was initially extracted by BP at a Shell or Caltex station, and vice versa.
John R - 1. The Nixon government stopped drilling in the Gulf as part of a clean environment policy after a large spill.Yes, the same corrupt officials that brought us the watergate scandal. 2. Brazil has tighter quality controls on its oil wells than the US. 3. The Regan administration got rid of the Gulf policy, and we now have the largest enironmental oil disaster ever. The slick would cover over half the north island. So loosening of controls is NOT what is needed, rather lessons learnt would be better.
I'm amazed at the ignorance expressed in an astounding number of these comments (Particularly 'awwwwww's). It is people that say things such as "Sounds like a witch-hunt developing to me, with BP the witch. Hope it doesn't target all oil companies," that are involved in the advocating and destruction of the planet that they take from and give nothing back. I can guarantee you'll be rushing to ride a push bike when the end is near and complain about the state of the world and how it was all the oil companies’ fault, like people that don't vote and then whinge about the sate of politics. Great comment Mike. Start doing and stop whinging people.
All the crying and wailing by consumers will not have avoided this accident or those like it in future. Oil consumption is up, resources are better utilised therefore supply is meeting demand and YOU (yes, YOU) all want MORE. That means a "more" as in consumer goods, cheaper fuel, cheaper so-call 'green-vehicles' whose production process costs more in resources that any fuel consumption or output savings they would have made in their life-time. However, from this we 'progress' forward. If people knew more about the off-shore industry and the stringent safety regimes, they would be a little less vocal I think ... and that includes "kick-ass" Obama, who would see that timely mitigation and response is just as important and the responsibility of all of YOU as consumers and exploiters alike!
John R, i think you are a little confused, it is the rampant removal of regulations over the last fifteen years which has created the environment in which they are choosing to drill. These are locations and depths which are known to be unsuitable for safe oil extraction. They drill in an industrially hazardous but economically successful manner, at a depth beyond their licence and with equipment not suited to the purpose. I do hope you spend some time, away from newspapers, reading up on the subject so you might understand how and why one of the world's principal links of the food chain has been exterminated
Face it. If you want to drive a car, heat your home, cook food or do just about anything on this more-or-less green earth you rely on oil and must accept the consequences of extracting it from the sea/ground. Unless you are someone who, say, eats meat but could not possibly contemplate witnessing an animal being slaughtered for food. A person who is happy to consume but does not care for the harsh reality of the source of the product or the impact production has on our planet.
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Although I wholeheartedly agree that this is a great environmental and economic disaster, the author got it somewhat wrong. Even without any oil, you are unlikely to see much life 64 km out in the ocean - this area, the pelagic zone, is sometime referred to as a "wet desert".