Remember that major discovery from University of Georgia researcher Samantha Joye, who last month reported a layer of oil on the sea floor? Well, NOAA – the letters stand for “No Oil Around Anymore” – are saying this week that they can’t find any such thing.
Interestingly enough, the government agency says the ocean floor around BP’s Macondo well is not “visibly” oiled. We’ve learned to watch out for those qualifying terms that leave the impression that the oil is “gone” without actually making a definitive statement. The best example is when NOAA categorized “dispersed” oil as gone in that now-disgraced announcement that the “vast majority” of oil had simply disappeared from the Gulf.
Once again, the government researchers come up with a finding that will no doubt prove very helpful when BP finds itself in court trying to confuse the issue of how much of its oil remains in the environment.
Honestly, the only sources I’ve heard about who can’t find oil virtually all over the Gulf are government researchers.
You can find an AP report on the effort here: http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/article/noaa-says-sediment-on-gulf-floor-not-visibly-oiled/994300/Sep-30-2010_4-30-pm/
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