Oil? What Oil?
Brit Hume on Fox News Sunday may have gotten into some trouble over the BP accident. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen mention of the ocean’s natural ability to deal with oil seepage. I saw a report a little over a week ago on FNC about the ocean’s ability to absorb oil and perhaps that was what Hume was basing his commentary on. But that report and anchor Greg Jarrett’s lead in, drew a bit more of a distinction between natural oil seepage spread out throughout the world (I even saw some of this seepage in Palau via a methane leak in a couple of reefs I was diving) and a concentrated mass rupture like what’s happening with the BP spill which overwhelms the ocean’s ability to deal with it easily. I nearly wrote up a blog entry on this last week after that report aired but decided to give it a pass since it was really talking about a different phenomenon. But Hume’s comments yesterday were a different matter… (via Jason Linkins at the Huffington Post)
May 17, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Well, it could have been worse. He could have suggested that all the marine life convert to Christianity to increase their chance of survival.
May 17, 2010 at 5:58 pm
I saw Hume’s comment when it aired and, while I don’t believe he’s completely wrong, it still troubled me and especially so in the way he said it. Oil tankers probably are a greater risk than are offshore wells, and his assertion that the deep sea wells are at greater risk of spilling than are the ones in shallower waters nearer the shore does make sense. But it also makes sense to assume that nearer shore wells would likely contaminate the shoreline faster if they do spill.
The ocean will absorb and cleanse, and it can handle far more than humans are capable of spewing out; That part is fact. But it does so on a grand time scale that is of little use to the fishermen and others who rely on the coastal region for their livelihood. Coral reefs that die due to the lower oxygen resulting from the spill will eventually replenish themselves. Perhaps they’ll be thriving again for our grandkids’ kids to enjoy.
Hume is correct to say that this may not be the huge catastrophe some are saying it is. Let’s hope that is the case. But it could also turn out to be far worse than anyone now thinks.
May 17, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Hume crossed the line when he shrugged off Wallice’s point that scientists are saying that a lot of the oil is on the ocean floor – just a case when pundits are discussing something that is out of their league (reminds me of the Teri Schiavo days when every pundit was acting like a seasoned neurologist).
Nice little straw-man zinger by Juan Williams at the end.
May 17, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Semi-retirement is doing that guy no good at all. “Working” Brit Hume never would have said something so ignorant. Based on the overall size of the ocean, a little oil’s no big deal, eh Brit?
May 17, 2010 at 6:51 pm
He could have suggested that all the marine life convert to Christianity to increase their chance of survival.
The Force is strong with this one..
May 17, 2010 at 6:58 pm
That was a great piece on the worlds ability to absorb around (what was it..) 2 million barrels a year (and that’s just in the gulf of Mexico region). Once again, this isn’t the whole world but just the Gulf Of Mexico region and 2 million a year!!
The Earth does have an amazing ability to heal itself.
Thank goodness that FNC has the guts to tell the truth in these cases.
Lets look at some others:
FNC about the only network to report the truth on the global warming scandal. One network that didn’t march in lockstep with the others who repeated Al Gore’s lies and “scientific consensus” which was a fraud.
Oh lets not forget all the left wingers and the apologetic statements in regards to the Chernobyl disaster. But on the 20 year anniversary the World Health Organization released a report and fewer than 50 deaths directly attributable to the disaster and almost all of those were rescue workers sent in to seal the building in a concrete tomb.
Lets not forget all the above ground nuclear testing and sea based testing. 60 years ago they were having a field day blowing **** up. I’ve yet to see a Godzilla or anything else.
Lets not forget it was the Russians who suggested a low yield nuke to stop the leak. It had worked for them in the past. People gasped in the US media. What’s the big deal?
Hats off to Hume!
May 17, 2010 at 7:10 pm
The big deal, Star, is right-wingers like you that presume all threats to the environment to be overheated pablum designed to harm your fantasy of a world with maximum profit and complete disregard for anything that stands in its way. The conservative right tends to consider itself a Christian movement. I don’t think your God would be very impressed with your attitude towards His creation.
May 17, 2010 at 7:32 pm
Lets not forget all the above ground nuclear testing and sea based testing. 60 years ago they were having a field day blowing **** up. I’ve yet to see a Godzilla or anything else.
You were doing pretty good right up until this loony non-point. The citizens of Bikini Atoll still can’t return to their home though the US tried to bring them back in 70s stating things were safe only to remove them again in 1978 when dangerous levels of Stronium-90 were found in their bodies. And you can’t dive the reefs either. Just because no mutations have come out – which itself is a strawman because radiological mutations of the animal kind tend to deform and die rather than live long happy lives – doesn’t mean the place is safe for tourists.
May 17, 2010 at 7:39 pm
There is video evidence of radiological shark mutations near Bikini Atoll – altered fins and such. I can’t prove this as there’s no evidence that I am aware of, but many other typical radiological mutations likey became food for the bottom dwellers and have since died out.
May 17, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Thou shalt not talk against the Humester!
May 17, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Mr. Hume poorly reinforced his initial and correct argument that an adult conversation about the oil spill and how to proceed afterward is what is truly needed.
May 17, 2010 at 7:50 pm
And here is an excellent piece on Bikini ready for resettlement:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/is-the-bikini-atoll-ready-for-resettlement.php
and of course there was a good piece from 60 Minutes (of all places) on how far back Chernobyl. Even they were surprised. I’m just surprised that piece wasn’t spiked.
As to Joe, no but I certainly know that people like Al Gore will lie to enrich themselves or environmental groups will lie to get more donations. And scientists have no problem lying because the easiest money comes from government research grants. But I do wish the spilled oil would have happened on Al Gores new $8 million Malibu cribs beach.
Of course had the environmentalists not stopped new nuclear facilities from being started in this country, we wouldn’t need as much oil as we do.
May 17, 2010 at 7:57 pm
What the hell does Al Gore have to do with you and Brit and that cheeesball from BP downplaying the effects of the Gulf gusher?
May 17, 2010 at 9:15 pm
Lowlife Albert on the oil spill
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/the-crisis-comes-ashore?page=0,0
Whats the matter joe..did U miss this on MSNBC??
May 17, 2010 at 9:45 pm
An article by Al Gore has no bearing on you or anybody else spinning the ridiculous notion that an environmental and economic disaster will be handled just fine by that big old ocean. “Nothing to see here..oh look, Al Gore!”
May 18, 2010 at 12:36 pm
joeremi Says:
May 17, 2010 at 9:45 pm
An article by Al Gore has no bearing on you or anybody else spinning the ridiculous notion that an environmental and economic disaster will be handled just fine by that big old ocean. “Nothing to see here..oh look, Al Gore!”
It is a political conundrum both parties take money from Big Oil – who shat the money bed this time out…..so they are going to fill the hole in and pour cement over it… out of sensitivity to the environmental impact that’s been caused by drilling…..if they were not drilling there in the first place there would not be an environmental impact on the Gulf of Mexico. So either people go with the odds – that this doesn’t happen all that often so worth the risk or not. Nobody is walking away from profit….
http://mobile.propublica.org/article/gulf-oil-spill-faq-what-happened-what-may-have-caused-it-and-whos-responsib
Currently, BP’s best hopes of stopping all flow include drilling a relief well and lowering a containment dome over the leak to capture the oil and funnel it to the surface. But results may not be immediate, since drilling the relief well will take 90 days at best, according to the Coast Guard.
3 Months until containment? That’s a lot of oil for the ocean to absorb.
May 18, 2010 at 3:20 pm
^Preach it, sister.
May 21, 2010 at 4:34 am
[...] Britt Hume on Fox News Channel expressed optimism Sunday that the spill may not be as bad as feared and that the ocean may be able to absorb much of [...]