“Conditions in the Gulf of Mexico Four Months After the Greatest Environmental Disaster in US History”
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New Legacy Series – Re-Mastered Radio Streaming Broadcast: April 20, 2014 (Original Broadcast September 1, 2010)
Scott Porter Investigative Biologist & Michael Boatright
“Conditions in the Gulf of Mexico four months after the greatest environmental disaster in US history”
Scott Porter is a staff scientist at LUMCON and has over 21 years experience as an investigative biologist with an environmental survey company – EcoLogic Environmental. His began as an oil field consultant whose zone of study includes the coastal Gulf States with a concentration in the Louisiana’s estuaries and petroleum platforms. Through his services as an independent survey biologist specializing in biological resource analysis, the P I has collected over 5,000 biological reef samples and has over 3,000 scuba dives from 1988-2009. Mr. Porter holds a degree in Marine Biology. He has discovered new species on the platform that have yet to be documented in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean.
Michael Boatright was owner of a large EMS service called “Priority” and in business many years. He has been involved in emergency management and subsequently trained people for the federal government at the national training institute in Anniston, Alabama. The organization was training on integrated emergency management methods for large scale disasters, primarily in the chemical and biological areas. Since selling the company he has become involved with Marine Gardens, an aquaculture company working in the area of re-circulating aquaculture. In this arena the Gulf of Mexico is relied upon and at a time of such trauma has led to difficulties in this current pursuit. He has also been volunteering much time with Eco-Rigs an environmentally friendly firm collecting scientific data on ocean life. His life in and around the Gulf of Mexico is reflected in this program that provides visibility to the aftermath of the worst man-made disaster in US history.
“The Gulf of Mexico Disaster” – The Deep Water Horizon MACADO 252 Disaster
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill or the Macondo blowout) is a massive ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, now considered the largest offshore spill in U.S. history.Some estimates placed it by late May or early June as among the largest oil spills in the world with tens of millions of gallons spilled to date. The spill stems from a sea floor 10,000 foot deep oil gusher (MC252) that followed the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion. The explosion killed 11 platform workers and injured 17 others. The gusher, now estimated by the quasi-official Flow Rate Technical Group to be flowing at 20,000 to 40,000 barrels (840,000 to 1,700,000 US gallons; 3,200,000 to 6,400,000 litres) of crude oil per day, originates from a deepwater wellhead 5,000 feet (1,500 m) below the ocean surface. The exact spill flow rate is uncertain in part because BP has refused to allow independent scientists to perform accurate measurements and is a matter of ongoing debate. The resulting oil slick covers a surface area of at least 2,500 square miles (6,500 km2), with the exact size and location of the slick fluctuating from day to day depending on weather conditions.
Scientists have also reported immense underwater plumes of oil not visible at the surface. Experts fear that the spill will result in an environmental disaster, with extensive impact already on marine and wildlife habitats. The spill has also damaged the Gulf of Mexico fishing and tourism industries. There have been a variety of ongoing efforts to stem the flow of oil at the wellhead. Crews have been working to protect hundreds of miles of beaches, wetlands and estuaries along the northern Gulf coast, using skimmer ships, floating containment booms, anchored barriers, and sand-filled barricades along shorelines. The U.S. Government has named BP as the responsible party in the incident, and officials have said the company will be held accountable for all cleanup costs resulting from the oil spill.
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