Hill Heat: NOAA Director: Undersea Cloud of 'Highly Toxic' Oil in Gulf 'Is Undoubtedly Poisonous'Science Policy Legislation Actiontag:hillheat.com,2005:TypoTypo2010-07-11T22:05:36-04:00Wonk Roomurn:uuid:ba340352-edcc-496e-8427-8d51181f09942010-07-11T22:04:00-04:002010-07-11T22:05:36-04:00NOAA Director: Undersea Cloud of 'Highly Toxic' Oil in Gulf 'Is Undoubtedly Poisonous'<p><i>From the <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/07/09/lubchenco-undoubtedly-poisonous/">Wonk Room</a>.</i></p>
<p>The undersea cloud of “highly toxic” oil emanating from BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster “is undoubtedly poisonous,” according to President Obama’s federal oceans chief. Marine scientist Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) director, described the <a href="http://www.aifestival.org/audio-video-library.php?menu=3&title=588&action=full_info">threat posed by the “hidden” plumes of oil</a> and dispersants diffusing into the Gulf of Mexico to its valuable ecosystem at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Tuesday. She told interviewer Andrea Mitchell that <span class="caps">NOAA</span> and <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/06/02/lubchenco-doubts-plumes/">independent scientists</a> have identified “not a lake of black ooze” but a “cloud of very fine droplets spread over an area in the general vicinity of the well,” a <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/05/04/oilpocalypse-spawning-ground/">prime spawning ground for bluefin tuna</a>. This oil cloud “is undoubtedly poisonous” to the marine life in the Gulf:</p>
<blockquote><strong>As that oil, which is highly toxic, comes into contact with small larvae, with eggs, fish for example, or other creatures, it is undoubtedly poisonous to them</strong>.</blockquote>
<p>Watch it:</p>
<center><object width="432" height="260"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FKuePrnoMjE&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FKuePrnoMjE&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="432" height="260"></embed></object></center>
<p>“This truly is an environmental disaster but more a human tragedy,” Lubchenco said in her opening remarks. “Its impact is likely to be considerable,” she said of the oil hidden undersea, “but <a href="http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/141360">we don’t yet know what it will be</a>.”</p><p><i>From the <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/07/09/lubchenco-undoubtedly-poisonous/">Wonk Room</a>.</i></p>
<p>The undersea cloud of “highly toxic” oil emanating from BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster “is undoubtedly poisonous,” according to President Obama’s federal oceans chief. Marine scientist Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) director, described the <a href="http://www.aifestival.org/audio-video-library.php?menu=3&title=588&action=full_info">threat posed by the “hidden” plumes of oil</a> and dispersants diffusing into the Gulf of Mexico to its valuable ecosystem at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Tuesday. She told interviewer Andrea Mitchell that <span class="caps">NOAA</span> and <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/06/02/lubchenco-doubts-plumes/">independent scientists</a> have identified “not a lake of black ooze” but a “cloud of very fine droplets spread over an area in the general vicinity of the well,” a <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/05/04/oilpocalypse-spawning-ground/">prime spawning ground for bluefin tuna</a>. This oil cloud “is undoubtedly poisonous” to the marine life in the Gulf:</p>
<blockquote><strong>As that oil, which is highly toxic, comes into contact with small larvae, with eggs, fish for example, or other creatures, it is undoubtedly poisonous to them</strong>.</blockquote>
<p>Watch it:</p>
<center><object width="432" height="260"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FKuePrnoMjE&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FKuePrnoMjE&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="432" height="260"></embed></object></center>
<p>“This truly is an environmental disaster but more a human tragedy,” Lubchenco said in her opening remarks. “Its impact is likely to be considerable,” she said of the oil hidden undersea, “but <a href="http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/141360">we don’t yet know what it will be</a>.”</p>