Layer of oil and death
Scientists have confirmed what many suspected– a layer of oil and death at the bottom of the ocean courtesy of BP. As reported by BBC News this morning,
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill “devastated” life on and near the seafloor, a marine scientist has said. Studies using a submersible found a layer, as much as 10cm thick in places, of dead animals and oil, said Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia . . . Organisms on the seafloor stimulate the activity of micro-organisms and oxygenate the sediments, two tasks at the bottom of the aquatic food chain that will inevitably have longer-term effects on species nearer the surface – including the ones we eat.
These findings come as no surprise to Public Citizen. We were engaged in the battle against offshore before the spill and we continue to use every means possible to push for better regulation and smarter energy policies. Currently, we are engaged in a campaign to demand Congress take action on the Jan 11 recommendations of the oil spill commission. Please join our efforts and urge you representatives to do their part to ensure that the work of the commission was not done in vain.