VOA NEWS– The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirms that some of the oil escaping from that ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico is staying beneath the surface, raising new environmental concerns about the disaster. BP says there is no significant oil staying underwater.
Scuba divers showed U.S. legislators video of the spill which they shot
while 20 meters under the sea and 64 kilometers off the U.S. Gulf coast.
The oil is so thick below this depth that it blocks out almost all light.
“Something I’ve never seen in diving, in my whole life out here,”
said diver Al Walker.
Fellow diver Scott Porter says the substance feels like a mixture of clay and
wax. He had to scrape it off his hands. Soap had no effect. “I
don’t know of anything that would be able to live through that,” Porter
said.
Yet on Wednesday, BP continued to deny any large amount of oil under the
surface.
“No one has yet found any concentrations that measured higher than the
parts per million,” said BP’s Doug Suttles.
Meantime, Congress conducted five oil spill hearings on Capitol Hill
Wednesday. Legislators want to know why risks weren’t studied when oil
rigs drill 5,000 feet below the water.
“I’m just terribly bothered about the lack of foresight, both by our government and of BP and, of course, BP will pay a price for that,” said Congressman Vernon Ehlers. “Perhaps even a failure of the corporation at the rate it’s going.”
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