Industries at Odds: Fishing vs Oil & Agriculture

Understanding Big Oil in the Gulf of Mexico

The oil industry has been the foundation of Gulf of Mexico’s economy for the last century. Spanning the Yucatan peninsula in to the tip of Florida, the Gulf of Mexico covers 11 states from US and Mexico. This vast area is rich in mineral reserves generated from the remains from millennia of fauna and flora from eons passed. This base of ancient organic matter has been compressed and transformed through geologic and even earth shattering asteroid impact forces, yielding one of the richest oilfields in the Americas. Currently the Gulf oil reserves fuel a $150 Billion a year industry, with hundreds of thousands of jobs directly and millions indirectly relying on its existence. The forces which generated the natural resource bounty also created an expansive, yet delicate ecosystem. Onethat is unique with habitats protected from currents and a seabed perforated with fresh water sources that support one of the most diverse habitats of life on the planet. Images of a complex rig towering like a behemoth over the littoral reefs of the gulf teeming with birds, fish and mammals is a bizarre contrast yet frequent scene in the Gulf. It’s this paradox that frequently creates a disharmony between man’s thirst for fuel, and our respect for nature at its wildest.

Top 5 Threats Facing the Gulf Coast Fisheries

#1 Fertilizer runoff creates massive hypoxia dead zones affecting up to 5% of the gulf waters.Oil exploration releases undersea trapped methane, further adding to hypoxia zones and the risk for catastrophic events even worse than Deepwater Horizon incident.

#2 Barrier island erosion eliminating natural protection of wetlands and exposing their water to currents.

#3 Wetland marsh erosion, eliminating natural flood buffers further threatening costal cities.

#4 The 40,000 Oil wells each cover up to .5 mile radius of the seabed with a suffocating debris when operating.

#5 Increased Gulf water temperatures, compounded by industrial and societal activities, a major trigger for world-wide climate change.

Mega-ton methane "bomb" lurks under the Gulf seabed?

Yet asynchronous risk facing the Gulf Coast

Last month an unnamed oceanographic researcher submitted a report recognized risk management firm that appears to provide risk assessments for Lloyds of London on BP’s ventures. The report published on July 3 2010, outlines the possibility of for tidal waves resulting from blowouts at deepwater drilling operation in the Gulf of Mexico. Apparently there are methane deposits trapped in the limestone bedrock, that may release if fractured. The displacement from collapse may be great enough to trigger a tsunami.

Limestone is made from organic material, composed predominately of the carcasses of plankton and other sea life. Therefore the odds of hitting a methane bubble are higher when exploring for Oil because oil hydrocarbons are also organic in origin. The problem in the Gulf of Mexico, is that geologists believe there exists a monumental cavern in the bedrock that if penetrated would explode with astounding force, collapsing miles of seabed shelf. A force so large that would sink the rigs above it put the shoreline at peril. perhaps the largest The risk assessment concludes that possibility of a tidal wave initiated from deepwater drilling in the Gulf is a classified as a “low probability, high impact threat”. It’s also noteworthy to recognize the controversial report was released just after Mi2G received official royal recognition with the Queen's Award for Enterprise Innovation in digital risk its efforts, a the height of visibility to generate maximum impact with the publication. Details on the Mi2G report here: http://cdiver.net/news/gulf-oil-gusher-danger-of-tsunamis-from-methane/

Scientists also have been monitoring the abnormally high methane released with the Deepwater Horizon blowout. Its pressurized methane that exploded and tore apart the rig, and was the principal gas being released along with the oil leak. This methane release is s significant, it may be the single largest release in mans recorded history, further testing theories of global warming impact. Fisherman and oceanographers are concerned that this methane will contribute to the expansion the already gigantic hypoxia dead zones that separately generated by man from plankton blooms resulting from agriculture nitrogen fertilizer run-off. More on the threats plaguing the Gulf at http:www.defend-gulf.com.