WEBVTT - How do you clean up an oil spill? 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:07.480 It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff you should know 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:16.560 from House Stuff Works dot Com? Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:20.200 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. Charles W. Chuck Bryant is 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:23.920 seated across from me, sorting through papers, taking a last 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:28.520 second look at the information. His sponge like brain is 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:34.519 absorbing like an an absorbent might soak up oil floating 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:37.400 on top of the Gulf of Mexico. Did you plan that? 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.120 I know I'm getting too good at this. I'm like 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.800 the Robert Yuruke of podcasting. I'm just an old probe 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:46.560 by now. I think it's like the third or fourth 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:48.600 time we've said Robert York in the show. Has it 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:54.800 ever been recorded before? What? Robert? Robert? Yeah? Okay, recorded 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:57.480 and release, my friend. This podcast is going to bum 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:01.360 people out, especially if you have any hardness for the environment. 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:09.720 Pelicans sand Trump trimpers. This is the local economy we've 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:12.560 been We probably should have done this weeks ago, but 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:14.680 we took our time getting around to it because Josh 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:18.800 was a being all Japanese so oil spills. It's high 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:21.759 time we tackled this it's high tide or oil spill 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:25.080 clean up? Brother? Yeah. Um, I actually wrote an article 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:27.120 about it. Back in two thousand and six there was 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:31.200 a spill in San Francisco Bay and UM our boss 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:33.319 was like, hey, go write something on this right now. 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.319 I was like, okay, So I wrote it and um 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:40.520 I was happy to see that pretty much nothing's changed 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:44.000 since the then in four years, the technology hasn't advanced, 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:47.920 and we're actually using some really primitive techniques. No kidding, 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:52.280 but check. Let's let's first start by talking about how 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:56.320 the Gulf um oil spill started in the first place, 0:01:56.440 --> 0:02:00.080 right the deep water horizon and oil rig in the 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:02.960 Gulf of Mexico. Yeah, this is claud Did they call 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:05.960 this a spill? I guess they're calling a spill, aren't they. Yeah. 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.919 I think anytime it's introduced to yeah, water, it's a spill, 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:11.720 because I generally even think it has to be water. 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:15.000 I think oil gets out of whatever containment system is 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:17.560 supposed to be holding it. It's a spill. So my 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:21.359 old Plymouth Valiant that I had in Los Angeles all 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:23.640 over my driveway, I'll bet I got charged for that 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:27.880 by my renter or by my ails. Always oil spots. 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:29.800 It's like ten bucks apiece. It's a wear and tear. 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.240 That's what I said. You know something cool I just 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:36.560 thought of too. When you google earth my house, you 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.080 could see my car, my driveway, my l a house, 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:44.639 and the oil spill. Can you really that's crazy? Anyway, 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.320 you can also google Earth the oil spill in the 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:49.640 gulf right now as far as I know, Yeah, all 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.239 those pictures that are coming out are just awful. Yeah. 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.160 We sent out UM you know, we have a Facebook page, 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:58.480 stuff you should Know page, and we posted and tweeted 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:01.240 on our Twitter account to UM a link to this 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:05.600 PBS blog that had a live feed video of the 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.840 oil under the Gulf of Mexico a mile down right. 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:10.880 Was the most depressing thing I've ever seen. It's just 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:15.640 shooting out plumes of oil and there's a really big discussion. Anyway, 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:18.960 the deepwater horizon exploded. The BP was capping a well 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:21.760 to come back and drill later because I wanted to 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:26.160 go start another drill or another well UM by March 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:28.720 and they were running behind. From what I understand, it's 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:31.320 starting to emerge that their May year have been something 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:35.119 of a rush job and capping this well. Some UM 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:39.280 gas built up in the in the well, it exploded 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:42.320 in this pipe that went from the rig to the well. 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:48.440 Cap UH killed eleven people, and UM sunk the rig, 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:51.480 burst the pipe in at least three places, and now 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:54.600 we have these plumes that are plumes of oil that 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.400 are being introduced into the Gulf of Mexico. At first 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.839 they thought it was what a thousand barrels a day? Right, Well, yeah, 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:04.200 thousand barrels a day. VPS numbers aren't quite lining up 0:04:04.240 --> 0:04:08.480 with the numbers from the experts. No, and the government said, well, 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:10.600 we're going to figure this ourselves, but we're going to 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:14.080 use a an equation that is specifically recommended to not 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:18.160 be used for calculating oil released underwater. Not recommended by 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:21.600 oil oil companies, are not recommended by experts. So they 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:25.440 came up with five thousand barrels a day. Some experts, 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:29.240 like some people who know UM, have said it's probably 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.440 about four or five times that. So what we're talking 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:35.080 about is as much as twenty five thousand barrels, and 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:38.839 there's forty two gallons in a barrel, twenty five thousand 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.279 barrels a day. If that's the case, then as of 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:47.680 this podcast, recording the Gulf oil spill, the BP golf 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:51.359 oil spill it's going on right now, has released the 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:56.320 amount the Exxon Valds dropped eight times over w Yeah, 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.560 well they just actually on seen in just released like 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:03.000 two hours ago. They they're officially calling it the worst 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:05.800 oil spill in US history, in US history, But it's 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:08.080 not the worst ever, is the Chuckers. No. I don't 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:11.080 know if you have different info, but um nine Persian 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:13.800 Gulf War, two hundred and forty million gallons off the 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.240 coast of Saudi Arabia, Is that what you got? Yeah? 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.200 And right now we've got about eighty eight million. If 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.279 it's twenty five thousand barrels a day, we've read about 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:26.440 eighty eight million. It's two hundred forty million barrels gallons, 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:30.200 forty million gallons. That's enormous. I don't think we'll ever 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:34.320 top that. Yeah, And the Valdez was eleven million gallons. Yeah. 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:37.440 And the second worst spill also took place in the 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:40.120 Gulf of Mexico, but it was off the coast of Mexico, 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:43.200 right right, And that one was I think like a 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:46.680 hundred and forty million gallons something like that. I think 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.400 so a hundred and forty million gallons. It was the 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:56.200 Ish talk one talk I know x in in uh 0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:00.360 Mexican dialect as tech maybe is wach What are you 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:04.880 talking about? Something like that like wahaka. You're right, yeah, yeah, 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:10.400 there's an accent there. So it's the talk one. Somebody 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:12.560 will let us know, won't they. That took place from 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:16.960 June of ninety February of ninety. It just kept going 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:19.520 and that was a hundred and forty million gallons. Right, 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:22.760 I got three more stats. If we're doing stats and 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:27.320 people are taking shots, every one hundred every year, one 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:32.400 hundred million US gallons of oil spill every year, yeah, 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:35.400 is what they say. There's there's stat number one. Um 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:39.000 the United States uses seven hundred and ten million gallons 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:45.000 of oil per day, and in fact, every twenty two minutes, Josh, 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:47.400 the US uses up what was spilled in the Exxon 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:50.159 Valdes spill every twenty two minutes. I know, isn't that weird? 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:53.919 It's weird, it's disturbing, but that also accounts for why 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:57.520 um oil spills are so massive. It's actually kind of 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:03.000 wondrous that more oil doesn't spill. Right. Apparently the um 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:06.880 U s Coast Guard reported that after the Exxon Valdi's accident, 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:09.560 there was a lot of like tightening and restrictions. It 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:12.520 was just such a very public accident, and it happened 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:15.720 in the US, so it mattered, you know. UM, So 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:18.080 all of a sudden, there's all this these restrictions on 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:22.080 UM tanker design, like you need to have double holes UM, 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:25.880 and then other regulations that that made restrictions tighter. And 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:30.200 I think UM spillage dropped by like fifty eight percent 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:34.560 between and two thousand four. Yeah. You know, Maddie Frederick 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.680 of coolest stuff on the planet. Have you ever seen 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:40.960 his Facebook stuff? No, he's just like you need a 0:07:40.960 --> 0:07:44.360 Facebook friendom. Personally, he's like the liberal crusader of all times. 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:46.640 It's like four times a day he sends out. I 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:50.880 bet you didn't know this. He came by the other 0:07:50.960 --> 0:07:54.120 day and told me about a basically every country in 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:58.120 the world that does off short drilling has this process 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:02.000 in place that UM, when there's a situation like just happened, 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:06.640 an implosion happens, is triggered immediately to implode and seal 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.760 everything up at the source. And he said, the US 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:14.400 is the only country that, huh, recently and like several 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.440 years ago, said oh, we don't need this because it 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:20.520 costs a lot of money. We're the only country that's great. 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:23.760 Pretty cool, Well, we're the only country with our minerals 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:29.800 Management Service, which apparently had has had a pretty cozy 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:33.800 relationship with energy companies, right, m yeah, if you think 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.640 about that, though, Chuck, this oil spilling the Gulf, coupled 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:40.840 with the mine explosion in West Virginia, like those two 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:46.000 accidents coming that close together can actually completely change energy 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:51.560 policy and it probably will be pretty interesting. Um. All right, 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:54.520 So Chuck, let's say that you had just gotten your 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:57.400 hair cut. I did. In fact, all right, let's say 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:00.199 you said, you know what, I want my hair to 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.120 go to matter of trust, because it's going to be used, 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.800 um to clean up this oil spill. Right. Remember, we 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:08.800 got a bunch of emails about this, like you guys 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:11.160 mentioned this's mentioned this that if you send your hair 0:09:11.240 --> 0:09:13.680 to the Gulf, like it will be used to clam 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:16.800 the oil spill. Uh is that hair being used? Now? 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:20.080 That was the initial idea, and hair can be used 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:24.040 in fact for smaller spill for smaller spills. But they say, uh, 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:26.000 I read in the New York Times today they said 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:30.240 that there is not deemed feasible after a technical evaluation. No. 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:33.280 BP's like, hey, um, that's a really good idea. But 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:39.559 we are actually going to use real sorbins, real stuff, right, um. 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:41.559 And like you said, hair can be used, it is 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:46.160 used on a much smaller scale. Um. But the people, 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:48.839 I guess who have really kind of started this initiative, 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:51.079 I think it's a matter of trust out of San Francisco. 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:54.600 They said, oh yeah, um, well you asked for it initially, 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:56.040 so we're gonna send it to you and it's up 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:57.320 to you to figure out what to do with it. 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.839 And all the hair is being sent to BP and 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:02.920 they're rolling it in a big hairball from San Francisco, 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:07.480 like the size of a car. Um. So, chuck, why 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.480 would you use hair or a better A better question 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:14.200 is how would you use hair to clean up oil? Well, 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:16.839 I guess hair would be a sorbent, right, I think so. 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:19.920 So basically, a sorbent is something that acts as a 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:23.320 giant sponge two. I mean, it's so primitive sounding, but 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:25.760 it literally just soaks up the oil from the water. 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:30.080 And it can do this because oil uh sits about 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:33.840 It forms a layer on top of water, especially saltwater, 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:37.400 about a millimeter thick, isn't that right? Sometimes a little more. 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:41.160 It depends, especially at first, Right, So it's thickest in 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:43.719 the first couple hours, which is when you really want 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:46.200 to get to it. Uh, if you get to it initially, 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:50.599 you can contain it by using these buoyant booms and 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:52.840 they float on the water and there's a skirt that 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:54.800 hangs down into the water and it basically keeps it 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:58.679 from spreading. So that's that's what you want to Yeah, 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:01.120 and then you come along with some skimmers that may 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:07.040 use um centripetal, which is not centrifugal. Centripetal force is 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:10.320 when you spin something and it's the force that pulls 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:15.280 you to the center. So because oil is is lighter 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.240 than water, it will be pulled more easily, or the 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:20.280 water will be pulled more easily one of the two. 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:23.560 But it separates them. You can also just scrape it 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:28.400 up and they also have a conveyor belt systems skimmers 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.760 where like you just basically like it just pulls the 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:34.320 oil up right off of the water. Yeah. You know 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:35.800 what I didn't find in any of this is if 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.120 they can because they soak up this oil and put 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:41.160 it in a containment tanker. Can they use this oil? Yes? 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:45.800 Really you knew this, I did. I actually ran across 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:50.080 it in research that there there. Yeah, they they when 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.400 you soak it up and you use like say hair 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.360 or some other kind of sorbent, and you can use 0:11:56.440 --> 0:12:01.880 natural stuff like um, uh, pine bark, yeah, banana fibers. Actually, 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:03.280 I don't know if they still use that, but that 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:05.120 was one for a while. Right, So there's there are 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:09.280 some naturally occurring materials that um will soak up oil 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:12.400 more than it soaks up water, right, Um, But you 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:15.360 can squeeze it out and there's your oil because really 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:17.560 nothing's happened to it hasn't had the chance to mix 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.480 with water yet, right. You just literally like they have 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.559 a dude that's got an oily rag and you just 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:26.000 squeeze it into a little containers as oil. So that's you. 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:30.040 That's your job. Um. You can also burn it, and 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:33.600 actually this is the most efficient means of taking care 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:35.760 of an oil slick. Yeah, because it sits on top. 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:38.000 You can burn it away. But that's clearly not a 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:40.120 very good thing to do because when you burn oil 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:43.360 creates some pretty noxious fumes for the environment. It does. 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:49.120 It's about umcent efficient though. Um. Again, you want to 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:52.440 do it away. It's called institute burning. You want to 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:56.040 do it when the slick is away from the shore. 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:00.720 The shore, yeah, from say coral colonies, that kind of stuff. 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:04.120 If it's just out in the deep ocean then and 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:07.320 it's it hasn't gotten to be a big problem to 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:11.240 where it has traveled towards civilization, then you can just 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:14.160 burn it, right. Yeah. The other weird thing I thought 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:16.280 that you pointed out not weird, but I found it 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:19.320 odd was sometimes if it's far enough out, they'll just 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:22.920 leave it alone and oil eventually will evaporate because the 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:25.440 sun and the waves and the weather, and they'll just say, 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:28.679 let the earth take care of it. Right. The wave action, 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:31.600 I can't remember what it's called when sunlight breaks something 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:35.480 a photodegradation maybe, um. But you remember when we did 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:38.720 the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Yeah, we were talking about 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:42.320 how like the wave action and the sun breaks down 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:45.440 plastic even in the little globules. The same thing happens 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:50.680 to um oil because plastic is petroleum based. Right. You 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:56.240 can also hasten the breakdown by adding microbes to it, right, yeah, 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:59.680 the biological agents. Yeah, yeah, that's when UM like a 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:02.640 fertile eyes or phosphorus and nitrogen. You'll spread it all 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.600 over it and it will actually foster the growth of 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:09.680 microorganisms and that will help break it down into fatty acids, 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.520 right UM C O two I think right, yes, yes, UM. 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:17.880 You can actually uh foster the growth of these microbes 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:22.960 by adding uh, what'd you say, phosphorus and nitrogen, right, 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:25.200 And when you when you do add these things that 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.280 there's a there's a danger of actually going out to 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:31.680 the open ocean and creating an algae bloom, which creates 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:34.600 a dead zone, which is not good. So you if 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:38.160 you're going to use UM phosphorus and nitrogen to hasten 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:41.040 the growth of UM microbes, you want to do it 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:45.640 in like a marshal. And that's outside of the title movement. Yeah. Well, 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:48.120 there's also dispersions. You probably heard this on the news. 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:52.760 A lot um with with a BP accident and UM 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:56.239 in tropical areas, they handle they handle it with dispersons, 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:59.120 and these are chemicals that break the oil down into 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:03.400 UM basically breaks oil slick apart into little oil droplets 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:07.400 which can be absorbed into the aquatic system quickly, right, 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:11.200 but this is not necessarily the best, now you know. Um, 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:15.000 it turns out in two seven, uh, and Israeli study 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:20.800 found that the combination of chemical dispersants and UM partially 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:25.640 broken down oil is actually more harmful to a coral 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:29.480 ecosystem than just crude oil itself. Yeah, and it actually 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:31.480 didn't an e p A get on BP and say 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:34.400 wait a minute, this disperson you're using, you can't use, 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:37.320 go find another one, like now, probably I could see that. 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:39.280 I think that happened. I think everybody's taking a shot 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:42.200 at BPS. Seriously, they're they're kind of gentle as a 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:46.040 lamb right now. But chuck that that study, that Israeli 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.640 study kind of reveals something that's easy to forget because 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:51.920 it's so gross looking. But oil is natural, so naturally 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:55.800 occurring substance. Right. One of the big problems with it 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.120 is when it becomes broken down, Uh, it can be 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:04.320 it enters the the food cycle, and this equals the 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:08.720 seafood chain, right, which enters our food chain because we 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:11.320 eat seafood, which is why the shrimpers are out of 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:16.000 business right now. Um, And it also becomes it can 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:20.480 adhere to sand pebbles that kind of stuff and through 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:24.840 wave action, turns into little tar balls. They're like they're 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:27.200 they're solid on the outside, but they're like soft and 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:30.360 gooey in the middle, and things like to eat them 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:33.560 and choke on them and they sink. They said, though, 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:35.280 I mean they said, you said, you're the one that 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:38.760 wrote it. You said that they're not as dangerous sometimes 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:43.040 to the environment as a flat out oil problem. But 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.800 it's still not great outously because they're broken up and 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:49.080 they're separated rather than you know, this big, huge slick. 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:51.240 But you know, if a fish is eating a tar 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:53.840 ball and dies and it's not good. Same with like 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:56.280 a pelican or a bird. And then the other problem 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:59.840 with an oil slick for wildlife is that it gets 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:05.919 on it breaks down the water resistance of um mammal 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:10.840 fur and birds, aquatic birds which ended up getting gooped 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:13.919 up with this stuff, right, so theirs and seattas and 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:17.280 pelicans and they get soaked or they poison themselves by 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.480 trying to lick themselves clean. I can't look at those pictures. 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:25.160 This picture, yeah, I notice I didn't print that out. 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:29.160 I can't even I just can't even go there. Heartbreaking. Um. 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:32.800 There is also the beach clean up. Right, So we 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:35.160 talked about marsh clean up. You can you can add 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:39.720 nitrogen and phosphorus and bio remediate it, right. Um, but 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.320 you also have beaches. You've got tar balls on beaches, 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:47.000 you have pelicans walking around like why me? You know? Um? 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:49.600 And you have to clean up this beach. And apparently 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:53.960 on Prince William Sound that was the where the Valdess 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:56.680 build in Alaska. Yes. Uh, they said, you know what, 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:58.679 we want to make the beach look clean again. So 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:02.359 we're gonna use high pressure hoses like spray everything off. 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:04.840 That doesn't really do anything. It pushes the oil down 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:08.960 and actually screws things up worse, pushes it into the sand. Huh. Yeah, um, 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:11.840 but the beach looks clean at least. Uh. And and 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:15.639 they've been doing that. Um. They did that in Alaska 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:17.520 and I don't know if they had plans to do 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:21.120 it and Louisiana or not, but it's gonna be bad 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:23.400 either way. Uh. The other thing you pointed out, which 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:25.400 I thought was interesting because I had this thought too 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:28.840 that all this, just the clean up act itself, would 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:31.880 probably be really bad for the wildlife. And you said 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:34.840 that they use um sort of like scarecrows and dummies 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:38.720 and um balloons to scare off animals that are near 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:42.200 these boats that are trying to contain and clean up. Yeah, 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:44.240 like get out of here. We're coming through to try 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:47.479 and help. Yeah. And again another when you mentioned just 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:50.960 leaving it, that that that's a viable option, right. One 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:53.160 of the reasons why is because within about twenty four 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:57.560 to forty eight hours, most of the volatile organic compounds 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:03.240 found in oil, the most toxic stuff, evaporates, So when 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:07.400 you have an oil spill, it loses its most toxicity 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:10.199 within two days, which is good, it is good. But 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:12.920 the problem is with a spill like we have now, 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.960 any oil that's losing its most toxic aspects are being 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:21.000 replaced by new oil constantly. So we were it's a 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:23.800 big problem that's going on. I mean, you can just 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.320 look at the underwater camera feed and tell it's a 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:29.080 big problem, but you know, once you have a few 0:19:29.119 --> 0:19:32.080 more of the facts, it's really big problem. Yeah. I was, 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:40.679 actually today is Thursday, May what and I was I've 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:43.000 been clicking literally by the minute to see if this 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:46.520 top kill the thing is where there're BP's latest effort 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:50.920 to stop this five week old underwater geyser is working 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:54.440 and initial reports. I mean, this will clearly be known 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:56.880 by Tuesday when this comes out. But they're saying, oh, 0:19:56.920 --> 0:19:59.640 we think it might be working. Um, even though our 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:02.800 like shooting mud and cement down in there is sounds 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:05.600 sort of weird, it might be working in our big 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:10.640 uh big thing that we lowered down on top top. Yeah, 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:12.840 that didn't work too good. And the idea to shoot 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:16.560 golf balls into it didn't work too good. So um, 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:19.240 they don't the junk shot they don't even say work 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:23.359 too well, were too good, working good? Yeah? The what 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:26.600 the top shot, junk shot, top kill, junk shop, pat 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:30.320 top hatop kill, junk shot, big mess. Yeah, that's what 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:33.320 it is, buddy. Uh. If you want to know more 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:36.639 about cleaning up oil spills, you can read my article 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:41.520 um on it. Yes, there's also articles on offshore drilling 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:44.919 and oil spills, not just clean up, so um we 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:46.840 should probably cover those at some point too. So just 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:52.760 type in oil spill drilling offshore. There you go, and 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:56.680 the handy search bar how stuff works dot com right right, 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:00.399 And since I had said handy search bar, it's seems 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:05.040 like that should trigger something. It would normally trigger listener 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:07.480 mail Josh, what what what's going on? Well, this week 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:09.680 we have a couple of thank you's quickly and then 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:13.720 our New York announcements. Uh so everyone knows where to 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:16.200 meet up in New York. Um quickly though. I want 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:23.000 to thank Steve Clayton dot com. They do custom guitar picks. Brian, 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:25.800 there's a fan of the show. He wrote in and said, dude, 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:28.720 you're in a band, your old man band cover band, 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:31.600 El Cheap. Oh you should do you want some custom 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:34.159 guitar picks? You can design it? And I was like, 0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:37.120 uh yeah, let me think about that for a second. Yes, 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:40.800 So I designed my little El Cheap guitar pick and 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:43.359 they're pretty cool. It's way cool. And he sent me 0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:45.720 a huge bag of these things. And so I just 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:48.480 wanted to say thank you to Steve Clayton dot com. 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:50.640 And they're like big time. They do like the Food 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:53.720 Fighters and Tenacious Dah and now El Chebo was on 0:21:53.760 --> 0:21:56.119 their roster. That's really sweet. Yes, pretty are you on 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:58.119 the website? Is your design on the website? Because I 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:00.560 saw it and it was very cool. No, it is 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:02.919 actually gonna be on the website at some point. So 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:06.120 thanks to Brian, and thank you to Jacob Storm Deathridge 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:10.760 who they do these cool journals made from old library books, 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:12.240 so like they'll take the front and back cover an 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:15.159 old library book and bind it with some of the 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:17.240 first few pages and then the rest of it is 0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:20.000 blank journal style. And they sent us some of these 0:22:20.080 --> 0:22:24.119 that was really nice. And they're at www dot book 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:27.920 journals dot com out of Portland, Oregon. Super creative. Yeah, 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:31.160 very cool. Thank you to both of those guys, right well, 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:35.800 thanks to one for me. Thanks to two from Chuck 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:41.280 yes yeah and Chuck right yeah yeah. New York City, 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:45.400 look out, New York City. We're coming to New York 0:22:45.800 --> 0:22:48.359 June seven. We are having a happy hour at the 0:22:48.400 --> 0:22:52.080 Knitting Factory. Yeah. We'll be wearing nothing but chaps from 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:54.600 five thirty to seven thirty. After that we're gonna put 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:57.880 on our shirts and everything. And uh. We are having 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:01.640