WHY CLEAN?
As noted in Neptune's Revenge:
When the slick starts to "weather" and break up, there is a general relief. People assume the threat is over, the oil gone. As it turns out, the reverse is true.
The oil exists, unseen, a portion of it more virulent than before, having become more toxic, carcinogenic and water-soluble while floating in the sun. It has oxidized, adding oxygen atoms to its hydrocarbons...
...[W]hen the oil slick disappears, it is... time to worry. Some of the altered oil sinks to the sea floor, where it is by no means less troublesome....
Oil kills on the bottom as on the beach. The population perishes or escapes, if it can crawl or swim away. Species which can survive such an oil bath move in. Like other opportunistic species, they are of a lower, tougher evolutionary order than the regular residents, less productive, less diverse. The oil sinks into the sediments where...it is likely to stay. Opportunists take over, moving evolution down a step, and the resident oil, oozing out of the sediments for years, keeps it that way.
EDUCATION Thanks to the certification courses people know how to respond.
THANK YOU
SAN MATEO COUNTY ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
|