---->Formation of underwater "plumes" of oil and gas mixed.
---->Markedly increased methane concentrations in large underwater "plumes" which could eventually create extensive "dead-zones" (up to 10,000 times normal so far).
---->Presence of other noxious gases in Gulf water including hydrogen sulfide, benzene and methylene chloride at levels which vary from 100 to 400 times normal.
---->Decreased oxygen levels in underwater oil plumes.
---->Markedly Increased microbial activity in and around oil plumes including oil eating bacteria specifically arcanivorax borkumensis.
---->Decreased phytoplankton "bloom."
--->Oil contamination of Shrimp and Crab larvae. As of 7/30 2010, tiny oil droplets from the oil dispersant Corexit are visible under the transparent shells of 2-millimeter-sized post-larval blue crabs collected in Mississippi’s Davis Bayou. Corexit has now entered the Gulf Food Chain.
---->Major Kill-off of Louisianna Oysters to a 90% level as of 7/1/10.
---->Increased levels of Arsenic in Gulf Deep Water.
---->Extensive Destruction of Gulf wet-lands.
---->Toxic levels of 2 Butoxyethanol in 20% of offshore and 15% of inshore clean-up and recovery workers. 2 Butoxyethanol is being used as a "marker" in the absence of a better test for Corexit 9527 and Corexit 9500 the chemical dispersants used virtually exclusively by BP. Corexit is known to be highly toxic to plant and animal life. To date (9/22/10) it appears BP utilized >1.8 million gallons of Corexit on roughly 200 million gallons of spilled oil (between 4 and 5 million barrels of oil). It is unclear whether all Corexit application (spraying and direct application at sea) has ended as of September 22, 2010.
In June and July signficiant numbers of people who had been swimming or wading in Gulf water developed open ulcerative sores on their skin and some who had not physically been in or on the Gulf water developed symptoms and signs of having been exposed to toxic air including, severe headaches, burning and runny eyes, sore throats, chemical induced pneumonitis, severe lethargy and other neurological sequelae.
It is now known (9/22/10) that some Gulf residents and visitors exposed to Corexit spraying in and around the shoreline of the Northern Gulf of Mexico have had high levels of toxic by-products of Corexit documented in their blood including Benzene, Ethylbenzene, m. p.-Xylene, the Hexane, Methylpentanes and Isooctane.
---->Death of birds and marine life including fish, crustaceans and mammals. There appear to be a greater than usual number of very large fish "kills" occuring in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in July, August and September including multiple different species primarily the "bottom feeders" such as Flounder, Red Snapper and so forth but also other species not normally involved in fish kills. To date dead sea turtles and dolphins have been documented in not insignificant numbers.
--->University of Georgia Researcher Dr. Samantha Joye and others have documented extensive areas of the northern Gulf of Mexico sea-bed which contain evidence of oil and dispersant mixture.
This page will be updated frequently in an attempt to maintain a documented record of the adverse affects developing as a result of the oil and gas pollution in the Gulf of Mexico. Data are obtained from The Oil Blog and related scientists, NOAA, and the EPA among others.
