Offshore Oil Drilling and the Oil Rig Disaster in the Gulf

[spuwho]

4th Anniversary of Gulf Oil Spill

BP and the Government Decided to Temporarily Hide the Oil by Sinking It with Toxic Chemicals ... The Gulf Ecosystem Is Now Paying the Price

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/04/4th-anniversary-of-gulf-oil-spill/

I read the report in the link. The documentation provided post-spill is detailed. But how does it compare pre-spill?

Ok, some dead fish & turtles were found, we kind of expected that, but how many more than normal is that? 

What baseline are they using  to derive context? If 400 turtles die off every year pre-spill and 500 now die off post spill, I can reason that the additional 100 were spill related. But just saying 500 were found dead post spill doesn't tell me anything other than it was found.

[carpnter]

4th Anniversary of Gulf Oil Spill

BP and the Government Decided to Temporarily Hide the Oil by Sinking It with Toxic Chemicals ... The Gulf Ecosystem Is Now Paying the Price

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/04/4th-anniversary-of-gulf-oil-spill/

I read the report in the link. The documentation provided post-spill is detailed. But how does it compare pre-spill?

Ok, some dead fish & turtles were found, we kind of expected that, but how many more than normal is that? 

What baseline are they using  to derive context? If 400 turtles die off every year pre-spill and 500 now die off post spill, I can reason that the additional 100 were spill related. But just saying 500 were found dead post spill doesn't tell me anything other than it was found.

Obviously there was impact to the Gulf habitat, but you are correct, the information needs to be provided in the proper context.  They can't just lay out all of the things that happened and say that the spill caused all of it.  You cannot address the problems if you don't know what the affect of the spill was. 

[finehoe]

I read the report in the link. The documentation provided post-spill is detailed. But how does it compare pre-spill?

Are you sure you read it?  Because it says "dead infant or stillborn dolphins were found at nearly seven times the historical average" and  "dolphins also were five times more likely than dolphins from unoiled areas to have moderate-to-severe lung disease" and "blackfin tuna, blue marlin, mahi-mahi and sailfish—all had fewer larvae in the year of the oil spill than any of the three previous years" and "Researchers found a significant difference in community structure and abundance during and after the Deepwater Horizon event" and "researchers compared the gill tissue of killifish in an oiled marsh to those in an oil-free marsh" in addition to referencing other studies that from their dates and titles sound like the were used to establish baselines.  And where they don't have this information, they clearly state it: "Similar lesions and deformities were found on shrimp and lobsters in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, but unfortunately scientists lack baseline data for comparison."

This is an actual scientific paper, not a Fox News story.

[finehoe]

They can't just lay out all of the things that happened and say that the spill caused all of it. 

They don't.  Try reading before you judge.

[spuwho]

I read the report in the link. The documentation provided post-spill is detailed. But how does it compare pre-spill?

Are you sure you read it?  Because it says "dead infant or stillborn dolphins were found at nearly seven times the historical average" and  "dolphins also were five times more likely than dolphins from unoiled areas to have moderate-to-severe lung disease" and "blackfin tuna, blue marlin, mahi-mahi and sailfish—all had fewer larvae in the year of the oil spill than any of the three previous years" and "Researchers found a significant difference in community structure and abundance during and after the Deepwater Horizon event" and "researchers compared the gill tissue of killifish in an oiled marsh to those in an oil-free marsh" in addition to referencing other studies that from their dates and titles sound like the were used to establish baselines.  And where they don't have this information, they clearly state it: "Similar lesions and deformities were found on shrimp and lobsters in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, but unfortunately scientists lack baseline data for comparison."

This is an actual scientific paper, not a Fox News story.

A scientific paper restated by a journalist. I will admit I skim read it and yes the baselines are noted as you state. After I read it the first time I didn't recall the baselines.

But I did look up the researcher whose work is attributed.

http://www.meriresearch.org/ABOUTMERI/SusanShaw/tabid/154/Default.aspx

Thanks for the correction.