美國海洋暨大氣總署(NOAA)署長盧布琴科 (Jane Lubchenco)將英國石油漏油事件稱之為「一場人類悲劇與環境災難」,她並在6月8日證實,墨西哥灣某處的確存在著因漏油產生的低濃度原油漂浮在海面之下。
她表示已在部分海面下方的原油(subsurface oil)中發現到與英國石油溢漏的原油相符的「污染指紋」,但這些油並非全數來自英國石油「深水地平線號油井」的漏油。
NOAA與南佛州大學的研究人員已進行海水採樣,樣本採集自海面至海面下3300英呎之間的深度,與深水地平線油井失事地點東北方40及42海里處,另外還在油井東南方142海里處的另一處採樣點採樣。
盧布琴科於華府記者會中比紹:「我們針對海面下方的這些原油做的分析,確定其濃度小於0.5ppm這個範圍。」依據濃度分析,NOAA同時找出原油的污染指紋,判斷這些油是否來自深水地平線號的漏油,或是其他可能來自於海底天然滲出的原油。
「我們從油井東北方40海里處海面下方的樣本所發現的碳氫化合物,的確和英國石油的漏油相符合。」盧布琴科並表示,油井東北方42海里處海面上、162英呎深與4500英呎深的這些樣本所找到的碳氫化合物,則因濃度太低,無法進行實際的汙染指紋測試;而油井東南方142海里處330英呎深與1000英呎深的樣本所發現的碳氫化合物「和英國石油的漏油並不相符」。
「針對這些原油資料的比對,我們還沒做出結論。」生物海洋學家皮保斯(Ernst Peebles)說。皮保斯是南加州大學氣象鳥二號研究船(R/V Weatherbird II)上的首席科學調查員,他表示:「初步結果顯示出,至少在表面上有相似性。」
其他多艘進行採樣與觀測行程的NOAA研究船不是已在返程路途,就是即將返回。盧布琴科說,只要這些船返回,NOAA會立即將結果公諸於大眾。
NOAA已經在太空中部署衛星、在空中安排飛機、在海上安排船隻,在陸上安排科學家,並會把資訊上網,「如此一來美國民眾可以看見我們在做什麼,並且能對我們正在探尋的解答有所理解。」署長說道。
另一方面,英國石油公司依據其修復墨西哥灣區域環境與棲地的部分承諾,於8日宣布該公司將會把深水地平線漏油事故所回收的原油所得淨收益捐贈出來,成立一個新的野生動物基金,用來創造、修復、改善並保護路易斯安那州、密西西比州、阿拉巴馬州與佛羅里達州海岸沿線的野生動物棲地。
此一基金的創設已經超過了1990年石油污染法所規定該公司應盡的義務。
Calling the BP oil spill "a human tragedy and an environmental disaster," Dr. Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration today confirmed the presence of low concentrations of subsurface oil from the spill in one location in the Gulf of Mexico.
She said "fingerprints" consistent with the BP oil spill were found on some of the subsurface oil, but not all of it is from BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Researchers from NOAA and from the University of South Florida sampled water at depths ranging from the surface to 3,300 feet and at locations 40 and 42 nautical miles northeast of the damaged Deepwater Horizon wellhead, and also at another sampling station at 142 nautical miles southeast of the wellhead.
"Our analysis of the presence of subsurface oil determined that the concentrations of oil are in the range of less than 0.5 parts per million," Lubchenco told reporters at a briefing in Washington, DC.
Along with the analysis of the concentrations, NOAA has also been fingerprinting the oil to determine if it is from the Deepwater Horizon spill or some other oil that may emerge from natural oil seeps on the seafloor.
"What we have found is that hydrocarbons in the surface samples taken 40 nautical miles northeast from the wellhead were indeed consistent with the BP's oil spill," Lubchenco said.
Hydrocarbons found in the samples 42 nautical miles northeast from the wellhead at the surface at 162 feet and 4,500 feet were in concentrations too low to do the actual fingerprinting, she said.
And hydrocarbons found in the samples 142 nautical miles southeast of the wellhead at 330 feet and 1,000 feet "were not consistent with the BP oil spill," Lubchenco said.
"We have not concluded our comparison of the oils," said biological oceanographer Ernst Peebles, University of South Florida's lead scientific investigator on the R/V Weatherbird II trip. "Preliminary results show similarities at least at the surface."
Several other NOAA research vessels either have just returned or will soon return from sampling and observation voyages and Lubchenco said NOAA would immediately share the results with the public as soon as they are in.
NOAA has deployed satellites in space, planes in the air, ships on the water, scientists on the ground and information online "so that the American people can see what we're doing and understand the answers that we are getting," the administrator said.
As part of its commitment to restore the environment and habitats in the Gulf Coast region, BP today announced that it will donate the net revenue from oil recovered from the Deepwater Horizon spill to create a new wildlife fund to create, restore, improve and protect wildlife habitat along the coastline of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
Creation of this fund is over and above the company's obligations under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.