They already are. The problem is that there is too much oil and not enough micro-organisms to do it. And the fact that the natural breakdown process takes a lot of time while larger organisms are poisoned by the oil.
The other thing that caught my attention from the person who spoke on NPR on this is that ~35-40% of the oil has already evaporated. Really?
There is a macro and a micro world surrounding us, of which the average person is totally unaware. I have heard that oil is alive, so literally trillions of creatures are attacking trillions of other micro creatures and consuming them. This battle could make the second world war look like childsplay. All this is done for our/ the Earths benefit. It makes sense that there is no substance or natural material which could totally destroy or ruin our Earth. Did you know that millions of unseen animals live in your eyelashes and keep them clean?
Yes - crude oil is not just the thick oily stuff you see wash up on the shores of beaches, but it also consists of light stuff which evaporates quite rapidly leaving the thicker stuff behind. Just look at how quickly gasoline evaporates when exposed to air...
Though one cannot even mention this here without drawing sharp criticism, Mother Nature already deals with very roughly 1000 barrels per day naturally seeping into the Gulf. That natural seepage is spread very wide and thin compared to this spill. How much grief is TIME going to get for this very seriously politically incorrect article?: The BP Spill: Has the Damage Been Exaggerated? NPR on Galveston's history with oil and other disasters (this looks shorter than the broadcast I heard this morning): Island's Recovery May Set Example For Gulf Residents
As I mentioned in another thread, levels of phytoplankton in the world's oceans is down 40% from the 1950s levels. There are oil-eating organisms, but #1, are they naturally in seawater, and in enough numbers, and #2, if they aren't in seawater, what will happen if someone dumps them in seawater to deal with the oil? Once the oil is gone, will they vanish, or will they displace more phytoplankton? Think about invasive species for a moment... in the long run, they aren't good.
No criticism yet. This is actually very good news for those that care about the environment. It is probably bad news for those that would use the spill effects as a proxy for political agendas. I live extremely close to the coast and very far from Washington, so you can figure my priorities.
