USF scientists: BP not helpful in researching oil layers

Officials with BP have been less than helpful in assisting University of South Florida researchers who have been investigating the presence of invisible oil layers deep in the Gulf of Mexico.

Researchers at the College of Marine Science expressed frustration this morning at the lack of cooperation from the giant oil company responsible for the biggest oil spill in the country's history.

"I've tried to get a piece of the oil from the BP representatives and it was met with some resistance,'' said David Hollander, a chemical oceanographer at the university. "I was just taken aback by it. It was a little unsettling. I was hoping for a little more cooperation.

"There's 50 million barrels in their reservoir,'' Hollander added. "I'm sure they could spare one.''

Hollander made his comments at a news conference where university and federal officials announced the findings of their tests on Gulf waters that were taken last month.

Phil Cochrane, a spokesman for BP, said the company had provided more than 20 samples to various university and government entities. He said any request made in writing from USF would be honored.

The test results, which were first released late last week, indicated there is a plume of undersea oil deep in the Gulf and many miles from the site of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded and sank in April.

Oil found on the surface of the Gulf by the R/V Weatherbird II linked that oil to the BP spill; more work is ongoing on the subsurface, invisible oil to see if it can be linked to the huge spill.

More tests are ongoing by both university and federal officials on a daily basis on those samples and others collected by ships sailing into the Gulf.

Those tests are important as officials try to determine what the effect of an underwater plume of oil, combined with about a million gallons of dispersant that has been used, could have on the underwater food chain.

"The use of dispersants cannot be minimized,'' Hollander said.

One of the biggest questions, said Steven Murawski of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is whether the dispersants deep underwater are robbing sea life of its necessary oxygen.

"If we deplete oxygen to levels where you can't sustain life, that's a very big action,'' he said.

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, is planning to meet with David Nagel, an executive vice president for BP, on Wednesday in Washington.

"USF's findings of deepwater oil plumes are of grave concern to the tourism and fishing industries, which rely on clean beaches and clean water for their livelihoods,'' the congresswoman said today in a statement. "We must hold BP accountable for this environmental and economic disaster.''

Murawski said that crews on different ships are collecting more samples daily around the Gulf.

"This is not the end, by any stretch,'' said Bill Hogarth, dean of the USF school.