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- Newsgroups: sci.space
- Path: sparky!uunet!stanford.edu!eos!aio!arabia!hack
- From: hack@arabia.uucp (Edmund Hack)
- Subject: Re: Genetically Engineered Microbes in Real Use?
- Message-ID: <1993Jan6.215930.11592@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>
- Sender: Edmund Hack
- Organization: Lockheed ESC, Houston
- References: <C0Cu8n.DHA.1@cs.cmu.edu> <Jan05.205254.60138@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU>
- Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 21:59:30 GMT
- Lines: 28
-
- In article <Jan05.205254.60138@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU> wallacen@ColoState.EDU writes:
- >I recall hearing on Chicken Noodle News that a bacterium (*Chlostridium*
- >I suspect, they'll eat virtually anything, including those buried polystyrene
- >bottles which were supposed to last ten thousand years and instead lasted
- >five or so...) has been developed to help in some types of oil spills and
- >was successfully used in a spill near Galveston a few years ago. Anyone
- >know more about this?
-
- Yes, a specially tailored microbe was used to "bioremediate" a small oil
- spill in Galveston Bay a year or two ago. It worked quite well. In
- fact, if the EPA and other groups had allowed it to be used earlier the
- entire slick would have been eaten up while still in the bay. It was
- sprayed on a section of the slick that hit some wetlands.
-
- The state of Texas has a stock of the bugs available at all times for
- use on spills of reasonable size. I have heard that if the cleanup of
- the Exxon Valdez had not been such a political fiasco, they could have
- used the microbes on it and significantly reduced the damage done.
- There is substantial opposition to use of such microbes by certain
- eco-idiot factions which has slowed their acceptance. Such antics don't
- go over well here in Texas, and they were unable to stop their use.
-
-
- --
- Edmund Hack - Lockheed Engineering & Sciences Co. - Houston, TX
- hack@aio.jsc.nasa.gov - I speak only for myself, unless blah, blah..
- "You know, I think we're all Bozos on this bus."
- "Detail Dress Circuits" "Belt: Above A, Below B" "Close B ClothesMode"
-