Reply by Dr. Robert J. Lawrence

摘要

This is in response to the letter written by Dr. Christopher Red-dy, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute: "A Cautionary Tale.. .After Oil Spills." Dr. Reddy appears to have misunderstood the US Army Corps of Engineers' (Corps) goal for the sediment-sampling method used following the M/V Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay (Bay) in November 2007. Dr. Reddy correctly points out that the pom pom swabbing method used by the Corps was intended to identify gross amounts of contaminants on the sediment surface and not for very low levels of contaminants in the sediments. The Corps was, in fact, sampling for contaminants (in this case sunken oil products or tar balls) on the sediment surface and not for precise, quantitative levels in the sediments of the Bay floor.