PORT ANGELES — Your grade-school teacher was wrong: Water and oil do mix.
And water eventually will win.
The problem comes with what occurs in the meantime: spoiled shores, lifeless wildlife and enormous amounts of money spent to clean up the awful mess.
About 60 people attending an Oil Spill Awareness Course in Port Angeles City Hall on Thursday got a rapid education about oil, its effects, and plans to combat oil spills, presented by the Coast Guard and other agencies.
Lesson 1 was: No two oil spills are the same.
“Each oil is a unique mixture,” said Ruth Yender, scientific support coordinator for the Northwest and the U.S. Pacific islands.
Petroleum differs according to where it was pumped, said Yender, an employee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and by what it is distilled into, be it volatile gasoline or syrupy bunker oil.
Lighter fuels are likelier to evaporate and disperse.
Heavier oils remain longer in the ecosystem, although even they biodegrade eventually.
