BP still using high levels of dispersants despite EPA edictBY CRAIG PITTMAN
St. Petersburg Times
A month ago the Environmental Protection Agency ordered BP to stop spraying so much dispersant on oil gushing from the Deepwater Horizon well and to find a less toxic alternative to the chemical it was using.
BP is still spraying the same stuff - under the brand name Corexit - that led to EPA concerns in May. Although it has decreased the total amount used, BP has exceeded the recommended daily level of 15,000 gallons sprayed beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. And so far, neither BP nor the EPA has found an effective but less toxic alternative to Corexit.
Meanwhile, federal scientists confirmed this week what University of South Florida researchers and others had found: plumes of tiny oil droplets that stretch for miles underwater, which ``is consistent with chemically dispersed oil.'' Some of it, they found, had oozed into more shallow waters close to shore.
``That's particularly troublesome,'' said Ernst Peebles, a biological oceanographer at USF. Contaminants in more shallow water - about 30 feet deep - can be blown around more easily by wind, spreading it along the gulf's biologically rich continental shelf, he explained.
TOXIC PROPERTIES
The bottom line, Peebles said, is that thanks to the dispersants ``the oil is more broadly distributed than it would have been, and the oil droplets do have toxic properties. It appears to be creating layers of microscopic oil droplets that are spread throughout the gulf.''
But EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said this week that her agency will continue allowing dispersant use because ``dispersants are one tool in a situation that could not be more urgent'' -- even though, she acknowledged, ``We know that they come with environmental trade-offs.''
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Some Louisiana cleanup workers have complained of being sprayed with dispersant from planes hired by BP, and reported skin irritation, headaches and nausea. But federal officials said they had been monitoring the dispersant use and so far had found no human exposure problems.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/27/1 ... ls-of.htmlBP oil spill Corexit dispersants suspected in widespread crop damageUPDATED: June 28, 2010 - The earlier posting referenced the adverse effects of Corexit and crude oil on plants with a link to a research document. Not too may people actually looked at the study though... So I put in the table referenced in the paper to make my point.
June 27, 2010 - Last May 24, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson promised, "We will conduct our own tests to determine the least toxic, most effective dispersant available in the volumes necessary for a crisis of this magnitude... I am not satisfied that BP has done an extensive enough analysis of other dispersant options."
As of today, those tests have not been completed, according to the EPA. In the meantime, BP has dumped 1.4 million gallons of Corexit on the gulf. Next week, we could have a hurricane pushing Corexit inland.
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