Oil Spill, Corexit, Arsenic, Collateral Damage
by ilene - July 11th, 2010 9:21 pm
Here’s an interesting video on the chemicals being used in the Gulf oil spill’s clean-up process that doesn’t seem to have much to do with cleaning up the spill but rather with dispersing the oil making it less easy to detect. Logically, to clean it up, to get the oil out of the water, you wouldn’t think adding chemicals to make the oil dissipate into the water would be particularly useful. – Ilene
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See also: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill (2010), NY Times
Excerpt:
Dispersants
BP also clashed with the federal government over its use of dispersants, chemicals sprayed on the spill that were meant to break up the oil in the hope that it would settle to the bottom. In a novel approach, BP has been spraying dispersants on the oil as it leaves the well head to reduce the amount that reaches the surface.
The Environmental Protection Agency directed the company to stop using two dispersants from a line of products called Corexit and switch to something less toxic. The oil company defended its use of Corexit and taken issue with the methods the agency used to estimate its toxicity, and continued to spray the chemicals past the E.P.A. deadline.
The E.P.A. administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, said that she had ordered the oil giant to take "immediate steps to scale back the use of dispersants." She said the amount of chemicals applied to control the oil spilling from the Deepwater Horizon well – more than 700,000 gallons so far on the gulf’s surface and a mile underwater at the leaking well head – was "approaching a world record."
Allan also wrote briefly on the subject in his weekend update. - Ilene
The Oil Volcano – Update
I’m bringing the first link below forward from a Comment just posted in a prior blog. It contains a You Tube video that address some problems caused by the oil volcano and in particular, collateral damage that might be occurring…