EPA Chief Calls for More Authority Over Dispersants

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: New York Times/Greenwire

U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson today urged Congress to take up legislation strengthening her agency's authority over oil dispersants in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico gusher, calling for more testing and disclosure of the chemical ingredients in the controversial spill-fighting products.

Jackson said EPA is evaluating a draft dispersant bill that Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) plans to introduce next week, a measure expected to focus on ingredient reporting and monitoring of the chemicals' long-term effects on human and marine health. While she stopped short of endorsing the Lautenberg proposal, Jackson said new dispersant legislation "would give us critical transparency and openness protections that right now EPA cannot provide by law."

BP PLC has deployed more than 1.8 million gallons of dispersant in the Gulf since its record-breaking oil leak began in April, sparking concerns among environmental and public-health advocates as well as some scientists and several members of the Senate Appropriations Committee's science panel, before which Jackson and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration senior official Larry Robinson testified today. Senators from both parties raised alarms about the limited test data currently on the books and the ability of manufacturers such as Nalco Co., which makes BP's Corexit dispersant, to file confidentiality claims that shield the ingredients in their products.

"Each day, questions are building about the use of dispersants to battle the oil spewing into the Gulf," Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, the science subcommittee's senior Republican, said in a statement. "Even more alarmingly, it appears that decades-long intransigence by Nalco and other makers of these dispersants is the leading reason why we do not have the information we need to make informed decisions in a timely manner."

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/07/15/15greenwire-epa-chief-calls-for-more-authority-over-disper-72278.html

[kenny blankenship]

1. Now that's what I call swift action!

[meow mix]

3. wow.. A+ job performance there

:gags

[Donnachaidh]

2. And I'm sure Shelby as been *diligent* about forcing these companies to disclose ingredients in the

past, yes?

:crickets:

So, what is the latest count as to how much dispersant has ALREADY been dumped in the Gulf?

[nyc 4 Biden]

4. :facepalm:

[BrklynLiberal]

5. duh..........

I think all those horses have left the barn. No need to close that door now.

[Cetacea]

6. Too late, Lisa.

Aside from a July Fourth media blitz I was beginning to wonder if we even had an EPA chief.

[pleah]

7. Like I've been saying

the people along the gulf coast are being used as guinea pigs. (reporting and monitoring of the chemicals' long-term effects on human and marine health.)

[defendandprotect]

8. Better late than never . . . !!