Chemicals Meant To Break Up BP Oil Spill Present New Environmental Concerns

[ensho]

http://www.propublica.org/article/bp-gulf-oil-spill-dispersants-0430


The chemicals BP is now relying on to break up the steady flow of leaking oil from deep below the Gulf of Mexico could create a new set of environmental problems.

Even if the materials, called dispersants, are effective, BP has already bought up more than a third of the world’s supply. If the leak from 5,000 feet beneath the surface continues for weeks, or months, that stockpile could run out.

On Thursday BP began using the chemical compounds to dissolve the crude oil, both on the surface and deep below, deploying an estimated 100,000 gallons. Dispersing the oil is considered one of the best ways to protect birds and keep the slick from making landfall. But the dispersants contain harmful toxins of their own and can concentrate leftover oil toxins in the water, where they can kill fish and migrate great distances.

The exact makeup of the dispersants is kept secret under competitive trade laws, but a worker safety sheet for one product, called Corexit, says it includes 2-butoxyethanol, a compound associated with headaches, vomiting and reproductive problems at high doses.

“There is a chemical toxicity to the dispersant compound that in many ways is worse than oil,” said Richard Charter, a foremost expert on marine biology and oil spills who is a senior policy advisor for Marine Programs for Defenders of Wildlife and is chairman of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council. “It’s a trade off – you’re damned if you do damned if you don’t -- of trying to minimize the damage coming to shore, but in so doing you may be more seriously damaging the ecosystem offshore.”

-snip-

According to a 2005 National Academy of Sciences report, the dispersants and the oil they leave behind can kill fish eggs. A study of oil dispersal in Coos Bay, Ore. found that PAH accumulated in mussels, the Academy’s paper noted. Another study examining fish health after the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989 found that PAHs affected the developing hearts of Pacific herring and pink salmon embryos. The research suggests the dispersal of the oil that’s leaking in the Gulf could affect the seafood industry there.

('could'? don't they mean 'will')

-snip-

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“Right now there is a headlong rush to get this oil out of sight out of mind,” Charter said. “You can throw every resource we have at this spill. You can call out the Marine Corps and the National Guard. This is so big that it is unlikely that any amount of response is going to make much of a dent in the impacts. It’s going to be mostly watching it happen.”
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stars mine.

[spanone]

1. 1st thing i thought about when they talked about oil 'dispersant's'

[Are_grits_groceries]

2. Try this NOW:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8251342

[ensho]

3. thanks for the link. my only thought is:

what does it eat when oil isn't around? or does it die?

[Are_grits_groceries]

4. Hopefully Republicans and oil executives.

Edit to add:

Some microorganisms can eat and digest substances consider toxic to humans (fuels, solvents, etc.). They break down these toxic substances in to less toxic form -mainly carbon dioxide and water. Once the contaminants are degraded; the microorganisms food supply is gone and the microbes die off. The dead microorganisms in the absence of their toxic food pose no contamination risk.
http://www.bioremediationinc.com/INFO-WHAT_IS_BIOREMEDIATION.htm

A lot of info about the company .

[ensho]

6. ok, I see - thanks

nt

[KittyWampus]

7. I thought of same BUT suppose not as much money as in chemical dispersants.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. Why am I suddenly reminded of the Dinosaurs TV series finale? -nt