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THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - June 10, 2010
Dispersant Disaster: A Closer Look at BP's Toxic Solution
by: Mike Ludwig
truthout|Report
Kristian Gustavson found "all sorts" of dead dolphins and
sea turtles on Ship Island in past weeks. Dead marine life
is a common sight in the Gulf of Mexico these days, but
Gustavson said the water was clear. The beaches on the
Mississippi barrier island were white and clean. Oil from
the British Petroleum's underwater catastrophe had not
reached the sprawling marine graveyard.
Gustavson, co-founder of conservation group Below the
Surface, believes these animals may not have simply fallen
victim to the oil that has been gushing from BP's deepwater
well since the April 20 Deepwater Horizon disaster. He
said the controversial oil dispersant BP is spraying
across the slick could be the culprit.
Dispersants break up the oil slick into smaller, more bio-
degradable droplets. Gustavson said the process is good
for aesthetics, but huge plumes of dispersed oil are now
clouding the deep sea with toxins and moving inland.
Corexit, the main line of dispersants used by BP, came
under public scrutiny last week after a Congressman
informed The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that
it is all but banned in the United Kingdom. The EPA told
BP to use less Corexit and invest in chemicals proven to
be less toxic and more effective. BP issued a response
defending their decision to use Corexit, and soon the
amount of dispersants dumped in the Gulf neared an
unprecedented one million gallons.
Dozens of residents along the Gulf Coast have reported
headaches, nausea and trouble breathing after coming in
contact with oil and dispersant fumes, according to the
American Association of Poison Control Centers. But
Corexit producer Nalco claims the newest version, Corexit
9500, is "more than 27 times safer than dish soap,"
according to a web release.
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Nalco is an international chemical company directed by
board members who cut their petrochemical teeth with
companies like Monsanto, DuPont, Exxon and - you guessed
it - BP. When the media discovered the EPA had rated 12
dispersants as more effective than Corexit, all eyes
turned to Nalco board member Rodney Chase, who spent
38 years with BP and left as an executive.
A million gallons of any chemical, including dish soap,
could certainly harm people and wildlife, and Corexit is
no exception. Nalco's own safety data sheet identifies
three hazardous chemicals in Corexit 9500, and lists
symptoms of exposure as "acute" and consistent with
reports from the poison control centers.
Corexit 9500 predecessor Corexit 9527 contained the
notorious chemical 2-butoxyethanol that allegedly
poisoned cleanup workers during the 1989 Exxon Valdez
oil tanker disaster. The Corexit 9500 data sheet does
not include the chemical in its list of hazards, but
a 1996 University of California study on invertebrates
concluded that there was no "significant difference" in
toxicity between Corexit 9500 and the older formula.
In 2005, researchers at the University of Plymouth in the
UK reported that Corexit's ability to kill invertebrates
constituting the base of the underwater food chain
increases substantially at a certain concentration level.
The report concluded that Corexit poses a threat to
shallow water ecosystems like wetlands, estuaries and
coral reefs.
This threat is a reality for conservationist Casi Callaway,
director of the Mobile Baykeeper group. Oil had yet to
officially reach Alabama's Mobile Bay when Callaway spoke
with Truthout on last Thursday, but she said the
devastation had already begun.
"We've had massive fish kills," said Callaway. "The first
fish kill we had was two weeks ago... it was everything,
thousands of dead fish."
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Callaway said locals have observed BP contract workers
filling trash bags with "brown goop" and requesting
observers stop taking pictures. She believes the microbes
and invertebrates consuming the vast underwater plumes of
dispersed oil are depleting the oxygen in the Gulf and
choking out other species. She also said it is a "very
strong possibility" that dispersants are moving into
Mobile Bay ahead of the oil.
Like many researchers and conservationists, Callaway knows
that some ecological sacrifices must be made to save the
Gulf from destruction. But both Callaway and Gustavson
say the dispersants are just a dirty way for the giant
corporation to save face.
"The chemical dispersant to us is a PR mechanism," Callaway
said. "Get it out of sight, get it out of mind. What we
don't know about the chemical dispersant is every reason
not to use it."
She insists options like siphoning and burning the oil are
not perfect, but they are safer than filling the water with
chemicals and expanding clouds of sinking oil droplets.
Gustavson, who insists that "fighting pollution with
pollution" can never work, said he is researching ways to
use the Mississippi River and the natural filtration power
of the wetlands to address the disaster.
For conservationists like Callaway and Gustavson, the fight
to restore the Gulf Coast will continue for years. They
don't have billions of dollars to throw around like BP and
corporate disaster profiteers, but they know environmental
stewardship does more than scratch the surface. It goes
much deeper than that.
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