Congress Gets Results on Corexit
At yesterday’s hearing on the BP Disaster, Peter DeFazio and Jerrold Nadler hammered BP America President Lamar McKay on the relative toxicity and efficacy of the dispersant Corexit as compared to some other dispersants. They pointed out that Corexit is one of the most toxic of the approved dispersants and is not as effective as others. Here’s a chart of the relative toxicity and efficacy from the EPA (click to enlarge).
In addition, on Monday, Edward Markey wrote EPA Administration Lisa Jackson asking why BP was using Corexit rather than a less toxic dispersant. Among other questions Markey asked were:
It is my understanding that the main dispersants applied so far are from a product line called Corexit, some of which had their approval rescinded in Britain more than a decade ago, because laboratory tests found them harmful to sea life that inhabits rocky shores.
a. How did EPA ensure that this dispersant’s toxicity to aquatic life was evaluated?
b. Was its toxicity to mollusks and other sea life that inhabit the Gulf of Mexico evaluated, and if so, what were the results? If not, why not?
c. If EPA relied on toxicity studies for coastal morphologies different from that of the Gulf Coast, what was done to evaluate the applicability of those studies for the use of the dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico environment?
d. Was the toxicity to other subsurface aquatic life evaluated? If so, please provide details, and if not, why not?
Late yesterday, the EPA informed BP it’s going to have to switch to another, less toxic, dispersant within three days.
The Environmental Protection Agency informed BP officials late Wednesday that the company has 24 hours to choose a less toxic form of chemical dispersants to break up its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to government sources familiar with the decision, and must apply the new form of dispersants within 72 hours of submitting the list of alternatives.
The move is significant, because it suggests federal officials are now concerned that the unprecedented use of chemical dispersants could pose a significant threat to the Gulf of Mexico’s marine life. BP has been using two forms of dispersants, Corexit 9500A and Corexit 9527A, and so far has applied 600,000 gallons on the surface and 55,000 underwater.
I guess all these hearings aren’t entirely a waste of time.
(Updated with efficacy table.)
Update: Here’s EPA’s order to BP to use a less toxic dispersant. And here’s some data from the dispersant monitoring.
Update: According to Nadler’s office, the maker of Dispersit got an order from BP for 60,000 gallons today.
The list of comparative toxicity and effectiveness was published on blogs (and the question about why they chose these dispersants was asked here) days ago. Is there anything on which the regulators are ahead of the game? Surprise us.
Probably nothing in the last ten years. (I wish that was snark.)
I’ll expect rumblings about “EPA reform” to set the stage for BP PR to announce that the EPA is hindering their efforts to deal with the effects of the spill. By the way, are we beyond “spill,” yet?
We have politicians making the decisions that scientists and engineers should be making.
Why’d the EPA approve that witches brew in the first place? It’s been approved for some time and only now they decide it’s too toxic? When did the EPA know there were more effective alternatives?
Because the oil companies wanted them to do so. They knew it was toxic, but the politicians decided it was acceptably toxic. And sadly, the EPA bureaucrats probably didn’t know there was something better until that hearing.
It doesn’t seem to matter who’s in the WH or who is running congress. The EPA has been the same for as long as I remember.
Boxturtle (Gee, almost as if some big political contributors wanted it that way)
Just wanted to highlight that.
Boxturtle (strategic incompetence, anyone?)
Nadler et al. better be careful because they are perilously close to acting as an independent branch of government. Imagine if they actually got to like it and did it more often…
King Obrahma will be most displeased.
Nadler always acts like that. Thing is, he usually doesn’t manage to get results like an independent branch of govt. This time public opinion and the threat of a giant, but devastating, “I told you so” managed to win the day.
Agreed. I also can’t help wondering whether the incumbent thrashing on Tuesday is helping to concentrate the minds of members of Congress as well.
Oil is only the most visible contaminant BP is releasing into the Gulf, and even the majority of that is probably subsurface. How do we know which of them presents the greater danger?
That’s what I want to know. I would have expected more of Lisa Jackson. I suspect that Lisa was under pressure to act, and act fast. She prolly asked BP what they had to act fast with, and they said well, we’ve got tons of Corexit sitting around (prolly sitting around because they couldn’t use it anywhere else, for good reason). Another case where acting fast trumped acting wisely.
Bob in AZ
Lowest bidder, the less toxic more expensive.
I don’t think that is true; I think BP insists on using Corexit because they have a proprietary financial interest in doing so and are essentially spending money within their own house of companies and interests and gaining favorable tax advantages in the process to boot.
Why pay retail or a midnight call-out mark-up rate, when you can buy it wholesale or at cost?
Right. And what you want to bet that the money they are so “spending” (to themselves) is directly deductible or otherwise preferably treated for tax purposes because it is for disaster mitigation?
I’ve seen at least two environmental experts testify to Congress that the dispersant is better than the alternative.
Mind you, they seem to be thinking of the best way to preserve teh wetlands. But I’m not sure one can do a fair cost-benefit analysis on this stuff, given that it would pit the fishermen against unique wetlands, etc.
Obviously you need the least toxic one. And obviously teh big solution is not to drill in such areas. But I’m not sure about the dispersant.
I can see the point the environmentalists you describe make. I can also see a scenario where breaking it up like this makes it far harder to reclaim in bulk (if there were to be such an attempt made; of course). I have no knowledge base with which to give an informed opinion; but I guess I wish I knew more about the basis for their claims.
The dispersal makes the volume of oil less visible, less photogenic, but the oil remains. Unrefined, it’s pretty harmful stuff, which is one reason it burns so well. Dispersed, meaning at lower concentrations, probably also makes evaluating the harm done harder, likewise, tracing it to BP’s leak.
The price breakdown should be interesting. That will tell all.
is the story of BP foregoing final acoustic tests on cement linings old news here ?
Nola.com
Or else, what?
Call me kookie, but I’m thinking the or else isn’t going to amount to squat
A couple of updates in this post: first, the testing data EPA just made available. ANd, via Nadler’s office, the news that Dispersit’s maker just got a 60,000 gallon order from BP.
Probably claimed it’s good for walruses…
Kudos to Congress for being able to get action this quickly. The fact is Congress is not set up to react quickly to emergencies . That is why we have the executive branch. By all observations all relevant components of the executive branch have failed miserably.
I say give Congress some credit this time.
Nice of Congress to give them 3 days.
EPA, not Congress.
The Obama administration.
Well it does take a while to transport hundreds of thousands of gallons of anything to the site. The PR guy on Andrea Mitchell said they would stop pumping the Corexit after 3 days whether they had the new on on board or not.
So for the next three days they’ll continue to dump this toxic chemical in the waters to insure that the oil stay out of sight as much as possible. That should make BP and Obama a bit happier for at least 3 days.
It’s already hit the wetlands of LA. There’s no way to hide that. Oily dragonflies, oily plants. There’s no fixing that.
I know it’s on already on shore but BP and Obama shared the same interest in keeping it out of sight for as long as possible.
Problem with doing that is it shows everyone how incompetent they ALL are.
That’s the real problem. This country has been running on hubris for the past 30 years. It’s catching up.
As I said, the Congress is not configured to do it even this well. Frankly I can’t imagine after all they have already pumped 3 more days makes any difference. I personally think detergents shouldn’t be used at all. Bring in the super tankers (they have had time but not done it) and let them start sucking it up off the surface.
Where the Fuck is our POTUS in all this? AWOL maybe.
He’s not the first deserter to serve in the WH.
Fuckin ‘A. I don’t give a shit about the rest of them right now.
He’s the one on Duty now. He’s the one that has the responsibility now.
I agree. I was just confirming the fact Obama is a “deserter.”
Please accept my apologies. This attack on our Nation, on our Environment and Ecosystems has created more anger than just about any other event in my life (and I remember clearly where I was and what I was doing on November 22, 1963)
Me too, librty – on all your points. I remember and I am enraged. My anti-government activities during Viet Nam pale in comparison to what my imagination has me doing right now.
I hear ya. Vietnam made me sick but I served.
I’m convinced the current crop of clowns in charge are Truly Clueless.
The one that really surprises me is Lisa Jackson. She has the education, knowledge, experience and the responsibility. I’m stunned she didn’t step out publicly on day 2 or 3.
That’s what you get with a bunch of narcissists who don’t even know there is any life outside their own, much less a sense of the interdependency of all life.
I know TS.
What they’ve done to the Gulf is somewhat analogous to dumping massive amounts of fertilizer and toxins into the entire water column. If a significant amount of algae survives the initial toxin dump, then once the dispersant does it’s job and breaks down the oil, we could have one hell of an algae bloom resulting in Oxygen levels plummeting thus killing off entire ecosystems. Shoreland areas will go thru rapid eutrophication. It won’t be pleasant.
Just sent a message to the White House.
“When are you going to realize that the Oil Volcano is an international emergency?”
I probably should have used those five seconds of typing for something more realistic.
Word has it Mary that they don’t read the emails (that was said here at the lake)
I telephone now. Only been laughed at once so far (by a W.H. operator/message taker)
I cannot get through today on the WH comment line – always busy.
I tried yesterday with nothing but a busy signal. This clown in the WH needs to hear it from the American people who continue to lose the jobs, their homes, their savings, their families and now our environment.
Here’s the number for the WH.
1-202-456-1111
thanks, I have it at SpeedDial # 1. (I think some of the operators recognize my number or voice now. Suspect that indicates I’m on some kind of a list now …)
Imagine, calling our Environment Protection Agency out of concern of a potential poisoning of the Gulf of Mexico and be provided the phone number of the Polluter. This world around this freaken administration is totally upside down. And being told that’s the only point of contact for the American People during this event.
Well just Monday Mr. Bipartisan was in Ohio for a photo op at the largest manufacturer of pipe for oil drilling. Can you appreciate the irony? O’s is a fraud and a failure and deserving of being challenged in the presidential primaries. Whitehouse, Kuccinich, Dean, Feingold, DeFazio your country needs you.
Had the Okies in the 1930’s that lost their livliehoods as a result of the Dust Bowl. Today will have a new generation of environmental refugess that have lost their livelihoods as a result of the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf. Both calamities the result of short sided policies and practices.
I stood on the banks of Lake Apopka in the early eighties. It was spooky.
I keep trying to imagine the Gulf with no life,
Tragic and criminal.
Yes.
Regarding a lack of life you have to include algae and the potential increase of CO2 in the atmosphere from the lack of algae in the Gulf.
zooplankton – basis of all animal/fish life in the oceans
phytoplankton (“the plants of the sea”) – basis of Oxygen Generation in the Oceans which charges the atmosphere
Yes, The results of this are terrifying to contemplate. I truly believe our half of the hemisphere is changed forever and who knows how much the entire planet and its atmosphere?
Anybody know what kind of form these dispersants are in?
I mean – liquid? gel? powder?
I’m not asking because I know anything, because I don’t, but if it’s in liquid form, why can’t they try Simple Green?
It’s about the least toxic cleaner there is, and I don’t know anyone who works on their own cars (raises hand) who doesn’t swear by it
From Simple Green‘s faq
Won’t tell me what’s in it, okay, I won’t use it.
Thanks EW. Incredibly frustrating. Several of us shit for brains were asking the questions about CorExit here at FDL on the first day of disclosed use, around three weeks ago. And now they’ve used hundreds of thousands of gallons.
I went on to have email contact with Florida State University, they didn’t know what the affects of CorExit would be nor about it’s toxicity, Woods Hole also didn’t know (again email contact). I then phoned my Congressional Rep and both Senators asking the same question. They suggested I phone the EPA. I did.
EPA provided me with BP’s emergency response phone number. Three weeks ago.
Something is definitely broken in D.C.
sorry – at little OT –
BP gives Mississippi $15mil to entice beach tourists
http://memphis.bizjournals.com/memphis/stories/2010/05/17/daily17.html
It’s beyond farce.
Is there a march on the Capital to let Congress and the clown in the WH know the people have had enough with business as usual. If 1 million people were willing to attend the coronation there must be 2 million that would be willing to march to let him know the people were serious about change. Are the people no more than consumers and chumps or are they citizens?
Impeach him. Some of us were calling the W.H. and stating he had to cap the well on day 2. That if he didn’t take charge the outcome would be catastrophic. If he he doesn’t get his messages, not our problem. His people had the messages.
email or phone call probably has the same effect. Nothing. Exercise in futility.
At least when I would call Georgie (and the rest of his predecessors) I’d receive a reply back in the mail and many times be put on the Christmas Card list.
This guy is just totally different, or more aptly indifferent.
So now news media has to be “embedded” for them to report on domestic stories? Wonder what they had to agree to to get those rides on the boats and aircraft.
embedded ~ control
I wonder if the Rendon Group is involved in some way or another.
I would bet just about anything that these “embedded” reporters are BP-paid PR people monitoring the crews.
Here at FDL, the sense of outrage and disgust is clearly palatable. Impassioned and rational thoughts as well as emotional angst has been expressed since day one with this cataclysmic disaster. But how can we widen the sense of urgency and wake up what always seems to be a nation of dumbed down and somnambulant citizens that should realize this is a somber warning for what lies ahead for the species. Where is the mass anger? Where is the call for identifiable and meaningful action? This is our future sisters and brothers, being trashed and polluted by the Corporate devils and their handmaiden ObamRahm and his evil minions. How do we stop them? They have the money, the guns, the US Gestapo, and just about everything else except our souls…and I believe they are working on that as well.
I have a 2 year old grandson that I am trying to envision his future…I only come up with horror and sadness thinking what this innocent little one is going to endure because of our collective actions or lack thereof in protecting our Mother Earth and it’s children. Any suggestions that cut right to the bone on where we go from here?
I simply cannot answer that even in the deepest depths of my heart. These are surely sad, sad times!
To Whom it May Concern……
After having read this article, I would like to take the opportunity to make the public and BP aware that Nanotechnology Products already exist for such clean-up situations, as the one this nation presently faces in the Gulf of Mexico.
Green Earth Technologies sells a product line called, G-MARINE Fuel Spill Clean-UP! (NANO Emulsion Technology) Oil Dispersant. G-MARINE Fuel Spill Clean-UP! is a unique blend of plant derived, water based and ultimate biodegradable ingredients specifically formulated to quickly emulsify and encapsulate fuel and oil spills. These plant derived ingredients are processed to form a colloidal micelle whose small particle size (1-4 nanometers) enables it to penetrate and breakdown long chain hydrocarbons bonds in oils and grease and holds them in a colloidal suspension when mixed with water. Once oil has been suspended in a nano-colloidal suspension, there is no reverse emulsion; the oil becomes water soluble allowing it to be consumed by resident bacteria in the water. This dispersant formula is protected by trade secrets pursuant to Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) Standard CFR-1910 1200. The ingredient list has been reviewed by the US EPA and contains no ingredients considered hazardous by OSHA.
Recent Press Release: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/corent-company-evergreen-flying-inc-and-green-earth-technologies-pull-together-resources-in-hopes-to-respond-to-gulf-oil-spill-93405934.html