The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Catastrophe: After 7 Years, We’re Still Stuck with Toxic Corexit
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Nearly 2-million gallons of Corexit were dumped onto spilled oil in the Gulf or injected into the leaking wellhead after the spill. Dispersants act similarly to dish soap – but are not as benign, despite BP’s frequent comparisons. Dispersants like Corexit contain chemicals that are harmful to human health and to sea life; the small droplets not only disperse more widely than the oil itself while being harder to see, but are also more easily ingested by organisms up and down the food chain, threatening entire ecosystems in the Gulf.
BP and the government made a tradeoff using Corexit. They believed it was more dangerous to allow oil to reach the shoreline and vulnerable estuaries than to use dispersants in the Gulf, to break up the oil to accelerate biodegradation. But the risks of using dispersants in such quantities and at such depths have never been fully analyzed. The harm to life on the sea floor, in the water column, and along the shoreline should be enough to halt future use under such conditions until the long-term impacts of the use of dispersants in the Deepwater Horizon aftermath can be adequately assessed.
Harm to sea life and the environment are just some of the many downsides to the unprecedented use of dispersants following the BP disaster. In Nalco’s application to the EPA for Corexit, they recommended using protective gear when applying the dispersant to avoid skin or eye contact, and seeking medical attention in case such an accident occurs. GAP has previously documented the harmful health effects of contact with Corexit to Gulf responders who cleaned the spill. Some of these impacts are severe, rendering victims incapable of carrying on their normal lives.
More:
https://www.whistleblower.org/blog/091121-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-catastrophe-after-7-years-we%E2%80%99re-still-stuck-toxic-corexit
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