BP dumps hundreds of thousands of gallons of surfactants on oil spill to sink and hide oil slick
Spray it forward.
What are we dumping into the Gulf to ‘fix’ the oil spill?by Tom Philpot
In addition to the indignity of oil oozing into its depths at a rate of at least 5,000 barrels per day, the Gulf of Mexico is now enduring a heavy rain of mystery chemicals.
BP and the U.S. Coast Guard are dumping large amounts of "dispersants" both on the surface and underwater, in a desperate attempt to control the ongoing spill. Dispersants are surfactants, not unlike what you use on your dishes, that break oil down into small droplets that sink into the water. .
How much are they dumping? Lots. According to ProPublica, "BP has already bought up more than a third of the world's supply" of dispersants. On Thursday alone, ProPublica reports, emergency workers dropped 100,000 gallons of the stuff into the Gulf.
(snip)
Propublica did manage to identify one product currently being used, called Corexit, which includes 2-butoxyethanol, a "compound associated with headaches, vomiting and reproductive problems at high doses."
The oil treated with surfactants breaks up in little droplets and sinks instead of floating as sludge. If BP had spill collection boom equipment it is supposed to have, the floating oil spill could be contained and collected by skimming the sludge off the top of the water, and it could thus be kept from washing ashore.
But BP doesn't have that equipment. So it couldn't contain the slick. Instead it is trying to sink the oil in order to lessen the visual impact. And it is poisoning the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The oil will wash ashore more slowly -less spectacularly- and it will poison the ecosystem of the Gulf at all levels.
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