Poof! Disaster gone

The July issue of Washington Spectator (only subscribers can read articles online) is about BP and the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that was 3 years ago. The central article says it wasn't a cleanup, but a cover-up.

The hundreds of millions of gallons of crude oil were treated with millions of gallons of Corexit. This chemical doesn't dissolve or break apart the oil as one would expect. Instead, it binds with the oil and the combination sinks to the bottom of the ocean.

From BP's point of view this stuff is great! Spray it on and, Poof!, PR disaster is gone. It even allows for underestimating how much oil was spilled, a good thing because fines are based on the amount.

But, from everyone else's point of view…

Corexit is highly toxic and the combination of Corexit and crude is even more so.

Because BP made the claim that "the toxicity of Corexit is about the same as dish soap" it refused to allow any of the cleanup workers wear any kind of respirator or protective gear (bad images for PR). About 42,000 people in the Gulf area were exposed. Many now have severe health issues.

The fish, oyster, shrimp, and crab industries of the Gulf have been decimated. Most of those live on the bottom, where the Corexit-crude ended up. Colonies of coral aren't doing very well either.

The health problems of Corexit were well known before the spill. They're on the OSHA safety handling sheets. But workers were not allowed to read those.

Alas, at the time the EPA parroted BP claims of low toxicity. Whether the EPA will start protecting people instead of oil companies (no need to guess what will be used on the next oil spill) is an ongoing battle. The battle against BP is also ongoing.

Alas, a side article says this is not the first time the EPA has sided with the polluter.