New Documentary ‘Dirty Energy’ highlights dangerous role of dispersants in BP’s cleanup effort
In the movie, marine toxicologist Riki Ott summarized what the oil industry learned from the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989: “We have to control the images. We’ve got to minimize the appearance of damages. That will limit our liability.”
That’s what BP did in the Gulf. “If you disperse it, you don’t see it,” said shrimper George Barisich, who attended the screening of “Dirty Energy” in Port Huron on Jan. 19. “As they dispersed it more and more, the less people saw, the more they forgot about it.” Read more here
Corexit 9500 is a solvent originally developed by Exxon and now manufactured by the Nalco (owned by Goldman Sachs) of Naperville, Illinois. Corexit is four times more toxic than oil in itself as a separate substance (oil is toxic at 11 ppm (parts per million), Corexit 9500 at only 2.61ppm).
This dispersant is banned in many parts of the world. Corexit is many times more toxic than crude oil by itself and when Corexit is used to hide oil, as it was during the Deepwater Horizon spill, the synergistic compound formed by Corexit and crude oil is even more devastating to the environment than either by themselves.
Depending on the extent of the research done and for the time frame that is used to project out its effects on the years to come, estimates range from between 11 to 52 as the multiplier for toxicity, the consequence of using this Corexit cover-up.
The Exxon Valdez spill is still evident by finding crude beneath the sand after digging an 18″ hole in any of the beaches in the area. Researchers say that the oil looks as fresh as if the spill was last week—Exxon Valdez happened 24 years ago. The once prolific Valdez herring fishing has never been the same and the Salmon that have returned to Valdez have serious deformities.
As usual, the defenses employed by the Oil Barons are nothing but a series of lies.
References
http://fishery.about.com/b/2012/12/18/dispersant-suit-dismissed.htm?nl=1
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/344-208/11417-horrific-injuries-linked-to-bp-dispersant-corexit
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/study-corexit-made-gulf-oil-spill-52-
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/12/chemical-dispersant-made-bps-gulf-oilspill-52-times-more-toxic
http://scienceray.com/biology/ecology/the-dirty-truth-about-bp-gulf-oil-spill-dispersant-nalco-corexit/
I found it troubling that the people that worked the clean up in Alaska have died at the age they did. That is revealing about the toxicity.