8 years ago
2
Study suggests chemical used in BP oil spill cleanup capable of injuring people and wildlife
Scientists say a chemical used to cleanup the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill could have caused health problems, but BP denies it.
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OK, so hindsight is 20/20. Put yourself in BP's shoes at the time of the spill. I'm not going to dispute much that should have been done prior to the spill.
Oh, SHIT! The well blew up and it's pumping shitloads of oil into the ocean. We need to act quick, and we know that Corexit has been in use for 40 years as an oil spill dispersant. It's never been used at this magnitude before, but there's never been a spill of this magnitude before either. We call up Corexit and EPA and determine (from EPA) that you can use it if you follow the directions closely. OK, we tell Corexit that we'll take everything they have and then some and start using it. 3.5 weeks later, EPA calls up and says you can't use Corexit anymore, you have 24 hours to pick something from this list and use it instead. Or prove that all the other available options are equally as toxic. BP said they are all just as bad and we're already using Corexit. EPA was like 'whatever, we don't think you actually did a study, so we're going to do our own study.' EPA's study, which took a couple months to be peer-reviewed, determined that all the alternatives to Corexit are just as toxic as Corexit. It also determined that crude oil is just as toxic as Corexit and the alternatives. So, whether BP did a study or not, they were right.
I'm not saying that every action they took was the right action, but I can't say that I would have acted differently.
This chemical was approved by your own Federal Government.