Gulf of Mexico BP Oil Rig
Obama administration officials convened today and subsequently defended British Petroleum’s use of dispersants, the most recent solution to the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Assistant administrator at the EPA’s special office on Research and Development Paul Anastas went before the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, and offered as consolation the fact that much consideration was given before moving to seemingly drastic measures such as the use of dispersants. According to the Anastas testimony, “…when you look at all of the tools to combat this tragedy… dispersants have been shown to be one important tool in that toolbox.”
Later, the director of the Office of Response and Restoration at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offered the analogy wherein dispersants were like an intensive chemotherapy session, being used to treat a disaster that is fast moving and most likely fatal, just like an aggressive cancer and its necessary treatment. Taking time out for long-term research, but that represents the long term plan, while immediate and proactive, aggressive action still needed to be taken in order to curb the disaster that looms in the Gulf.
Further Concerns With the Use of Dispersants From the EPA Test Results
The administrations defense of the use of dispersants comes on the heels of several Congress members, including Representative Edward Markey (Democrat, Massachusetts), continued concerns about the so-called disaster response and its effectiveness. Markey and others have argues that the chemicals used during the dispersant process are adding further toxic material to the already-laden Gulf, thereby increasing the likely risk of greater negative impact on the environment. Adding insult to injury here, the Environmental Protection Agency also released their results of analysis done on the use of dispersants, this week, noting that an oil/dispersant mixture is nearly the same as plain oil in terms of its toxicity levels.
(Image Via: ADI News)
