Despite Being Explicitly Told Not To, BP Used Dispersant

Despite the May 26 directive issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Coast Guard approved dozens of requests by BP to disperse hundred of thousands of gallons of surface oil dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico. The actual directive stated that they should only be using dispersants rarely, this according to documents analyzed by a Congressional subcommittee.

In fact, in some of the requests the Coast Guard approved, there wasn’t even an upper limit set on the amount of dispersant that BP planned to disperse.

The Democratic chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, Edward J Markey, wrote in a letter to the retired Coast Guard admiral who is in charge of leading a federal response to the oil spill, Thad W. Alen, that the dispersants were contributing to “a toxic stew of chemicals, oil and gas, with impacts that are not well understood,”

In a conference call between the Admiral and the E.P.A. Administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, they said they were working closely together on the issue, and were coming close to achieving the agency’s goal of diminishing the use of dispersant amounts by three quarters.

On the 26th of May, the E.P.A. Had blatantly told BP it was to stop its use of dispersants on the ocean surface, except in “rare cases when there may have to be an exemption.” They were also told to strictly limit the amounts they used underwater.

Seems BP just can’t stop stepping in a heap of trouble.. One wonders when they will finally get things cleared away, and if they will be held accountable for the destruction they have wrought on the environment.