Finally….this is long overdue. DV
09/29/2010
Elana Schor, E&E reporter
Two House Democrats have requested a broad Government Accountability Office investigation of dispersant use during BP PLC’s Gulf of Mexico oil gusher, including the government’s evaluation of the chemical products’ environmental impacts.
Reps. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in a Monday letter to GAO outlined eight areas of inquiry for an audit of dispersant use. Their request touched on several controversial facets of the still-unfolding dispersant debate, including the effectiveness of U.S. EPA’s dispersant toxicity tests and the agency’s role in evaluating requests by the Coast Guard-led Gulf incident command for exemptions from a May federal order that sought limits on the use of the chemicals.
“The amount of dispersants used was stunning, and we don’t have a clue as to what the effect will be on the environment,” Miller, chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee’s oversight subpanel, said in a statement. “God forbid we ever have another spill like that one, but we need to figure out the effect of massive use of dispersants before that happens.”
Miller and Markey, who leads the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s environment subpanel, described the “massive use of dispersants” during the 87-day oil leak as “a massive and unprecedented environmental experiment.” Government and independent scientists alike have warned that the chemicals’ role in expediting the biodegradation of oil, while it prevents crude from reaching sensitive shorelines, can heighten the risk to marine life by leaving droplets of dispersed oil suspended in the water column (Greenwire
A May 26 edict issued by EPA and the Coast Guard asked BP to limit its spraying of the Corexit 9500 dispersant on the surface of the Gulf save for “rare cases” when other means of containment proved unworkable. The Coast Guard ultimately gave the oil company frequent exemptions from that order, however, and EPA has indicated that it did not always agree with those decisions. Miller and Markey asked GAO to evaluate the circumstances behind the exemptions.
The duo’s request also touched on an Aug. 4 report released by the White House that set off a political scrum by depicting a large majority of the leaked oil as already dispersed or contained. “How accurate is the statement in the Oil Spill Budget Report that stated that 8 percent of the oil released from the wellhead was chemically dispersed?” they asked.
EPA chief Lisa Jackson this week told members of the presidential commission probing the oil disaster that she was “committed to revisiting” policy that governs the approval of dispersants for use during future spills (Greenwire
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Special thanks to Richard Charter