{"id":21524,"date":"2019-01-20T12:49:28","date_gmt":"2019-01-20T01:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=21524"},"modified":"2019-01-20T12:49:30","modified_gmt":"2019-01-20T01:49:30","slug":"chemicals-used-to-fight-bp-spill-were-ineffective-and-toxic-study-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/?p=21524","title":{"rendered":"Chemicals used to fight BP spill were ineffective and toxic, study says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Oil<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The undersea use of chemical dispersants during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster likely did more harm than good, a new study says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A University of Miami-led study indicates that the massive amounts of dispersants BP applied directly at the spewing wellhead \u2013 about a mile below the Gulf of Mexico\u2019s surface \u2013 failed to curb the oil\u2019s spread, and may have increased the disaster\u2019s ecological damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study is one of several in recent months that have questioned whether dispersant should be used at all. Other research cited in the UM study noted that dispersant appears to fight nature\u2019s ability to clean-up after oil spills. A study by the University of Georgia indicates that dispersant kills or inhibits the growth of oil-eating microbes, including naturally-occurring bacteria that rapidly consume oil that dispersants only break apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dispersant has also been linked to illnesses in humans and several types of marine life. The Gulf\u2019s deep sea coral were found to suffer more from a dispersant-oil mix than oil alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no upside in using ineffective measures that can only worsen environmental disasters,\u201d said Claire Paris, a marine scientist and the UM study\u2019s lead author.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BP declined to comment on the study. In the past, BP has said the use of dispersants was approved by federal environmental agencies and the Coast Guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

University of Georgia marine scientist Samantha Joye said the study raises questions about whether dispersants should be used on future oil spills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese findings should change the way we think about spill response (and the) reprioritization of response measures,\u201d said Joye, who assisted with the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The oil industry\u2019s drilling in deeper water in the Gulf underscores the need for alternative measures for dealing with blowouts and spills, UM scientists said. The \u201ccapping stack\u201d method BP used to plug the well nearly three months after the explosion might be a better first response strategy. The study\u2019s authors also suggested more research into \u201cbio-surfactants,\u201d a less toxic and biodegradable option for breaking up spills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.nola.com\/environment\/2018\/11\/chemicals-used-to-fight-bp-spill-were-ineffective-and-toxic-study-says.html\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The undersea use of chemical dispersants during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster likely did more harm than good, a new study says. A University of Miami-led study indicates that the massive amounts of dispersants BP applied directly at the spewing wellhead \u2013 about a mile below the Gulf of Mexico\u2019s surface \u2013 failed to … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Chemicals used to fight BP spill were ineffective and toxic, study says”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21526,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21524\/revisions\/21526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}