There are two very distinct missions right now, related to the BP oil catastrophe on the gulf coast. About one, we can do very little, and so for our purposes are setting it aside. About the other, we can affect great change, so that is where we focus.

Stopping the leak

This is the one place I actually believe BP is doing everything it can. Mostly I believe BP is throwing a series of attempts they know won’t work at the problem, simply to buy time and placate people until the relief well gets drilled. Just as in 1979, the old tricks are exactly the same. Teams of scientists are working 24/7 to stop this devastation, which BP created through its own negligence, and under the watch of its cozy bed buddies in the MMS and related agencies. There is much accountability to be held here, but the finger pointing and blame games must be set aside while we focus on the most critical piece: “plugging that damn hole”.

Cleaning up the oil

Here there is much we can be doing… we MUST be doing.

Eliminate Corexit! Making a bad situation much worse BP moved quickly to dump massive amounts of toxic dispersant Corexit into the Gulf. BP might want you to believe this is their earnest effort to help clean their mess. But make no mistake, this move came in part to limit BP’s liability. BP knew from day one that sophisticated satellite imagery was picking up and monitoring the oil appearing on the surface of the Gulf.

BP thenlaunched its campaign to convince us that only a fraction of what was actually leaking, was in fact leaking. The sooner BP got the Corexit in the water (and the more of it they dumped there) the less that would appear on the surface of the water (and, since fines are levied by gallons dumped, the more they could reduce their potential fines later). There may be other reasons for BP’s use of Corexit as well. Corexit breaks the oil down into smaller particles so it sinks below the surface. Understand the oil is not gone. It is simply now in droplets infused with a highly toxic chemical that is poisoning the fragile Gulf ecosystem, from the lowest levels of the food chain. For a close up view of what this looks like under the water, watch this video with Phillipe Cousteau, Jr.

As of yesterday the EPA is proudly announcing the use of Corexit by BP is “down”, while the EPA still won’t move to force BP to eliminate its use altogether. Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the EPA can be found on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/lisapjackson. Send her the message – stop BP’s use of Corexit immediately! Lisa’s office number is: 202-564-4700. Call it EVERY DAY until Corexit is BANNED. You can also submit a question on the EPA Administration’s public forum.

Folks, DO NOT REST from this mission. This is critical. One of the recently discovered oil plumes, 22 miles long and hanging just below the surface (thanks to Corexit, but neatly out of sight of the satellite imagery) may be a bigger threat to our ecosystem in the long run, than the oil on the surface. We have tools to skim the water (even if BP isn’t being forced to use them).

Use Available Non-Toxic Remedies! NOW. Employ better, safer options, like some of the many bioremediation products already approved by the EPA. Here is the EPA National Contingency Product Schedule, which outlines all approved products for use. Do any of you believe that with a list this long BP simply could not find a better option than Corexit, which was banned more than a decade ago in Britain?  Yes, I’m sick about the oil leak. But many people will grow physically ill as a result of the Corexit. From a life cycle standpoint, the smallest life forms ingest the Corexit or absorb it into their bodies, and as these creatures are consumed up the food chain, more and more deformities and illnesses are propagated. Can our ecosystem recover from the oil spill?  I believe it can (provided BP actually stops it). I do not know if it can recover from Corexit.

How about the microbial products, like the one mentioned already on our site from Aabaco. This is a safe, nontoxic, biodegradable product that has been in use for oil spill clean up for 20 years. They ship it to Dubai, the Inuit use it. How about Bioremediation SOT-11. Here is an interesting article that describes bioremediation which you should read.  Here is an excerpt:

A very bad event in history led to bioremediation finally getting a chance to show the impact it could make. On March 23, 1989, there was a huge oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The name of the oil tanker was the Exxon Valdez. While making a routine trip through a terminal in Price William Sound, 240,000 barrels of oil were knocked off into the water. Devastating the land, water, and anything living anywhere near the water. After a long struggle with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the scientists were allowed to use bioremediation on the surrounding area. There were strains of bacteria that were sprayed onto the land surrounding the water. This meant that mostly beaches were cleaned. Although it was a long and hard process, the use of bioremediation in cleaning up this mess was not only helpful in restoring the beauty. It was also helpful in restoring the safety of any person, plant, or animal that lived in the surrounding area.

How many citizens must fall ill before someone takes action? How long before the first Corexit-exposed fisherman dies before we all stand up together and DEMAND BETTER REMEDIES? Make no mistake, like the USCG, it will be blamed on heat, or exhaustion or any other naturally occurring element they can think of to take the blame. And as you sit there and listen, knowing they are flat out lying to you, will you be able to say “I did all I could”?

Call your representatives, call the EPA, we all need to be yelling in unison.  Again, we are not focused on the leak. We are focused on the safety of our earth, of our people, of our delicate marine life. Imagine living along the gulf coast. Once hurricanes start moving in, thunderstorms pulling water from the gulf and raining down on your houses, in your public water supplies.  You will know, every day, that water has some amount of Corexit in it. The water your kids swim in, bathe in, the water you drink.

Here are our messages to the government:

  1. Demand BP stop using Corexit immediately – whatever it takes.
  2. Demand they start buying (on your local level) the products we already know work (like the Aabaco product described on the site).
  3. Demand that the USCG step aside and allow access for all citizens (including and especially the press) to the damaged site to document and tell us all the truth about the extent of damage.