Approximately 1.47 million gallons of total dispersant have been applied 972, 000 on the surface and 493, 000 subsea.
My understanding is that the dispersant is actually not used in several Western countries because of its toxicity.
Consequently, their eggs and larvae are presumably being bathed in a toxic soup of oil and dispersant.
Activities such as skimming, dispersant flights and controlled burning have all been suspended because of strong winds and high waves.
The big question is which poses a greater environmental risk: oil washing ashore, or a mixture of oil and dispersant at sea.
Dispersant, which is toxic by itself, also makes the petroleum more toxic.
Should they have been using a different dispersant from the beginning?
BP, the well's owner, has been dropping dispersant chemicals on the slick and trying to shut off the flow using remote-controlled submarines, but has had no luck.
But as we move forward, the EPA believed best to use the least toxic dispersant, again, as we are into -- well into the fourth week of what has happened in the Gulf.
"The dispersant is moving the oil down out of the surface and into the deeper waters, where it can affect phytoplankton and other marine life, " said John Paul, a marine microbiologist at the University of South Florida.
The dispersant that has been used in the largest amounts on this spill, Corexit 9500, is among the most toxic to certain organisms of all those approved by the Environmental Protection Agency for use in oil spills, according to EPA tests.
The reason they had to do that was the ROVs that were doing the subsea dispersant application and the ROVs that were working the insertion tube actually bumped into each other, and it caused the tube to be dislodged and they had to do it again.
应用推荐