What are we dumping into the Gulf to ‘fix’ the oil spill?

What are we dumping into the Gulf to ‘fix’ the oil spill?

In addition to the indignity of oil oozing into its depths at a rate of at least 5,000 barrels per day, the Gulf of Mexico is now enduring a heavy rain of mystery chemicals.

BP and the U.S. Coast Guard are dumping large amounts of "dispersants" both on the surface and underwater, in a desperate attempt to control the ongoing spill. Dispersants are surfactants, not unlike what you use on your dishes, that break oil down into small droplets that sink into the water.

And what precisely are they dumping? That's where the mystery comes in. "The exact makeup of the dispersants is kept secret under competitive trade laws," Propublica reports.

What? Let me get this straight. A huge oil company is pumping massive amounts of oil directly into public waters, imperiling the health of some of the globe's most productive fisheries -- as well as communities around the coast. To try to minimize the effects of the ongoing spill, the company starts dumping chemicals into that same public water. And not just a little -- a third of the global supply is on hand. And we don't have the right to know what those chemicals are? That's a scandal.

Propublica did manage to identify one product currently being used, called Corexit, which includes 2-butoxyethanol, a "compound associated with headaches, vomiting and reproductive problems at high doses."

This is practically unimaginable.

The scale of this disaster is bad enough, now they are dumping 100,00 gallons a day of some unknown chemical to help "fix" the problem.

How much are they dumping? Lots. According to ProPublica, "BP has already bought up more than a third of the world's supply" of dispersants. On Thursday alone, ProPublica reports, emergency workers dropped 100,000 gallons of the stuff into the Gulf.

good question.

brought up earlier here, though:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Yeah but what can you do? Does anyone get a say in anything that goes on?No, we just have to sit back and watch, unless you protest but you need masses of people up in arms to stop this and i dont think enough people really give a damn.

reply to post by chrisrand


your going to laugh if i tell you what there using Polysorbate 80 (commercially also known as Tween 80), is a nonionic surfactant and emulsifier derived from polyethoxylated sorbitan and oleic acid. So the same thing that makes potato chips retain no oil is used for oil spills. Think about that next time you buy low calorie foods lol.

Anything that they do, to solve the crisis ends up worse, you do know that already. This isn't the disturbing part yet, the spill is going to make the waters in the gulf very very warm, which will spawn massive I mean massive sized hurricanes that will make Katrina look small in size comparison. Once the heat belt in the ocean warms up dramatically which will really accelerate the melting of the ice up north from the absorption of heat from the rays of the sun. This will slow even stop this convection heat belt and will bring the earth into an actual full scale ice age into the northern hemisphere. This will also be helped by a blanket of ash in the atmosphere by blocking out the sun. It'll be one frozen toxic planet soon.

Stock up on food and gas now if you haven't done it. and stockpile fresh water for those who live on those coastlines. I will not eat any seafood anymore, because the price will skyrocket, and seafood would be contaminated.

Originally posted by Shrukin89
Anything that they do, to solve the crisis ends up worse, you do know that already. This isn't the disturbing part yet, the spill is going to make the waters in the gulf very very warm, which will spawn massive I mean massive sized hurricanes that will make Katrina look small in size comparison. Once the heat belt in the ocean warms up dramatically which will really accelerate the melting of the ice up north from the absorption of heat from the rays of the sun. This will slow even stop this convection heat belt and will bring the earth into an actual full scale ice age into the northern hemisphere. This will also be helped by a blanket of ash in the atmosphere by blocking out the sun. It'll be one frozen toxic planet soon.

Stock up on food and gas now if you haven't done it. and stockpile fresh water for those who live on those coastlines. I will not eat any seafood anymore, because the price will skyrocket, and seafood would be contaminated.

That's what I was afraid of...I posted a few questions on this topic a few days ago asking if this was possible....the oil retaining so much heat, that it collapsed the thermohaline system.

Just curious...do you have any good articles or sources on that? I'm wondering about time frame, amount of oil needed, etc...

[edit on 9-5-2010 by nikiano]

ive said it before here, use kitty litter and/or sawdust! it will absorb most of the oil even in water, then can be scoopedout*
funny as this sounds, it works, ive tried it in gargae withused motor oil and water in a bucket*

There are several methods being employed to "fix" the oil spill: dispersants, controlled burn, robots attempting to fix the valves, booms, and skimmers. All of these methods are low tech.