Spill Fighters

Stopping the ongoing leak, skimming the oil off the water, blocking it from reaching land, then bioremediation.  There are many fronts to the fight of an oil spill.

I wanted to share a video from YouTube that shows a machine that will separate 97% of the oil out of seawater.  Please take look.  If this proves to be viable, then we will certainly make this a recommended device for any oil spill in the future.

I just found this study that the Federal Government did on using microbes to ‘remediate’ oil spills and other toxic chemicals.  Although it is from 1991, it is clearly positive and demonstrates that this process of oil cleanup up is very valid and has very limited side effects.

Here is a direct quote from the Federal Government’s Enviornmental Protection Agency from the document.   The study is extensive, but worth reading.

“EPA regards biotechnologies as having significant potential for the prevention, reduction,
and treatment of pollution, and the Agency has placed considerable emphasis on the demonstration
and development of these technologies.”

I have posted it here.

I want to thank all of you for being so kind and supportive in the effort to get BP and the Government to adopt the microbe solution, but we have another reason for getting their attention.   I was recently briefed by a petroleum engineer as to the compounds in one of the dispersants being used right now to ‘clean’ up the Oil Spill.

Arsenic!

This very poisonous heavy metal is in one of the dispersant solutions that is being applied to the water.  I’m looking for specific quantities per day but have not found them yet.   I did find a spec sheet of the COEXIT-A product here.

Read the warning about handling the product—you know that it is toxic or at least caustic:

Skin and eye contact; protective clothing; treatment in case of contact:  Avoid eye contact. In case of eye contact, immediately flush eyes with large amounts of water for at least 15 minutes. Get prompt medical attention. Avoid contact with skin and clothing. In case of skin contact, immediately flush with large amounts of water, and soap if available. Remove contaminated clothing, including shoes, after flushing has begun. If irritation persists, seek medical attention. For open systems where contact is likely, wear long sleeve shirt, chemical resistant gloves, and chemical protective goggles.

This product is highly flammable and the ingredients are listed as CONFIDENTIAL so the public does not know exactly what is going into their precious Gulf of Mexico, but with a flash point of only 175 F degrees  you can guess it contains distillates or other environmentally harmful chemicals.   No marinelife can live in a solution that ignites at just 175F degrees.

Although, I loath using dispersants, I can applaud the maker of this one being used today (Version A), because it is 20 times less toxic than the preceding version.   It would be interesting to know if BP had any of the older dispersant and if they had used it on this spill.