oldephartte(in training)

opit · at 2:48 am

084 (Photo credit: spf3million)

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Photo credit: AGrinberg)

English: A C-130 Hercules from the Air Force Reserve Command's 910th Airlift Wing at Youngstown-Warren Air Reserve Station, Ohio, drops an oil-dispersing chemical into the Gulf of Mexico May 5, 2010, as part of the Deepwater Horizon Response effort. The 910th AW specializes in aerial spray and is the Department of Defense's only large-area, fixed-wing aerial spray unit. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sign protesting use of toxic "Corexit&quo...

Sign protesting use of toxic "Corexit" chemical dispersant in the BP Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, at the Bastille Day Tumble, French Quarter, New Orleans. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Google Seach on Corexit...yielded results past the first page today, unlike my notes on the 'fixed page'

.Corexit:: the more we know the more we regret
A new modelling study shows the ineffectiveness of deepsea dispersant

Newer research has come out against Corexit completely--arguing that the oil and Corexit mix is more toxic than oil alone, and that Corexit is actually toxic to the bacteria it is supposed to help feed.

New research this month in Environmental Science and Technology argues that deepsea dispersant application wasn't needed at all. Apparently, modelling shows that the physical pressure of the BP's underwater geyser dispersed the oil itself, without the need for chemical assistance.

Although there were many other things learned about the movement of oil in the deepwater Gulf as a result of this modelling effort, the principle whereby BP's oil self -emulsified is well known. This video from 2010 demonstrates the principle how a deepwater plume forms under pressure in saltwater. This is the deepwater plume that BP denied existed for so long.

Dispersants have their place in oil response, specifically to keep oil from coating our marshes. But they are a precision tool.

You can't use a socket wrench as a hammer, and you can't use dispersants to "clean" oil from the water. Dispersants are designed for limited spills, applied to the water (not the air) at the surface, and work over weeks. Corexit itself was designed for Alaskan oil, and is only 50% effective on Louisiana sweet crude--BP admitted to the fact that it only used Corexit because of its existing "availability." The industry push to use dispersants as a "one-size-fits-all" response is strong enough that we must forcefully ask our government to review the science.

Could Corexit have made BP crude travel to sinkhole disaster site?

A disturbing scientific report released this week implies the possibility that Corexit 9500A used to cover up BP oil after the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe began in April 2010 could make crude oil travel underground for long distances, possibly as far as the historic Bayou Corne sinkhole where crude from an unknown source is being released.

Researchers Alissa Zuijdgeest and Markus Huettel showed with a set of laboratory-column experiments that adding the chemical dispersant Corexit 9500A increases mobility of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in saturated permeable sediments by up to 100-fold.

PAHs, also known as poly-aromatic hydrocarbons or polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, are potent atmospheric toxins.

Distribution and concentrations of PAHs, measured in the solid phase and effluent water of the columns using GC/MS, revealed that the PAHs mobility depended on their hydrophobicity (lack of affinity with water or inability to dissolve in water) and was species specific also in the presence of dispersant.

"Flushing columns with seawater after percolation of the oiled water resulted in enhanced movement by remobilization of retained PAHs," the researchers stated.

"In other words, repeated flushing by waves washing up a contaminated beach may pump PAHs deep into the sediment when dispersant is present," reported Julia Whitty for Mother Jones.

An in-situ benthic chamber experiment, one that simulates deep sea conditions, demonstrated that aromatic hydrocarbons are "transported into permeable sublittoral sediment, emphasizing the relevance of our laboratory column experiments in natural settings," the researchers said.

"The oil concentrations used in our experiments are at the lower end of those reported for coastal waters after the Deepwater Horizon accident, and the Gulf of Mexico beaches were flooded with consecutive surges of oil," stated Zuijdgeest and Huettel.

"We conclude that the addition of dispersants permits crude oil components to penetrate faster and deeper into permeable saturated sands, where anaerobic conditions may slow degradation of these compounds, thus extending the persistence of potentially harmful PAHs in the marine environment.

"I am an oyster harvester in Apalachicola bay Florida," commented "Skyinpie" on Mother Jones."For some reson the oys[t[er are not repuducing. No spat at all. I have oystered for 26yr. Most years I harvest about 1200lb. a day, but this year my harvest is about 120lb. a day. A 90% drop, and thair are no small oyster to put back.

"I will not be able to make a living from a harvest like that," he says.

"Also the fish are not reproducing nor are the blue crabs. The mullet have no eggs this year. Apalachicola bay is in very bad shape. The bay has look wors[e] every year from the BP spill. I think the dispersants have a role to play in the death of Apalachicola Bay.

The authors of the new study report finding fertility issues and higher mortality in Gulf sea life:

Increased mortality in planktonic copepods exposed to dispersants with stronger effects on small-sized species.
In early life stages of Atlantic herring, dispersed oil dramatically impaired fertilization success.
Grey mullet exposed to chemically dispersed oil showed both a higher bioconcentration of PAHs and a higher mortality than fish exposed to either the water-soluble fraction of oil or the mechanically dispersed oil.
( And because I am anal about groundwater contamination, any thoughts of super mobility of pollutants spreading throughout the water table is grounds for alarm - pun acknowledged )
"Dispersants would also make it possible for oil to spread wider, for example inland, posing an even more serious threat to aquifers," stated neuroscientist Dr. Paul Brown on Sunday. "I bet more people will start showing Gulf Syndrome further inland."

Brown recently demonstrated at a Bayou Corne resident briefing about the historic Louisiana sinkhole disaster that there is a community health monitoring failure, including for reproductive health issues.

Does the new study have implications for inland conditions occurring now, such as the giant sinkhole s140 miles away from the Macondo well that is still spewing oil? Crude oil from an unknown source is also being released into the sinkhole area.