Unless you have been living in a tent in the outback of Australia, I am sure you are aware that the BP oil company has been spilling 200,000 gallons of oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico from their wrecked oil platform. They have been trying various solutions including a seawater/oil separator from a company owned by Kevin Costner.

But the solution that they have been using right from the beginning is a chemical dispersant. There are twelve different types of dispersants approved by the EPA for breaking up oil in seawater. Two of those are rated as 100% effective on southern Louisiana crude oil. But BP chose to use a product called Corexit. Corexit is less than 65% effective on southern Louisiana crude oil. Corexit is also one of the most toxic of the 12 dispersants rated at up to 20 times more toxic than the more effective dispersants.

So why would BP choose to use a chemical that is more toxic and less effective? Do they know something that we don’t know? Is their some secret that BP is trying to keep from us that explains their seeming madness? Corexit is manufactured by a company called Nalco. And guess who is on the board of Nalco. Did you guess executives from BP? Give yourself a cigar! Do you think the reason that Corexit is being used is because the executives of BP are basically selling the product to themselves?

Bruce Gebhardt, president of the company that manufactures Dispersit, a much safer and more effective product, says he could make 60,000 gallons a day of Dispersit which would cover the needs of BP. But he says his product has failed to get much market share. “When we came out with a safer product, we thought people would jump on board,” he said. “That’s not the case. We were never able to move anyone of any size off the Corexit product.” Maybe you need to put some BP executives on your board, Bruce.

Source: NY Times article, Less Toxic Dispersants Lose Out in BP Oil Spill Cleanup