The mess in Gulf of Mexico

I find what is going on in Gulf of Mexico very, very disturbing.

Setting aside the disaster event and what led to it just off shore of Louisiana is one thing, but I’m questioning the motives and actions of some people at BP and US government. Are these folks listening to scientific advisers that quantify and state risks, or lobbyists and folks in leadership positions that are concerned about optics above all?

Take for example the use of the chemical dispersants that are used to alter physical properties of crude oil that normally floats on the surface of the water. 

There are two problems with this approach that I can see:

1.

The chemical dispersants are themselves nasty chemicals designed to turn crude oil into emulsion like substance and sink to the bottom. The chemical cocktail in question is named COREXIT 9500. You can find the MSDS at this URL http://bit.ly/bI5xbd .

In a nutshell COREXIT contains surfactants that are based among other things on 10% (w/w) petroleum products containing aromatic hydrocarbons. Aromats are a very good sources of irritants, carcinogens, pathogens and mutagens. Dumping hundreds of thousands of tons of this material into aquatic environment just blows my mind. OK, while crude oil is somewhat related to COREXIT in composition, crude oil is much more complex and damaging mix of hydrocarbons with even worse impact potential on the environment. So we are treating terrible with bad...

2.

We are making the crude oil starting to sink to the bottom, literally pushing the problem out of our view. Everyone in the media is preoccupied with oil hitting the shore, cleaning up the birds and other land animals. They say, stand by for the full environmental impact...

Aquatic environment is much more delicate and sensitive than our environment on the land. Both are interconnected however. Aquatic food chain that is being slaughtered as we speak is based on plankton. Plankton is on the bottom of the food chain and is absolutely critical food source to many aquatic species from shrimp, through variety of fish to whales. Guess what? Fish, shrimp and other crustaceans are already part of our food chain and food chain of living land creatures. As time progresses, birds and other animals will starve from lack of food or get poisoned by ingesting toxic fish or plants. Then there is the human food chain. See? It’s all interconnected.

Hmm, it looks like we are in no win situation. If we don’t make oil sink, it will severely impact the shores and its inhabitants. It is a terrible mess to look at - the oil covered beaches and marshes, dead birds, turtles and other sea creatures that didn’t make it and others that are suffering, being rescued by people. Your public relations nightmare...

If we make the oil sink, the sea life is severely impacted as creatures swim through the mess and the sea floor dwellers just get covered by it and die. We have chosen the second method that covers the terrible destruction under the water surface as it is out of sight and out of mind. At least for now.

I don’t want to sound like a hypocrite stating this is someone else’s problem, because we are all equally responsible by our dependency on crude oil. I drive a car, on daily basis I use items made out of plastics and other chemicals that are made from crude oil, so I’m just as guilty as the next guy fueling the demand for crude.

Bottom line: We are all going to pay for this mess one way or another.

Lessons learned and action items: Control oil lobby. Immediately, tighten up environmental and safety regulations for the off shore drilling to prevent such occurrences from happening again. Invest more into new clean technologies and renewable energy, energy storage, make the effort to get off the crude oil to throttle down the demand.  Exercise proper risk management and generally make responsible choices that will not have such profound impact on the environment, security and ultimately, us all.