Source:
Elyria Chronicle-TelegramSaunders’ unit has flown 86 missions over 28,000 acres of water, where they spray a chemical called Corexit 9500 from 100 feet above the water onto the oil below. The chemical breaks up oil slicks and hastens breakdown. “It causes the oil to break up into droplets and that allows the environment to break it down quicker over time,” Saunders said. “It also causes (the oil droplets) to sink. We spray far away from shore so the oil’s not sinking on sensitive areas like coral and shrimp.”
Saunders said it’s one way to keep the oil from contaminating the shoreline. Although oil is already washing up on Louisiana’s coastline, it hasn’t made landfall elsewhere yet. “We were initially spraying east of the source, but since that time the oil slick is actually flowing more toward the west and northwest so we’ve shifted where we’re working,” he said.
The flight crews look for brown or black oil floating on the surface. Reddish oil means emulsification has begun and the Corexit won’t be that effective, Saunders said. “The oil is pretty far-spread,” Saunders said. “Once it comes up, it tends to break into long bands of oil and slicks. It’s not one continuous oil slick.” ...
“It’s just wider-spread than you initially imagine,” he said. “Luckily, it hasn’t spread too far on the coast. It’s bad enough, but it hasn’t hit Mississippi or western Florida yet. It’s going to have a long-term effect.”
Read more:
http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2010/05/31/elyria-pilot-flying-anti-oil-missions/
So BP has been using our Air Force to spray hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the ocean from a height of 100 feet in order to sink the oil into the ocean's food chain in order to hide the extent of its ongoing ecological disaster and to guarantee that BP won't have to pay for any costs of any plan that would do anything to actually clean up its mess.