BP Getting Daily Exemptions to Directive Limiting Surface Dispersant

[tekisui]

Source: ProRepublica

Ever since the EPA and the Coast Guard directed BP to significantly reduce dispersant use and, in particular, to “eliminate the surface application” of dispersants, BP has written in to request exemptions almost every day.

The requests for exemptions to the directive, which was issued on May 26, are all posted online http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doctype/2931/57851/">1. Exemptions for surface dispersants were requested for every day last month except June 20, 21 and 27. The requests were “routinely approved, nearly always without modification,” noted Richard Denison, a senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund who has been watching the subject closely http://blogs.edf.org/nanotechnology/2010/07/07/exceptions-swallow-the-rule-rare-cases-turn-into-daily-approvals-for-dispersant-use/">2. (Kate Sheppard at Mother Jones also posted on this http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/07/bp-ignoring-dispersant-directives-coast-guards-consent">3.)

But the exemptions, which must be approved by the Federal On-Scene Coordinator, are intended to be rare. Here’s the text of the directive http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/dispersants/directive-addendum3.pdf">4, emphasis added:

Surface Application. BP shall eliminate the surface application of dispersants. In rare cases when there may have to be an exemption, BP must make a request in writing to the FOSC providing justification which will include the volume, weather conditions, mechanical or means for removal that were considered and the reason they were not used, and other relevant information to justify the use of surface application. The FOSC must approve the request and volume of dispersant prior to initiating surface application.

When I asked the EPA whether the use of these exemptions were in keeping with what it said should be “rare cases,” the agency gave me the following response: “EPA took these steps to ensure that BP prioritized skimming and burning and relied on surface application only as a last resort. That prioritization has happened.”

The EPA also said that the goal of the directive was to “ramp down dispersant use from peak usage, and dispersant use has dropped by nearly 70 percent.” (As we’ve pointed out, it has dropped by around 70 percent from the peak, but average daily use has dropped only around 9 percent http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/after-epa-directive-on-average-bp-reduced-dispersant-use-by-9-percent">5 since the directive.)

more: http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/bp-getting-daily-exemptions-directive-limiting-surface-dispersant

[nashville_brook]

1. propublica rocks! this is an intriguing article. worth reading the whole thing!