[7.01 min 6.42MB] In response to the ongoing oil drilling disaster in the Gulf,
at Noon on Tuesday June 15th, citizens, shrimpers, and representatives gathered at the Capitol Steps of Louisiana's legislature to call for an end to the spread of the dispersant Corexit and for full enforcement of OSHA regulations for oil cleanup workers, including full protective gear.
In response to the ongoing oil drilling disaster in the Gulf, at Noon on Tuesday June 15th, citizens, shrimpers, and representatives gathered at the Capitol Steps of Louisiana's legislature to call for an end to the spread of the dispersant Corexit and for full enforcement of OSHA regulations for oil cleanup workers, including full protective gear.
* George Barisich, President of the United Commercial Fishermens Association * Marylee Orr, Executive Director of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network * John LaBruzzo, Louisiana State Representative, District 81 * C.J. Troxler, Co-founder of the Southeast Louisiana Shrimp Alliance * Roger Ivens, Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response trainer * Christian Roselund, Author and environmental researcher
Over a million gallons of The dispersant Corexit, subtypes 9527 and 9500, have been applied both a mile underwater at the gushing wellhead as well as from overhead through aerial sprays over the coastal parishes
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Each speaker described concerns of their communities, and all described BP's corporate malfeasance and the inaction of the federal government to stand behind the Environmental Protection Agency's May 20th demand, nearly a month ago, that BP use a dispersant both more suitable to Louisiana Sweet Crude and less toxic to Louisiana residents and the fisheries that sustain them economically and culturally. Demands were made to supply all clean-up workers, who are ostensibly under the direction of the federal government with OSHA-appropriate respirators. These respirators, which clean-up workers have been forbidden to use, would protect workers while on the water and on the land from volatilizing oil by products such as benzene, as well as the dispersant chemicals, which are applied haphazardly from the air, rather than at the surface of the water where they are needed.
Recently, there have been additional concerns from University of Alaska biologist and Valdez veteran Rick Steiner. Steiner states that there may not be a need for the deepwater application of any dispersant. Because the force of the gusher itself emulsifies the oil spewing into deepwater plumes, deepwater oil may already be in the form of tiny droplets which are the end product of the dispersant's application, but the data are not available.
This deepwater application has no precedent, and has also already been halted once by EPA, from May 7th to May 10th, because of the unknown marine ecological effects of these additional toxins. A National Academy of Sciences report found that dispersants remained resident in shellfish and in microorganisms that serve important ecological recycling functions at the bottom of the gulf.
Whatever the uncertainty of health and environmental effects, what is known is that Louisiana residents will be facing them for years if not decades.
