Oil spills and leaks are an ever increasing fact of modern life. Pipelines leak into streams and aquifers. Tankers and wells have spewed and spilled into the oceans. Toxic chemical oil dispersants and other oil spill response chemicals are used for clean-up in the aftermath. About 1.84 million gallons were released into the Gulf of Mexico during British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon disaster - even without knowing the health and environmental impacts of this wide-scale usage. A rule process begun in 2001 for among other things - toxicity testing - of these dispersants was released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this January. After its published in the Federal Register, it will be subject to a 90-day public review and comment period.
The spills are bad enough. Hopefully, public comment and common sense will reduce additional damage during clean-up.
Incidentally, Canadian tar sands oil, is thicker and heavier than traditional crude and sinks rather than floats making clean up even more difficult. It’s past time to end dependence on old fossils and build clean energy economies.
http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2015/statement-on-release-of-proposed-epa-safeguard-on-chemical-oil-dispersants
http://earthjustice.org/our_work/cases/2012/chemical-oil-dispersant-rulemaking