Drilling oversight criticized
Oil Dispersants Still Linger
"...a new study reveals that the chemical dispersants used against the oil are lingering longer than expected. What the long-term implications of that will be, exactly, is unclear, but researchers say the chemicals are not degrading as rapidly as it was first believed.
About 771,000 gallons of dispersant was injected near the sea floor, directly into the oil flow. Researchers monitored one specific component of the dispersant, an anionic surfactant called dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate, or DOSS, which made up about 10% of the total dispersant. Measuring DOSS at the time of the injection and again a couple of months after dispersant was applied, they found very little biodegradation of the chemical. It had, however, dispersed as the plume drifted away from the wellhead, so that instead of being present in parts per million when applied, it is now detected in the parts-per-billion range."
