EPA Demands BP use a Less Toxic Oil Dispersant. Also, BP Bullying Reporters.

The Environmental Protection Agency told British Petroleum to find another chemical dispersant to break up the Gulf oil spill. The EPA has given BP until midnight tonight to find an alternative to Corexit and 72 hours to stop using it, CNN reports. The chemical has been rated less effective and more toxic than many others on the list of 18 EPA-approved dispersants, the story says. Read more about Corexit in a prior Green House post. Of course BP course the most toxic one--probably because yet again they were cutting corners and using the cheapest one.

Green Man: So, this is good news, bad news. The good news, of course is that we're going to use less toxic dispersant to help clean up the oil mess. The bad news is what many of us worried about--that the dispersants used for the last month were indeed toxic. Great. We have been fighting toxic oil with other toxic chemicals. Yet even the good news is rather bad because breaking up the oil into smaller bits still doesn't remove the oil from the ocean. It just makes it smaller and more likely to get into fish gills, etc.

In the meantime heavy crude is now soaking the Louisiana wetlands, which are like giant sponges that absorb and retain a lot of water until it seeps down into the soil. So, obviously it is going to soak up this oil, which will kill off the grasses that help buffer against hurricanes and other large storms. As well as provide habitats for countless species from insects to birds to amphibians to small mammals. In related news, BP is trying to intimidate citizens and journalists from investigating the damage of this leak to the beaches of Louisiana:

Watch CBS News Videos OnlineThis video is appalling. What is the Coast Guard doing backing up BP wanting to keep reporters away from showing how bad the oil disaster is affecting beaches and wetlands?

PHOTO CREDIT: REUTERS/Daniel Beltra

~The Green Man has Spoken~