Corexit Action Alert
When the severity of the disaster in the Gulf was exposed on April 28th, Mobile Baykeeper declared the use of chemical dispersant as the wrong way to combat the oil. Corexit, the chemical dispersant being used at the wellhead and off shore, is not only a toxic substance with untested effects on our environment, it disperses the oil throughout the water column which makes siphoning the oil and protecting our shoreline with boom virtually impossible.
However, the EPA process by which dispersants are approved is flawed. It includes a way to approve or “list” dispersants but no process to “de-list” these toxic chemicals. We must protect our marshes, our fisheries and our communities, and we need your help!
Get your pens ready! Even a postcard will do, just be sure it is hand written! Help us get one million letters to EPA by August 1st demanding they stop the use of Corexit! Below is a sample letter, which you are free to modify any way you see fit (copy/paste, etc.).
For an even greater impact, mail the letter to your US Senators and Representatives (don't know who yours are or need an address? Go here: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml and here: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ (click on your state and then the name to get mailing address)
Lisa Jackson, Administrator
USEPA Headquarters
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W.
Mail Code: 1101A
Washington, DC 20460
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W.
Mail Code: 1101A
Washington, DC 20460
Dear Administrator Jackson (or the name of your legislator):
I am gravely concerned about the use of dispersants and EPA's inability to stop BP from using them in the Gulf of Mexico. I implore you to amend the National Contingency Plan Product Schedule to include a process to delist products. Further, you must use this new process to delist, effective immediately, products that contain human health hazards and proprietary compounds, first and foremost dispersants.
Fast-tracking this process is essential to the health of our Gulf ecosystem, the workers on the Deepwater Horizon scene, our fisheries, economy and all of the Gulf Coast residents and visitors. EPA must create a way to stop the use of dispersants immediately. Please contact me at your earliest convenience to let me know how you intend to handle this.
Your name
Your address
Other talking points you may add:
1) The use of dispersants may have escalated the mortality to marine life from the oil release in the Gulf. Tests of air, land, water and impacted wildlife (marine birds and fish) should be conducted and made public immediately.
2) The use of dispersants has complicated the clean-up of the oil in the Gulf region. Boom does not work against dispersed oil. EPA must give us ways to protect our environment or remove the barriers to protecting it.
3) The use of dispersants has magnified the intergenerational harm of this oil catastrophe.
SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, WE NEED HELP NOW!
