As some of you may have noticed, BP elected to resume the use of the solvents they describe as dispersing agents the same day that their first containment dome failed.  Needless to say, this alarmed us greatly.  We questioned how long they would stop using the toxic chemicals, but were dismayed and disappointed that no one in the government is stopping them from doing it.  If anyone else was to intentionally pour even one 55 gallon barrel of that stuff into the water, he’d be led away in handcuffs (and rightly so).  Yet there’s BP out there dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of it into waters 50 miles offshore, and nobody is saying a word to them about it?  Congress is grilling for blame on the cause of the spill, but nobody’s telling them to stop making matters worse by using those solvents!

We called the EPA.  They told us to call the U.S. Coast Guard.  We did.  Twice yesterday, and then again today.  That wasted half an hour and netted promises that they would walk the message over to the EPA’s desk.  No return call has been received from the EPA.  At this point, it becomes pretty clear that they’re not going to call back.  We’re asking questions they don’t have good answers for.  Contacts who promised answers included a woman named Connie Carroll who claimed to be with the Coast Guard.  (We didn’t ask for names the first two times, expecting that the USCG would do as they said.) [Read more...]