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Environment
BP’s Problems, Succinctly
June 28, 2010
| A version of this story appeared in
Volume 88, Issue 26
To summarize BP’s Gulf gusher problems: Not enough solutions, and way too much emulsions.
George W. Price
Chicago
The article “Dispersed Oil Raises Concerns” discusses worrisome aspects of the use of 600,000 gal of dispersants in about a month’s time in the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico(C&EN, May 24, page 8). But in my view, the article misses a major point. Are tankers equipped with scoops and high-capacity pumps being used to suck up leaking oil and separate the oil from water with centrifugal pumps? I had teams of freshmen engineering students design such systems years ago. It is not rocket science.
It would seem to me that using dispersants to cover up the oil spill makes it more difficult or impossible to separate in this way. If such collection and separation into tankers is not being done, then why not? If this is the case, then the fault lies not only with BP but with EPA, which approved the use of dispersants.
Michael J. Furey
Blacksburg, Va.
The power is now in your (nitrile gloved) hands
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