BP's Operation Deep Clean-Could Dilution be the Solution to Beach Pollution?

摘要

The BP Deepwater Horizon event released approximately 206 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.1 BP's primary strategy for handing this large spill was to use the dispersant COREXIT to disperse and mix this enormous volume of oil over a larger volume of seawater. This is the time-honored strategy of dilution as the solution to pollution. While this strategy appears to have been successful for much of the released oil, it was not completely effective. Beginning around June 9, 2010, a considerable (but unknown) amount of oil began washing onto the white sandy beaches of the northern Gulf of Mexico between Pensacola Pass, Florida, and Fort Morgan, Alabama. Oil deposition along the shore was significant, at least until about mid-July, 2010, and remnant oil continues to wash onto these beaches today.