Stop EPA Use of Chemical Oil Spill Dispersants

The Surfrider Foundation and Gulf Coast Advocates and Allies joined in coalition in September, 2021 to demand immediate action from EPA Administrator Regan regarding the usage of oil spill dispersants.  The Surfrider Foundation and partners are asking that the EPA comply with recent court decisions and prohibit the use of Corexit dispersants as part of oil spill response procedures.

Following the largest oil spill in history, the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, 200 million gallons of oil were dispersed into the Gulf of Mexico killing wildlife, damaging economies and recreation, and fouling beaches from Louisiana to Florida. Toxic chemical dispersants were used as part of the spill response measures. These hazardous chemicals break oil into droplets making them more easily mixed with water, less buoyant, and easier for oil-eating microbes to break down. 

The dispersants used in the Gulf Deep Horizon spill were staged in public marinas and neighborhoods; sprayed in Gulf waters used for recreation and fishing; disposed of in several municipal landfills; and used well beyond the official end date of July 2010.  In fact, almost 1 million gallons of dispersant were sprayed aerially and 770,000 gallons were injected into the damaged wellhead on the sea bottom[1]. These chemical dispersants also created a 22 mile long oil plume formed from chemical dispersants mixed with sea water and increasing the area oil traveled and therefore impact zone by 49 percent[2].

Many oil spill responders and those living in these coastal communities today are suffering with long-term diseases, cancers, and early deaths linked to exposure to these toxins making this an environmental justice issue[3].

In June 2020, U.S. District Court Judge William H. Orrick ruled, as part of this case, that the Clean Water Act imposes on the EPA a mandatory duty to maintain an up-to-date oil spill response plan that reflects current science and technology. This includes science demonstrating that dispersant chemicals are far more toxic to humans — and more ecologically damaging — than their manufacturers admit. The ruling by Judge Orrick declares that the EPA violated that duty by failing to update the regulations in more than 25 years, despite significant advancements in both scientific and technological knowledge.

While EPA’s revised 2023 rules updated test and listing criteria to eliminate use of toxic Corexit products, such products remain conditionally listed and available for use until the new schedule goes into effect on December 12, 2025. This means the discontinued Corexit dispersants of concern may still be used for oil spill response despite now knowing that such use endangers workers, the exposed public, and the environment.

Accordingly, Surfrider is urging the EPA to remove oil dispersants Corexit 9527A and Corexit 9500A from the NCP Product Schedule under rule 40 CFR § 300.970, effective immediately.