Lawsuit seeks protection for wildlife from oil-spill Dispersants

20th April 2012

SAN FRANCISCO— Conservation groups are sueing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard over the authorised use of toxic oil dispersants without first ensuring the chemicals do not harm endangered species or their habitats. The groups want an imediate study by the EPA into the effects of dispersants on endangered & threatened species in U.S. waters, including whales, sea turtles, salmon and seabirds in the Pacific and polar bears and walruses in the Arctic.

“If chemical dispersants are going to be used after an oil spill, we have to know whether they’ll hurt or kill whales, sea turtles and other wildlife. So far, the EPA has no idea,” said Deirdre McDonnell of the Center for Biological Diversity, which is bringing suit with Surfrider and Pacific Environment: “Unprecedented levels of dispersants were dumped into the sea during the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and they’re likely still affecting the Gulf of Mexico, where dead dolphins continue to wash ashore.”