Corexit 9500A LC50 data

Species
Inland Silverside................exposure 96 hrs.......LC50 25.2 mg/l
Common Mummichog.......exposure 96 hrs.......LC50 140 mg/l
Turbot...............................exposure 96 hrs.......LC50 75 mg/l
ACUTE INVERTEBRATE RESULTS :
Species
Artemia.............................exposure 48 hrs........LC50 20.7 mg/l
Mysid Shrimp (Mysidopsis
bahia)...............................exposure 48 hrs.........LC50 32.23 mg/l
Acartia tonsa.....................exposure 48 hrs.........LC50 2 mg/l

Can you say ..."What the hell does that mean?"...Let me 'splain.
LC50 stands for "Lethal Concentration - 50%". So take the Inland Silverside for example, 96 hours of exposure at 25.2 mg/l will kill half of your sample size.

So what is the concentration of Corexit in the gulf. Nobody knows, so far there is no Corexit specific water sample data available that I can find. The only data that is available is for Propylene glycol, an ingredient in Corexit. So lets indulge in a bit of extrapolation shall we....

Propylene glycol makes up 1% of corexit. The available data points to a concentration of between 360 and 440 parts per million. So, assuming there are no other sources of Propylene glycol (and that's kind of a big assumption, so I am taking the lower figure), the the Corexit concentration would be 36000 ppm (360ppm X 100). Ppm and mg/l are basically equivalent for pure water (depending on temperature) however ocean water is more dense because of the salt in it (Ocean water at the sea surface is about 1027 kg/m3 while pure water has a density of 1.000 g/ml. ACK!!! all this math hurts my head...). So lets be incredibly generous to BP and take 20% off the 36000 ppm...Call it a BP Blue light special! That gives us a figure of 28,800 Ppm. That's 114285.71 % of the lethal dosage for half of the Inland Silverside exposed for a mere 96 hours. This spill is on day 81 as of this writing, 1944 hours.

Note: I used the Inland Silverside not because I somehow biased toward it. It is considered the "standard" fish for estuary toxicity study. But no, it doesn't live in the gulf.

BP's PR troll on the huffington post unmasked

A few weeks ago I was reading comments on the huffington post and came across this comment to a Georgianne Nienaber article on how BP is attempting to restrict access to reporters.

"I am serving at the Unified Command as part of the Deepwater Horizon Response effort.

A few weeks ago, we announced that boom vandalism was becoming a significant issue in our on-water effectiveness (here is the release and PSA: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/671091/). Unfortunately, vandalism of boom has not stopped, despite our best efforts. Action was required to ensure our operations achieve maximum effectiveness. As a result, the Coast Guard introduced a safety zone around boom to prevent vandalism and to protect the members and equipment of the response effort by limiting access to, and through, deployed protective boom. Here the release that announced the safety zone: http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/726955/ .

I wanted to offer some additional thoughts:

- The safety zone in no way limits legitimate access to areas around boom and spill operations. Media has NEVER been denied access.

- The safety zone that has been established for the Deepwater Horizon Response was created specifically to provide a regulatory means to prosecute people who are vandalizing boom.

- Boom has been placed to protect areas that are vital to a Louisiana way of life. People who intentionally cut or purposely damage boom are harming our ability to effectively keep oil out of areas that are environmentally sensitive.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything additional information I can provide. Again, media requests have not been denied.

Petty Officer Rachel Polish
Deepwater Horizon Response "

Never one to take anything at face value, I did a little checking and discovered that Petty Officer Rachel Polish was actually a reservist. Her day job was working for PR firm Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (Ogilvy PR).

http://www.ogilvy.com/News/Press-Releases/July-2009-Rachel-Polish-Appointment.aspx

Guess who one of their clients are....wait for it....you guessed it..BP.

http://www.ogilvypr.com/en/case-study/bp

I passed this info along to Georgianne Nienaber and she put out an outstanding article that is a must read!

Not only is Rachel a spin doctor, but her specialty is digital media and social networking. Here is an insight into her (and her associates) views from "Navigation in Today’s Global-Mobile-Social World: From a PR Perspective" on April 15


Beware the trolls...If there is one, there are many others lurking about.

What you see when you stray from the BP tour.

Photos taken by Nick Zantop, an outstanding photographer. Of over 250 press people on the beach that day, Only Nick decided to stray away from the tour. We need more people like him.

All photos from Nick's series...Black death. Used with permission. I highly encourage you to read this series, or you can continue to act like sheep and believe what BP wants you to believe.

BP cleanup workers using toy beach shovels

Oil soaked beaches, No cleanup workers in sight.

One of many dead oily redfish

Badly decomposed dolphin carcass. BP prefers to allow them to rot on the beach then have them counted and tested for oil contamination. Its called destruction of evidence. Each dolphin killed results in a federal fine.

From Georgianne Nienaber...via the Huffington post

Are these images felonious? The government/BP says they are. (link)