 The chemicals BP is now relying on to break up the steady flow of leaking oil from deep below the Gulf of Mexico could create a new set of environmental problems. BP and federal authorities said the dispersant was released overnight at the site of the leak, nearly 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) underwater, and they were evaluating the effort Saturday.
– BP has begun using huge amounts of chemical dispersants to contain the oil slick that has tripled in only a day and is now the size of Puerto Rico. (AP has more on the growing size here.) And while those chemicals—being used above and below the surface—will help reduce the amount of oil that makes landfall, they create a whole new set of environmental concerns in the water, reports ProPublica. The makeup of the dispersants is secret under trade laws, but their toxins can kill fish and collect on the seabed to reenter the food chain. "There is a chemical toxicity to the dispersant compound that in many ways is worse than oil,” says an expert on marine biology. “It’s a trade off—you’re damned if you do damned if you don’t—of trying to minimize the damage coming to shore, but in so doing you may be more seriously damaging the ecosystem offshore."