Alaska adopts new rules for dispersant use in oil spills

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska oil spill responders have adopted new rules for the rapid use of chemical dispersant but say dispersant will continue to be considered only rarely when mechanical cleanup is not practical.

Chemical dispersant has been used on an oil spill just once in Alaska in the last 40 years — in tests during the 11-million gallon crude oil spill that followed the 1989 grounding of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker.

Chemical dispersant does not remove oil but breaks it into small droplets that spread throughout the water column, making it more available to natural degradation by oil-eating microbes.

The new plan was signed Jan. 27 by representatives of four federal entities involved in oil spill response, the Coast Guard, the Commerce and Interior departments and the Environmental Protection Agency, plus the state of Alaska.

Dispersed oil can have a negative effect, Everett said, but can have a more positive effect on the environment than toxic, undispersed crude oil.