© Lori Deangelis
New Orleans - Companies involved in the use of the dispersant Corexit during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill last year cannot get immunity from what may be hundreds of thousands of personal injury claims, a federal judge ruled.
After the Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling rig exploded on April 20, 2010, unleashing the worst oil spill in U.S. history, BP directed third-party cleanup workers to spray and inject more than 1.8 million gallons of Corexit into oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Early on, the Environmental Protection Agency told BP to stop using Corexit because of the dispersant's known toxicity, but BP objected and continued to use the chemical.
Part of the massive multidistrict litigation for the oil spill involves claims by those who have allegedly suffered injuries from exposure to Corexit.
The dispersant's manufacturer, Nalco, tried to dismiss these claims by noting that it merely followed orders passed down from the president of the United States in distributing the highly toxic chemical. Corexit is banned in several counties including the U.K. because of its known toxicity. If Nalco had been following federal orders, it could have sought immunity under two separate rules: the government contractor defense and a provision of the Clean Water Act (CWA) that protects any private contractor following orders from the federal government.
Comment: There was also a huge fire at a chemical plant in the US today:
US: Texas - Massive chemical plant fire near Dallas
A message from the Universe to the two biggest warmongering countries on the planet, perhaps.