After hearing from thousands of people like you, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving forward on new reforms for the use of toxic dispersants when responding to oil spills. Thanks to everyone who took action!Now, we need to make sure that the EPA adopts the strongest possible protections. Can you take a moment to tell the EPA to adopt strong rules that will protect our health and the health of the environment?Almost 2 million gallons of dispersants were released into the Gulf of Mexico during the BP drilling disaster despite widespread recognition that little was known about the health and environmental effects of applying such massive quantities of these chemicals. The debacle of that emergency response highlighted the pressing need for a new rule on dispersants.EPA’s proposed reforms require more rigorous science and safety information when evaluating the use of dispersants. Click here to tell the EPA to make these reforms as strong as possible.This new rule, although not strong enough, is a step in the right direction. It improves testing of dispersants for toxicity and effectiveness, requires companies to release the ingredients in dispersants and increases monitoring of the effects of dispersants when used in some oil spills. We need your help to ensure that the final version provides the strongest possible protection for public health and the environment.Cyn Sarthou is GRN’s Executive Director.
