Send your love for the waters of Alaska

Don’t permit the destructive method toxic oil spill response to be used in Alaska and the Arctic. Insist on a suspension of plans for chemical dispersant use in the Arctic!

Demand effective spill response practices that result in complete removal of oil and other hazardous waste spills from the environment, in compliance with the Clean Water Act.  

All Alaskan peoples (and, all people who reside on this planet) should be aware that current Federal and State agency environmental protection plans for Alaska (which favor industry-paid-science recommended ‘ environmental safeguard practices ’) do not employ all available science and technology to remove oil spills.   Deepwater drilling, mining and other permits continue to be approved and issued by U.S. and State officials when submissions/requests contain the very same ‘Cleanup Contingency Plans’  that resulted in horrific ecosystem damage, harmed and/or killed sea life, and ended up with very sick coastal residents in the Gulf of Mexico.  Why is the Alaska Regional Response Team (made up of mainly the Environmental Protection Agency and Coast Guard Officials) pushing for such a plan in Alaska?

Sign this Petition Letter at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stop-approval-of-toxic-chemicals-in-alaskan-waters

And, if you want to go deeper; file Your Public Comment re their Chemical Dispersant Plans before Feb 14^th at: http://alaskarrt.org/

Help Make Our Message for Alaska Loud and Clear:

PUBLIC LETTER

TO COAST GUARD, EPA AND ALL UNITED STATES NATURAL RESOURCE TRUSTEE AGENCIES: 

NO ADDED CHEMICALS IN ALASKA/ARCTIC WATERS–CONSTRUCT A BETTER PLAN! 

If there were a tanker or drilling spill in Alaska and/or Arctic waters and if these were treated with the same chemical dispersants used in the Gulf of Mexico, the consequences would be catastrophic.

By way of example, as of February 1st, 2011, it was estimated that between 800,000 and 4 million gallons of toxic chemical dispersants were sprayed or injected into the Gulf of Mexico as part of the on-going Deepwater Horizon disaster “clean up” operation that began more than 2 years ago on 22 April 2010. The broad-scale distribution of these poisonous substances has been justified by statements such as “trade-offs have to be made”.

The “tradeoffs” have been made and, because toxic dispersants were used, we now have millions of gallons of oil laced with toxic dispersants still suspended throughout the water column and on the sea floor, shifting constantly with the currents. This is causing severe, long-term harm to the public’s health, marine life, the environment, the economy and the Gulf’s way of life.  The same would hold true in Alaska and along every coastline in the United States if ineffective spill response is permitted to continue.

Therefore, we respectfully submit the following for immediate action:

• Whereas, the U.S. Presidential oath of office calls for the preservation of the nation’s natural resources, and that responsibility is delegated to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA);
• Whereas, the EPA authorized the use of toxic chemical dispersants to sink the oil from the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil accident violating the Clean Water Act;
• Whereas, those chemical dispersants, and particularly all versions of the product called Corexit, have been proven, by scientific studies, to have made the DWH accidental discharge worse than if the oil had been allowed to float to the surface, where it could have been collected;
• Whereas, per scientific studies, the toxic chemical dispersants have polluted large and indefinable areas of the Gulf waters, making them unpredictable and unsafe for all living organisms;
• Whereas, per scientific studies, the toxic chemical dispersants have contaminated much of our Gulf’s seafood, endangered the public’s health, shaken the public’s confidence in the quality of our seafood, and prolonged the recovery of the seafood and tourism industries;
• Whereas, the public’s health has been put at great risk, as can be seen by the alarming rise in health problems which can be directly linked to exposure to the toxic chemical dispersants and dispersed oil;
• Whereas, per scientific studies, Corexit is a biocide which kills the natural microorganisms that break down oil, retarding the degradation of the oil itself, and is, thus, a continuing threat to all life in the Gulf;
• Whereas, there are non-toxic, first-response, bioremediation products and other methods that are already on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Contingency Plan (NCP) list of approved agents for use in cleaning up oil spills;
• Whereas, the EPA has provided no valid scientific reason for withholding permits for the full and immediate implementation of thoroughly vetted and demonstrably workable, non-toxic, remedies designed to fully detoxify and remediate both the oil and the toxic dispersant within two to four weeks;

We the people demand: 

Ø Immediate suspension of chemical dispersant Pre Authorization plans being proposed in Alaska and in existence throughout all other U.S. regions until such time there is unequivocal science that supports safe and effective usage.

Ø The United States National Response Team Network, Region 10 and Alaska must invest their time and resources into finding effective solutions for:

·         Effectively addressing the threat of a major oil spill or chemical accident. The lessons learned from the BP spill have resulted in absolutely no significant change in chemical agent plans as part of the U.S. National Contingency Plan (virtually the same response plan as used on the Exxon Valdez spill two and a half decades ago).  A significant spill by tanker vessels or drilling in Arctic waters would crash our fisheries, destroy sensitive Arctic habitats, impact endangered species and bring economic devastation to Alaska.   This is true because there are no effective spill plans in place that would prevent the catastrophic consequences of a major spill in the Arctic, nor for that matter are we prepared for another major spill anywhere.

·         The devastating effects of existing toxic waste spills that have not been effectively addressed throughout Alaska and the United States.

·         Holding industry to higher standards in spill countermeasure plans. Their current plans remediate less than 25% of any hazardous spill – which is an unacceptable standard. Federal agencies must stop approving and endorsing such plans!               

LEARN THE TRUE DATA

More than three years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster we have a backdrop of published scientific studies indicating sick and dying dolphins, coral and other sea life; bacteria-laden tar balls washing onto beaches, an intoxicated Gulf food chain and a Macondo geo-hazard risk zone over a mile below the surface that some experts say has the potential of releasing toxic gas and oil into the Gulf of Mexico for the next 25 years.  Behind this deepwater curtain, there are still many unknowns about the BP oil spill events and response. What is important is that the lessons learned from the BP spill are truly learned and utilized for future decision-making.

We are asking that you become aware of what is going on in Alaska and the Arctic to ensure we do not have a repeat of the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon spill in this sensitive marine mammal and sea life eco system!  In fact, the air you breathe is dependent on that system staying healthy.  Please take a moment to receive this information and join the collective voice against these destructive proposals in Alaska.

Learn a Few Important Facts:

FACT:  Federal Government Natural Resource Trustees are doing very little to clean up the unaccounted for oil-plus-toxic-dispersants (Corexit ®) incased in the water column and seabed of the Gulf of Mexico still threatening all life along the coast.

FACT: Reports continue to stream in from those living in the Gulf coastal regions exclaiming new oil slicks appearing off their shores.  These are trivialized as “natural seeps” despite ample evidence that man made seabed floor fractures are releasing unusually large amounts of oil daily.   

FACT: Federal and State government oil spill cleanup policies are wholly inadequate and result in adding more toxic chemical poisons to our waters and environment. 

FACT: These policies, expressed in the US National Contingency Plan governing all emergency response to toxic spills, have been unduly influenced by vested interests who prefer to hide spilled oil and other hazardous waste using chemical dispersants, not clean it up. 

FACT: The Alaska Regional Plan Federal Officials are pushing these ineffective and harmful plans on Alaska.

FACT: All attempts to obtain authorization from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the use of proven, non-toxic, safer oil spill cleanup methods are stopped by them for unknown reasons, but  seemingly to shield industry from the ‘extra expense’, hide spills and keep in place spill response that doesn’t clean up their messes.  

FACT: The EPA and Coast Guard Officials have refused to allow anything but toxic chemical dispersants to be used on oil spills in U.S. navigable waters and continue to justify the devastation caused by such as “necessary tradeoffs”.   It is time they stop misusing public funds to do this and invest in finding safe and effective clean up technologies.

More information available at:www.protectmarinelifenow.org