Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse… Toxic Dispersants?

To counter the now-realized potential for toxic products to still be listed for oil spill response, ALERT is working to require supplemental testing in all regions to ensure that a product can be used safely in waters of intended use as required by the Clean Water Act (and never enforced). With supplemental testing, federal and state decision-makers would have evidence to refuse to use products that are toxic to regional species of key ecologic, economic, and cultural significance.

March 24, 2025. Thirty-six years ago today, when oil from the Exxon Valdez blackened the beaches and rocky coastlines of Alaska’s pristine Prince William Sound, choices were made in industry and government that set the world on a path of using chemical dispersants for oil spill response.

A little over two years ago, just before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized new rules governing dispersant use, the manufacturer of the Corexit dispersants abruptly discontinued its product line and product sales. EPA’s revised rules require manufacturers to truthfully report known or anticipated harm to human health and wildlife from product use.

Corexit dispersants make up over 45 percent of globally stockpiled dispersant and are the predominate U.S.-stockpiled dispersants. Discontinuing the product line was an expensive decision.

Why did the manufacturer pull its toxic dispersant product lines? The correct answer determines the correct actions to best protect people and wildlife during an oil spill, so pick one:

• (a) There is irrefutable evidence that Corexit dispersants when mixed with oil do more harm than the oil alone to human responders and other exposed people, and wildlife.
• (b) This evidence must now be truthfully reported.
• (c) Corexit products would not pass EPA’s new tests designed to screen out the more toxic products.

In February, the answer became clear. The International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) dispersant task force reported that the manufacturer, Corexit Environmental Solutions, a subsidiary of ChampionX, will not be re-listing or using these toxic products in the U.S.—but that Corexit 9500A has been re-registered for use in the United Kingdom and Brazil in 2024 and that France is considering it.

The answer is clearly not (a). This is the same toxic product that was linked with long-term respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological harm in humans after the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon disaster.

IOGP also reported that the old formulation of Corexit 9500A will be used as a key feedstock in the production of the “new” Ecosafe Oil Spill Dispersant (OSD). Conveniently, this would allow oil spill response organizations to recycle their current stockpiled Corexit 9500A, a “substantial investment amounting to the tens of millions of dollars into this new global product.” Recycling product for reuse as a dispersant would cost less for the oil spill response organizations, says IOGP, than costly disposal fees (for hazardous wastes). Ecosafe OSD was among the first dispersants re-listed by EPA. No known studies of Ecosafe regarding the potential harm to human health have been published.

The answer is clearly not (c). “Ecosafe” has the same toxic ingredients, notably DOSS and petroleum distillates, among others, that are known to be human health hazards, meaning that even small amounts can be harmful and cause delayed and long-term illnesses and/or cancers. EPA’s new screening tests do not screen for harm to human health.

So, the correct answer is (b). Since the product is new and has not been proven in a real-world oil spill, there are no published studies of harm to wildlife or humans from its use.

As further evidence of this ruse to dodge liability, an IOGP information paper reported, “access to much of the existing global stockpile of dispersant is subject to a requirement that the purchaser/user provide an indemnity to the manufacturer in the event of use during a spill. The terms of these indemnities are very broad and onerous for certain companies, which may preclude many from accessing much of the existing stockpiled dispersant…” The IOGP task force promises a “solution to the current requirements attached to legal indemnities for the use of some dispersants…”

EPA’s recent reply to ALERT and allies’ petition to remove Corexit dispersants in the U.S. now makes sense. EPA refused to de-list Corexit dispersants before the list with new product list is published in December because Corexit is not likely to be used in the U.S. due to liability concerns.

ALERT saw most of this coming. To counter the now realized potential for toxic products to still be listed for oil spill response, ALERT is working to require supplemental testing in all regions to ensure that a product can be used safely in waters of intended use as required by the Clean Water Act (and never enforced). With supplemental testing, federal and state decision-makers would have evidence to refuse to use products that are toxic to regional species of key ecologic, economic, and cultural significance.

ALERT is also focused on getting receptive states to require prescriptive health monitoring units for emergency response workers and the exposed public. Follow our progress by checking out our new webpages ALERT and OSHA for workers and Take Civic Action for public health.

Subscribe to our newsletter to follow the action on re-listing Corexit 9500A abroad, or recycling and reusing Corexit stockpiles in the U.S. and overseas.

In solidarity,