MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The BP oil giant intends to use the Corexit 9500 chemical that is harmful to corals in the event of oil spills near the Amazon reef.
"BP plans to use chemicals that kill off coral larvae in the event of an oil spill near a unique coral reef in the mouth of the Amazon river… Now there are fears that the chemical could have a negative impact on the unique coral reef at the Amazon Mouth," Energydesk's statement said.
Corexit is a chemical dispersant used after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, which resulted in spilling of about 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. In 2013, scientists revealed that the chemical had a negative impact on coral reefs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Coral reefs, those spectacular brightly colored sea forests that have become the trademark of exotic seas, are dying off at an astonishing rate, mostly thanks to the cumulative effect of several climate change factors. According to a study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, about 40 percent of coral in the Sea have already been bleached.
BP has become notorious for its oil spills, the most famous one was the catastrophic 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill of hundreds of millions of gallons of crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
