BP, Coast Guard Ignored Order to Stop Using Dispersants: Report

BP continued spraying large amounts of a controversial dispersant onto the surface of the Gulf of Mexico even after an EPA order to stop doing so, the Washington Post reports.

According to the Post, BP used a loophole in the EPA's order that allowed the Coast Guard to rubber-stamp "exemptions" to the order.

In late May, under pressure from environmental groups, the EPA ordered BP to stop using certain product lines of the dispersant Corexit on the water surface. But it allowed the Coast Guard -- which has the final say on oil cleanup operations -- to issue exemptions in "rare" circumstances. The Post found that those circumstances weren't rare at all:'

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