“Tragic” test results from Mississippi beaches: “Approximately 500 ppm of dispersant” in dead jellyfish...MORE

The Tragic State of the Gulf of Mexico: Sampling Reveals Oil and Dispersants on Mississippi Coast, Dahr Jamail and Erika Blumenfeld for Truthout, January 12, 2011:

Long Beach, MS — Home of videographer Denise Rednour:

[S]oil samples taken along the beach at Long Beach, Mississippi, on October 21, 2010, confirmed the presence of crude oil. One sand sample, from location 3012.45N, 8930.41W, contained 9.35 parts per million (ppm) of Oil Range Organic Petroleum Hydrocarbons (ORO), confirming the presence of crude oil. This sample also contained ethanol, which is a chemical in BP’s dispersants.

Another sand sample taken from the same area contained 160 ppm ORO.

A third sample from the area, containing both sand and a brownish foam on the water that local residents and fishermen believe is the result of dispersed oil, contained 14.68 ppm ORO, confirming the presence of crude oil. This sample also contained ethylene glycol, a chemical in the dispersants. …

Another sample from the area taken from sand covered in what local residents described as “coffee grounds” contained 8.65 ppm ORO, confirming the presence of crude oil.

A small inlet on the beach was filled with brown foam and oil sheen. A sample of sand covered with the foamy sheen contained 175 ppm ORO. …

A dead jellyfish found on Long Beach, Mississippi, nearby a large amount of the aforementioned thick, brown foam, was tested and found to contain 15 ppm of ethanol, one of the chemicals in the dispersants, along with low levels of n-Butanol, another chemical present in the dispersants…

Based on comparative analysis of Corexit 9500 and the sample collected, the sample appears to contain approximately 500 ppm of dispersant.

A water sample in the same area, taken in an area covered in thick, brown foam, contained propylene glycol, one of the confirmed ingredients of Corexit 9500.

Ocean Springs, MS — Home of videographer Lorrie Williams:

A water sample at this area also contained ethelene glycol, as did a water sample taken from a fish pond in the front yard of a resident’s home in Ocean Springs.

Another water sample from the beach contained diethylene glycol BE.

Read the report here.