UC Irvine: BP spill polluting the air
By Lauren DiPerna, Orange County Register
Gulf oil spill is bubbling up and polluting the air with fuel-vapor contaminants, according to UC Irvine researchers who captured air samples as their plane flew above the disaster zone.
While scientists are still assessing the chemical concentrations in their samples, they have found traces of the material that makes up crude oil — long-chain hydrocarbons, as well as aromatic compounds, such as benzene, toluene, and xylene, all known carcinogens.
“Everybody is of course focusing on the water,” said Barbara Barletta, a chemistry special assistant at UC Irvine. “But we should also pay attention to the influence that the oil spill is having on the air.”
Whether the oil would influence the air was not originally clear because as it floats up much of it
“What you see in the air are the compounds that are able to escape from the water phase to the gas phase,” Barletta said. “The fact that we see something that is affecting the air is already, by itself, interesting.”
In May, when the researchers first flew over the gulf to collect samples above 3,000 feet, they found no real contaminant influence.
The significant preliminary results came from their next set of samples, taken from a boat at around 15 miles from the actual spill zone.
In June the researchers returned, flying roughly 500 feet above the damaged water surface. This time their samples showed an influence. The next step is to determine the amount of each compound present in the air. Identifying any air-quality violations would be left up to regulators.
“Our goal is to analyze and have a good picture of what the air quality is over that area,” Barletta said. “Then it is the EPA that looks at our number.”
If the researchers can get more funding, they hope to continue monitoring the air and watching for increases or decreases in airborne hazardous chemicals.
