Quote from a Financial Post article:
The voracious Dutch vessels, for example, continuously suck up vast quantities of oily water, extract most of the oil and then spit overboard vast quantities of nearly oil-free water. Nearly oil-free isn’t good enough for the U.S. regulators, who have a standard of 15 parts per million — if water isn’t at least 99.9985% pure, it may not be returned to the Gulf of Mexico.
Is (was?) this EPA discharge standard being applied to water that is collected during the oil spill response operation? If so, the author’s harsh criticism is justified. Why haul mixtures that are 90% water to shore when you can separate the oil and discharge relatively clean water? Why make all those trips to shore delivering cargoes that are mostly water? A lot of the reporting on the spill has been inaccurate, so we don’t want to jump to conclusions. Can anyone confirm or refute the author’s charge?
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 