Cleaning the Gulf of Mexico oil spill will take a lot of dish soap.

Coast Guard scientists tasked with the enormous job of cleaning up the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, where 200,000 gallons a day of crude oil is still jetting from offshore well. The scientists are trying a new chemical technology that they hope will break up a portion of the offending material. The Coast Guard has already inject 156,000 gallons of dispersant chemicals deep into the Gulf, and is deciding whether to use more to prevent the oil from reaching the surface.

The technology, manufactured by Nalco Company, Naperville, Ill., is still very new, and the treatment has yet to be approved by the EPA and other federal agencies that have been studying it. It is expected to have a number of adverse effects on water fauna, but the Coast Guard is weighing whether the damage is worth it to protect coastal watersheds.

If the oil does reach the coast, remediation experts at Arcadis believe they can help repair the damage. The company is already in talks with BP about cleaning up oil on islands off the coast of Louisiana. About 3 million acres of wetlands are in danger of being severely damaged by the spill.

Sources: Associated Press article via FindLaw, and the website of the San Francisco Chronicle.