Sorry, but I think not. I don't know the science behind that but it seems counter-intuitive to me.
Add chemicals to make the oil "disperse". What good is dispersing? Now we have trillions of molecules of hydrocarbons extremely well mixed up with ocean water. The dispersants them selves may (and probably do) have an effect. Sure, we can't see the oil anymore, but what does it do to the environment? Filter feeders might take some of those molecules out of the water. Filter feeders like, say, clams. Guess they will have enough oil, no need to add butter.
The idea of pumping air bubbles down to the well head made much more sense to my mind. The tiny bubbles get larger and larger as they rise and the water pressure lessens. The effect is to roil the water and get oil to coalesce into larger clumps. Wouldn't it be easier to remove clumps of oil rather than molecules? A fine net would remove clumps but not molecules. A fine net would not touch molecules. A clam would not touch a clump. I wish this forum was widely read by leading scientists so they could explain the reasoning behind "dispersants" to me.
Anyway it hopefully doesn't matter anymore. Looks like, as of this writing, the latest cap BP put on that monster well of theirs has a nice seal. The questions remains is the rest of the well lining in good shape? If the pressure that builds up remains at a high level we can assume the well lining is good. Then BP can collect oil from the largest, strongest, gusher discovered in the past several years. And we can merrily burn it in our cars!
In any case this all goes to show to what extremes companies must go to in order to find oil. There is no immediate alternative. I will bet dollars to doughnuts that people will not give up driving. Mostly driving alone. And in big cars too. When poor Indians and Chinese can't afford big cars they will buy little ones. Or motorcycles. Anything is better than depending on mass transit, right?
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