Judge tosses spill claims against dispersant maker

A federal judge presiding over litigation spawned by the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill has dismissed all claims against the manufacturer of a chemical dispersant that was used to break up crude gushing from BP’s blown-out well. In a ruling issued last week, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier says federal laws shield Illinois-based Nalco Co. from liability over the government’s use of Corexit in responding to the spill. Lawyers for cleanup workers and coastal residents exposed to the dispersant had argued Nalco isn’t immune from claims it supplied a defective product that wasn’t safe for use in the Gulf. But the judge says the claims would create an “obstacle to federal law” if he allowed them to proceed. More than 1.8 million gallons of dispersant were used to break up the oil, both at the source of the leak a mile under the sea and at the water’s surface.