What is "crankcase oil" and why is it so dangerous to US waterways?

What is "crankcase oil" and why is it so dangerous to US waterways?

Terry Tamminen (Author & Environmental Policy Advisor) gives expert video advice on: What percentage of the world's "carbon emissions" come from the United States?; Do I have to choose between a healthy economy and a healthy environment? and more...

Crankcase oil is the oil that we use to lubricate the engines of our cars. The crankcase oil ends up down in the crankcase, the place where the transmission does its business, and it gets full of heavy metals as the parts are wearing. The metal parts of the engine grind against one another, and it gets very, very hot from that mechanical action, and that heating tends to create even more toxic materials. A lot of that crankcase oil and toxic material leaks out onto our streets. In fact, the equivalent of about eleven Exxon Valdez oil spills every single year leaks onto our streets and highways in the United States. And when it rains much of that crankcase oil and toxic material washes into our rivers and into our coastal oceans.