And in some regions, cottonseed hulls are processed into oil-drilling mud, a sticky, industrial-strength type of Play-Doh that is used to plug leaks in oil wells.
Late last year Chevron and deepwater driller Transocean incurred a relatively minor spill of a couple thousand barrels of oil-laced drillingmud at the Frade prospect they were drilling off the coast of Brazil.
There was in fact a discharge from a drilling rig in March, but the oil people say it consisted of mud containing no substances that would affect the environment.