Ok.. I just have to say that although your example of adding a column is pretty simple.. just in general, the concept of using a totally different database system in development versus the one you deploy on is incredibly stupid.
I mean, this is even worse than the problem we had where our Oracle DBA/developer insisted upon deploying dev database changes oin a manual and ad hoc basis rather than using automated update scripts (with SQL statements that we had tested).
If the QA team is implementing a change in another database system, then you have actually two dev teams and two products (one mysql, one Oracle). Its incredibly retarded. Even having two different versions of the same database (Oracle 9i vs. 10g for example) is untenable.
YOUR DEV AND TESTING ENVIRONMENTS MUST MATCH YOUR PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT AS EXACTLY AS POSSIBLE. Using a different database is ridiculous.
Now, having said all of that I understand why your programmers might prefer mysql. Of course, if they had some kind of licensing or other issue they gave for using mysql in dev, it was invalid as Oracle Express is available for developers. And if there is some reason that supposedly Oracle is necessary for production, that is also invalid as mysql can almost certainly handle the performance requirements (there are few exceptions, give me the performance etc details of your database and I will verify that). If its transaction support or something then they should use the InnoDB engine.
The fact that you have three Oracle DBAs is compounding the issue. Here's what you do.. save yourself a half a million or more dollars a year and SCRAP ORACLE AND FIRE ALL OF THE DBAS.
I would say the situation you are in is insane and you should find another job. Your CIO should be fired because he should have recognized that a long time ago.