2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Affected habitats of the shoreline identified by SCAT teams: sand beaches, coastal marshes, man-made structures. In the event of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, an estimated 4.2 million feet of containment boom and 9.1 million feet of sorbent boom were used making this the largest boom deployment in response effort history (British Petroleum, 2010). Oil contained in rigid booms was then subjected to conventional skimming in which the surface water was moved

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill occurred on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. This oil spill was the largest spill in history in front of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. This oil spill released about 4.9 million barrels of oil into the ocean. This spill not only wreck havoc on the marine life but also the economic players that depended on ocean such as fisherman, tourism, and offshore drilling located along the gulf coast. Along will the spill the oil rig which was named Deepwater Horizon also went up in flames. This proved that the issue went far beyond just an oil rig that blew a line. Since this oil spill had drastic impacts all along the coast, BP which was the most liable for this incident faced criminal charges based on what happened. BP which knew the risks of deep ocean drilling failed to take the necessary safety procedures to reduce the risks of such incident occurring, thus was the reasoning behind placing most of the fault on them and not the other companies. The lack of regulatory oversight led to the issues and cost-cutting procedures opened the rig up to possible malfunctions like the one that occurred. During the spill into the gulf, BP sealed the well with cement which seemed to stop a majority of the oil from escaping the well. BP also recognized that the well was “dead” which was proven wrong when scientists still could conclude was leaking minor amounts of oil into the ocean. This spill not only proved to be harmful to the environment but also

The leak after it was fixed was the size of Kansas (Friedman 100). There was 47,829 local, state, and federal responders to help clean up the oil (Friedman 100). There was 9,700 vessels that helped clean up the oil spill which were 6,500 government and commercial vessels and 3,200 vessels of opportunity (Friedman 100). 3.8 million feet of hard boom and 9.7 million feet of soft boom was used during the clean up to clean up the oil (Friedman 100). There was 127 surveillance aircraft used to help with the cleanup (Friedman 101). There was 1.4 million barrels of liquid waste collected and 92 ton of solid waste recovered (Friedman 101). They recovered more than 800,000 barrels of oily water from the Ocean and Coastal areas (Friedman 101). The oil spill effected the fish population by a large amount (Brown 18). The largest US oil spill in history is the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, which impacted ecosystems and residents of the Gulf Coast (Peres 1208). In 3 months over 200 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico (Peres 1208). The BP controlled burned 1.84 million gallons of chemicals to break up the oil (Peres 1208). The clean-up employed several thousand workers (Peres 1208). The

Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform had the explosion and sink into the ocean on April 22, 2010. This is one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history. The initial oilrig explosion killed 11 people and injured 17 others1.In this accident, over 4.9 million barrels1 of crude oil, which is 205.8 million gallons of oil been released into the Gulf of Mexico1. The oil has made a serious damage to the ocean, surrounding lands, marshes and beaches. It will also have a long-term effect on the nearby creatures including human beings. After that, about 1.84 million1 of dispersant was used in this accident. Initially, the dispersant Corexit 9527 was used, and when existing stocks of that formulation were exhausted, Corexit 9500 was used.

On March 24, 1989 there was an Exxon Valdez oil tanker accident off of Alaska. The oil tanker carried around 50 million gallons. Of those 50 million gallons, about 11 million were spilled. It was a devastating spill that covered more than 1200 miles of shoreline with oil. Due to the size of the spill, a lot of time and effort was used to clean up the oil. About 10,000 workers, 1000 boats, and 100airplanes/helicopters were involved in the cleanup.

Oil spills are a worldwide issue- widely known for polluting the oceans, infecting plant life, and killing many different species of animals. In fact, during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, approximately 205.8 million gallons of oil was pumped into the Gulf of Mexico (“A Deadly…” 2011). Over 82,000 birds, 6,165 sea turtles, and around 25,900 different species of marine mammals were either harmed or killed because of The Deepwater Horizon spill (“A Deadly…” 2011). Not only are oil spills a huge biological issue, the mere production of oil has a negative effect on many ecosystems: contaminating oceans, air, soil, and killing many species of flora and fauna.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill happened on April 20, 2010 on the Gulf of Mexico. A fire engulfed the Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling rig which killed 11 of the 126 workers. On April 22, 2010 a second explosion sunk the rig to the bottom of the ocean. There was a safety valve that was tried but didn’t work. Around 60,000 barrels of oil leaked into the ocean each day. Total 5 million barrels of oil leaked. The oil slick covered around 2,500 miles. To stop the oil from leaking they tried small submarines to flip a switch and a large metal box to cover the well. Neither of them worked. A relief well pumped mud and concrete to plug the leak. The well was plugged for good on September 19, 2010.

The Deepwater Horizon spill occurred on 20 April 2010 and was caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 workers and injured 17 more. The drilling rig, located 66 kilometers southeast of the Louisiana coast, left an oil gusher that was finally capped on July 15, almost 2 months later. This was the largest accidental marine oil spill in history and the largest offshore environmental disaster in the United States (Telegraph, New York Times, BBC News). It is estimated by scientists that over 4.9 million barrels of oil were released into the ocean, about half of the crude oil the U.S. imports each day and worth $400 million (Popular Mechanics, CBC News). About 1070 kilometers of coastline were contaminated.

The e Deepwater Horizon oil spill at the Macondo well began on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on 20 April 2010 killed 11 people and caused almost 5 million barrels of oil to flow into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill covered 68,000 square miles of land and sea and triggered a response effort involving the use of nearly 2 million gallons of dispersant chemicals (Pallardy). Considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in history, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS) resulted in widespread environmental and economic damage, the exact nature of which is only beginning to be understood (Shultz 59). This paper will address the causes of this unmitigated ecological disaster and discuss steps that need to be taken to prevent a similar disaster from occurring again.

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon explosion started what would be the largest marine oil spill in U.S. waters to date. By the time the well was finally capped, nearly 5 million barrels or 205.8 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico (Robertson & Krauss, 2010). To put this into some context of comparison, the New Your Times did a calculation and estimated the oil flow to be the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez every 8 to 10 days – the spill lasted 83 to 87 days depending on sources. Now for the human cost – 11 died in this “accident” (Gillis & Fountain, 2010).

From Fig.26. it can be deduced that mostly boats are involved when it comes to oil spills (89 incidents, 54%). On the other hand the least amount of incidents involved events classified as “other” (9 incidents, 5%). However, when seeing the results of Fig.27. which takes into account the amount of oil spilled, boats are still in the lead (45%), closely followed by platforms (33%). When the number of incidents are taken into account platforms rank above “other” with 9%. This could be due to platform blowouts being rare events, however when they do occur, such as the Deepwater Horizon in 2010 they leak thousands of tonnes of oil into the ocean and it takes days for the workers

On Tuesday, April 20, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon rig burned for 36 hours, combusting 700,00 gallons of oil leaving a trail of smoke over 30 miles long and spilling 53,000-62,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf per day from April 20 and July 15. As of 2010, the Deepwater Horizon disaster was the largest marine oil spill ever to occur in U.S. water. Oil was found on the shores of all five Gulf States and many birds, fish, and reptiles perished due to the oil spill (Ingersoll, 2011, p. 1-2; O’Conner, 2011, p. 1984; Bratspies, 2011).

On the night of April 20, 2010, British Petroleum’s (BP) Deepwater Horizon oil rig, located 45 miles off the coast of Venice, Louisiana, in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and caught fire, resulting in the deaths of eleven workers and others injured. The rig sank on the morning of April 22nd, and on April 23rd crews discovered oil leaking from the well’s rise and drill pipe. An estimated 206 million gallons of oil flooded into the Gulf of Mexico. More than 8,000 birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals were found injured or dead in the result of the oil spill (BP).

The Deepwater Horizon was the largest marine oil spill in the American history. It occurred in 2010, and was caused by an explosion that occurred on the Deepwater Horizon offshore southeast of the Mississippi River delta (Boyd, 2010, p.25). BP tried in all ways to curb this explosion or marine oil spill, but after some failed efforts to fix the leak, they thought they capped the well. However, they only managed to stop the flow of oil into the Deepwater Horizon after 86 days of failed efforts. The BP Oil Spill remained a topic of intense debate. Ideally, they talked about the rate of oil release rapidly. Apparently, their consensus was that approximately five million or more barrels of oil were spilled by the well, with an

The Gulf oil spill has been considered as the worst oil spill in the history of Unites States. One of the world’s largest energy companies, British Petroleum had been held responsible for the deep-water horizon explosion, which killed 11 people in April 2010. As a result of the explosion, oil has leaked into the ocean killing the aquatic life. The impact of the explosion was so great that it was impossible for human diver to reach the ocean floor. Hence, remote control robots were used for this purpose. There was a leak in the oil and gas pipe as revealed by the underwater camera. Approximately, 3.19 million barrels of oil had leaked into the Gulf coast by the time workers capped the oil well in July 2010.