BP Spill – Contemporary Science&Innovation

“President Obama has called the BP oil spill “the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced,” and so has just about everyone else.”The Deepwater Horizon explosion was also an awful tragedy for the 11 workers on rig. It has caused serious economic and psychological damage to the surrounding communities that depend on fishing, tourism, and drilling. The main question that is being asked, is whether or not BP can gain their sustainability back. The tragedy that is being compared to the situation is the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska 21 years ago.

“Marine scientist Ivor van Heerden, another former LSU prof, who’s working for a spill-response contractor, says, “There’s just no data to suggest this is an environmental disaster. I have no interest in making BP look good — I think they lied about the size of the spill — but we’re not seeing catastrophic impacts.”

“The Marshall Islands, where Transocean Ltd registered the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig, also said in a report on its investigation that failure to follow well abandonment plans approved by U.S. regulators played a part.The report did not specifically blame any of the companies involved, from well owner BP and driller Transocean to blowout preventer maker Cameron International Corp and well-sealing cement maker Halliburton.”

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/17/us-bp-oilspill-report-idUSTRE77G6A520110817

In the summer of 2010, the oil was easy to spot. You could scoop the oil out with a fishing net. But now, a year later, the remains of the oil spill is harder to find.” Of that roughly 200 million gallon river of oil, government scientists estimate that 29 percent of it dispersed, 25 percent of it was recovered or burned off, 23 percent of it evaporated or dissolved. That leaves 23 percent – roughly 46 million gallons – that reached shore or stayed in the water.”

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/19/eveningnews/main20055447.shtml

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