Homework I – BP Oil Spill Response
On April 20th, 2010 an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico caused a leak so massive that nobody expected it to last over five months. The rig, owned my Transocean and leased by British Petroleum, entered a battle with the U.S. government and other marine forces on who was to blame, and more importantly, who was to pay for the clean-up.
Naturally, BP was to blame for not recognizing warning signs before the explosion, which killed 11 workers and injured another 17. Two days later, the rig sank 5,000ft and reports spread of a 5-mile long oil slick. The U.S. Coast Guard estimated over 5,000 barrels of oil was spilling into the ocean per day after a third leak was discovered on the 28th of April.
It didn’t take long for Louisiana to declare a state of emergency, as most of its coastline is now covered with oil. Researchers across the country begin predicting when the oil will hit other parts of the country, particularly the Florida Keys. Wildlife preservers start to rescue and clean up oil-ridden birds and dig up unhatched eggs of endangered sea turtles and release them into the other side of the Atlantic.
By May, BP produces a plan to use undersea robots to create a containment chamber, which has never been attempted at such a depth. This method fails and they’re off to the next idea, a “junk shot” which pumps shredded tires and golf balls into the well at a high pressure.
As the summer rolls on, many researchers believe that the spill is now spilling 20,000-70,000 barrels per day. By June, the barrel count tops at a shocking 1.5-2.5 million. The spill turned into a media frenzy as the reports progress on the nightly news and Americans across the country begin to show their displeasure in a number of social networking platforms, “Many Americans are angry by what they see as the government’s slow response to their country’s worst environmental disaster. Mr. Obama has been scrambling to show he is doing everything he can. But the government doesn’t have the technology to stop a spill at such depth, forcing Mr. Obama to rely on BP to fix it” (Belfast Telegraph).
It takes BP five months to finally contain the spill, using a mixture of mud and cement to seal the leaks, clean-up costs now near over $10 billion, bringing the total cost of the spill to $40 billion and an estimated 4.4 million barrels were leaked during the three-month period peak of the spill (Guardian).
The monetary damages alone don’t cover the endangerment Transocean, BP, and other responsible parties caused to the wildlife in the area and to the workers helping to clean up the spill. It is estimated that thousands of Americans will suffer in some way physically and mentally from exposure to the crude oil and other harmful chemicals, while animals like the brown pelican, sperm whale, dwarf seahorses, sea turtles, crabs, and herons will continue to suffer due to their tainted habitat (Huffington Post). (Many of these animals were also recently brought off the endangered species list, only to be put back on it after the spill.)
It is evident that we need to look at past spills (like the 1989 Exxon-Mobile spill in Alaska) as a framework to see how everything will (or won’t) play out over time, but since the Gulf spill is the largest marine oil leak of all time, it will take decades before we see results in the clean-up efforts led by BP and the U.S. government. Until then, it’s only a matter of time before we start to see the harsh side effects of the accident.
Works Cited
” BP oil spill timeline | Environment | guardian.co.uk .” Latest news, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk . N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/29/bp-oil-spill-timeline-deepwater-horizon>.
“Animals Most Endangered By The Gulf Oil Spill (PHOTOS).” Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/02/gulf-animal-photos_n_634379.html#s109866&title=Brown_Pelicans>.
Cope, Jerry. “Spill Commission Concludes Dispersants Are an Acceptable ‘Tradeoff’.” Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jerry-cope/poeple-wearing-plastic-ba_b_809912.html>.
“Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010.” Encyclopædia Britannica. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. <0-www.britannica.com.library.law.suffolk.edu/EBchecked/topic/1698988/Deepwater-Horizon-oil-spill-of-2010>.
Miller, Aubrey , and Goldman Lynn. “Gulf oil spill exposes gaps in public health knowledge.” Canadian Medical Association Journal 182.12 (2010): 1290-1292. Print.
“Obama vows to ‘make BP pay’ for oil spill damage.” Belfast Telegraph 16 June 2010, Final ed., sec. News: 6. Print.
Safirstein, Peter, and Leigh Smith. “Environmental Class Actions: A Look at the Gulf Oil Spill.” CADS Report 21.1 (2010): 1-17. Print.