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How did the Gulf of Mexico oil spill start?
Some floated to the ocean's surface to form oil slicks, which can spread more quickly by being pushed by winds. Some hovered suspended in the midwater after rising from the wellhead like a chimney and forming several layers of oil, dispersant and seawater mixtures drifting down current; during the spill a 22-mile long oil plume was reported.
Where did the oil spill occur in 2010?
By early June 2010, oil had washed up on 125 mi (201 km) of Louisiana's coast and along the Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama coastlines. Oil sludge appeared in the Intracoastal Waterway and on Pensacola Beach and the Gulf Islands National Seashore. In late June, oil reached Gulf Park Estates, its first appearance in Mississippi.
How long did the oil spill last in Louisiana?
Thick oil washes ashore in Louisiana; 10 June 2010 The oil leak was discovered on the afternoon of 22 April 2010 when a large oil slick began to spread at the former rig site. The oil flowed for 87 days. BP originally estimated a flow rate of 1,000 to 5,000 barrels per day (160 to 790 m 3 /d).
What did BP pay for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill?
In September 2014, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that BP was primarily responsible for the oil spill because of its gross negligence and reckless conduct. In April 2016, BP agreed to pay $20.8 billion in fines, the largest corporate settlement in United States history.
What caused the oil spill Gulf of Mexico 2010?
The blowout and oil spill on the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico was caused by a flawed well plan that did not include enough cement between the 7-inch production casing and the 9 7/8-inch protection casing. The presumed blowout preventer (BOP) failure is an important but secondary issue.
What happened in the gulf of Mexico in April 2010?
On April 20, 2010, the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, operating in the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and sank resulting in the death of 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon and the largest spill of oil in the history of marine oil drilling operations.
How long did the gulf of Mexico oil spill last?
87 daysEleven of the 126 workers on the rig were killed and, over the following 87 days, an estimated 3.19 million barrels (~134 million gallons) of oil spilled into the Gulf (4.0 million barrels minus 810,000 barrels of collected oil). This was the largest oil spill ever reported in U.S. history.
Was there an oil spill in 2008?
2008 – A barge carrying 419,000 gallons of heavy fuel collided with a 600-foot tanker in the Mississippi River, near New Orleans. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel were spilled. 2009 – A 458-foot vessel struck a barge in the Houston Ship Channel, spilling 10,500 gallons of oil.
What happened April 20th 2010?
On this day in 2010, an explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig—located in the Gulf of Mexico, some 41 miles (66 km) off the coast of Louisiana—leading to the largest oil spill in history.
Is the BP oil spill still a problem today?
The BP oil continues polluting the gulf even today, according to recently released findings by scientists from the University of South Florida's College of Marine Sciences. It's still affecting fish and other marine species.
Is the Gulf oil spill still leaking?
One oil well off the southeastern coast of Louisiana, owned by Taylor Energy, has been leaking since 2004, spilling between 300 and 700 barrels per day. The well's reserves could keep it leaking for the next 100 years if it isn't capped, meaning it will one day eclipse the Deepwater Horizon spill in terms of volume.
How many animals died in the 2010 oil spill?
We found that the spill likely harmed or killed about 82,000 birds of 102 species; about 6,165 sea turtles; as many as 25,900 marine mammals; and a vast (but unknown) number of fish — from the great bluefin tuna to our nation's smallest seahorse — plus oysters, crabs, corals and other creatures.
Who fixed the BP oil spill?
Admiral Thad AllenOn September 19, U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen—national incident commander for the blowout—declared that "the Macondo 252 well is effectively dead" after spilling roughly five million barrels of oil in total.
When was the last oil spill?
On October 2nd, 2021, a major oil spill was detected in Southern California, originating from an underwater pipe connected to the Elly platform about 4.5 miles offshore near Long Beach, California. There is now a high degree of confidence that the spill amount is approximately 24,696 gallons.
How many oil spills were there in 2019?
In 2019, one large spill (>700 tonnes) and two medium spills (7–700 tonnes) were reported. The large spill occurred in North America and both medium spills occurred in South Asia.
Which was the biggest oil spill accident in the last 15 years?
BP's Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (2010) The largest accidental oil spill in history began in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, after a surge of natural gas blasted through a cement well cap that had recently been installed to seal a well drilled by the Deepwater Horizon oil platform.
When did the Deepwater Horizon oil spill happen?
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on April 20, 2010, when an explosion damaged the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The rig's sinking on April 22 beg...
Who owned the rig responsible for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill?
The oil rig involved in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was owned and operated by offshore oil-drilling company Transocean and leased by the oil co...
What caused the Deepwater Horizon oil spill?
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred after a surge of natural gas blasted through a concrete core recently installed to seal an oil well for la...
How did the Deepwater Horizon oil spill affect birds?
Birds were particularly vulnerable to the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Many died from ingesting oil or because it interfered with th...
When did the Gulf of Mexico oil spill occur?
Oil spill that began in April 2009 in the Gulf of Mexico. This article is about the oil spill itself. For the initial explosion, see Deepwater Horizon explosion. For other related articles, see Deepwater Horizon (disambiguation). Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
How big was the oil spill in 2010?
By early June 2010, oil had washed up on 125 miles (201 km) of Louisiana's coast and along the Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama coastlines.
What happened to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill?
The panel found that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean had attempted to work more cheaply and thus helped to trigger the explosion and ensuing leakage.
When did the Deepwater Horizon spill happen?
External video. Frontline: The Spill (54:25), Frontline on PBS. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP -operated Macondo Prospect, considered to be the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry and estimated to be 8 to 31 percent larger in ...
What did Obama say about the Gulf Coast oil spill?
In his 15 June speech, Obama said, "This oil spill is the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced... Make no mistake: we will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long as it takes. We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused. And we will do whatever's necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy." Interior Secretary Ken Salazar stated, "Our job basically is to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum." Some observers suggested that the Obama administration was being overly aggressive in its criticisms, which some BP investors saw as an attempt to deflect criticism of his own handling of the crisis. Rand Paul accused President Obama of being anti-business and "un-American".
What did the DOJ say about the Gulf oil spill?
On 31 August 2012, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed papers in federal court in New Orleans blaming BP for the Gulf oil spill, describing the spill as an example of "gross negligence and willful misconduct.".
How many miles of coastline was contaminated by oil in 2011?
In October, weathered oil reached Texas. As of July 2011. [update] , about 491 miles (790 km) of coastline in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida were contaminated by oil and a total of 1,074 miles (1,728 km) had been oiled since the spill began.
Overview
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considered to be the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry and estimated to be 8 to 31 percent larger in volume than the previous largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill, also in the Gulf of Mexico. …
Background
The Deepwater Horizon was a 10-year-old semi-submersible, mobile, floating, dynamically positioned drilling rig that could operate in waters up to 10,000 ft (3,000 m) deep. Built by South Korean company Hyundai Heavy Industries and owned by Transocean, the rig operated under the Marshallese flag of convenience, and was chartered to BP from March 2008 to September 2013. It was drilling a deep exploratory well, 18,360 ft (5,600 m) below sea level, in approximately 5,100 f…
Volume and extent of oil spill
The oil leak was discovered on the afternoon of 22 April 2010 when a large oil slick began to spread at the former rig site. The oil flowed for 87 days. BP originally estimated a flow rate of 1,000 to 5,000 bbl/d (160 to 790 m /d). The Flow Rate Technical Group (FRTG) estimated the initial flow rate was 62,000 bbl/d (9,900 m /d). The total estimated volume of leaked oil approximated 4.9 …
Efforts to stem the flow of oil
First, BP unsuccessfully attempted to close the blowout preventer valves on the wellhead with remotely operated underwater vehicles. Next, it placed a 125-tonne (280,000 lb) containment dome over the largest leak and piped the oil to a storage vessel. While this technique had worked in shallower water, it failed here when gas combined with cold water to form methane hydrate crystals that bloc…
Containment, collection and use of dispersants
The fundamental strategies for addressing the spill were containment, dispersal and removal. In summer 2010, approximately 47,000 people and 7,000 vessels were involved in the project. By 3 October 2012, federal response costs amounted to $850 million, mostly reimbursed by BP. As of January 2013 , 935 personnel were still involved. By that time cleanup had cost BP over $14 billion.
Access restrictions
On 18 May 2010, BP was designated the lead "Responsible Party" under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which meant that BP had operational authority in coordinating the response.
The first video images were released on 12 May, and further video images were released by members of Congress who had been given access to them by BP.
During the spill response operations, at the request of the Coast Guard, the Federal Aviation Adm…
Cleanup
On 15 April 2014, BP announced that cleanup along the coast was substantially complete, while the United States Coast Guard work continued using physical barriers such as floating booms, the cleanup workers' objective was to keep the oil from spreading any further. They used skimmer boats to remove a majority of the oil and they used sorbents to absorb any remnant of oil like a sponge. Although that method did not remove the oil completely, chemicals called dispersants ar…
Consequences
The spill area hosts 8,332 species, including more than 1,270 fish, 604 polychaetes, 218 birds, 1,456 mollusks, 1,503 crustaceans, 4 sea turtles and 29 marine mammals. Between May and June 2010, the spill waters contained 40 times more polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) than before the spill. PAHs are often linked to oil spills and include carcinogens and chemicals that pose v…