Originally about 42,000 gallons were pumping out a day, and the prediction was it would take nearly a year to equal the Exxon Valdez incident. However days later it has increased to 5000 barrels, or 200,000 gallons a day and is estimated to leak for at least 3 more months before the pressure is relived enough to attempt to dig a relief well. Current estimates put the leak to now 20,000 to 100,000 barrels a day. But could leak for much longer. The amount of the oil covering the surface of the ocean is currently the size of New Hampshire.
The problem is the well cannot be shut off and will continue to pump out gallons of oil contaminating every square inch of water life in its path. The ripple effect will be catastrophic as it kills wild life, contaminates food, and is now spreading from the gulf coast to Florida. There is no official statement on how much oil is in the reserve except that the estimate is in the tens of millions. Six remote controlled submarines were dispatched to the bottom of the ocean to turn off the blow out valve (called BOT) though it was unsuccessful.
What is Being Done to Help BP Oil Spill Catastrophe?
BP is attempting to drill a second well nearby to intercept the oil and plug the leak and will lower a 100 ton drone on top of the leak to catch the oil and funnel it up into storage vessels. This same strategy was used and eventually worked in 1979 during the Ixtoc disaster which was noted as the second worst oil spill in history, when after a drilling accident thousands of gallons of oil pumped out of the reservoir for nine months.
Currently there are 1100 people deployed by the white house to help aide in the clean up. The National Guard has been called and with the help of the coast guard and area fisherman, booms are being placed out in the ocean as a barricade for the incoming creeping oil. Along the shores more hi-tech barricades are being placed so when the oil comes in it will seep into boxes where chemicals are being added to break down the oil so it can be disposed.
BP has layed pipe to the larger of the two leak points and is drawing oil up to a tanker on the surface. The oil has hit the Louisiana coast andsome of it has made its way into the marshes passed the protective booms.
The EPA has allowed BP to use the least harmful dispersant available but will reserve the right to have them stop using it if the harm to the enviroment out weighs the good. Currently they are using corexit 9500 near the area of the leak and are spraying hundreds of thousands of gallons of this chemical which causes death or mortality related issues with living organisms. Corexit contains petroleum distillates, propylene glycol and a proprietary organic sulfonic salt.
Compared to the Exxon Valdez Tanker Tip of 1989 (11 million gallons)
The Exxon tanker was on its way to Long Beach California when it hit the Bligh reef in Prince William Sound in Alaska when it tipped over spilling nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil, and has been considered the most devastating human caused environmental disaster of all time, covering 11,000 square miles of ocean and 1300 miles of coastline. The region was remote and home to salmon, seals and otters as well as other fish and birds, due to its remoteness the cleanup effort was slow and is still ongoing in 2010.
20 years after this spill scientist from the University of North Carolina have determined the region will take over 30 years to recover.
How Oil Harms Wildlife and Humans
Oil when ingested causes kidney damage, alters liver function and a variety of digestive and metabolic dysfunction which leads to a slow and painful death of dehydration unless there is intervention. Besides being ingested, oil keeps birds from flying and more susceptible to predators because of the weight of the liquid on their feathers, which can only be washed off with Human help. Marine animals suffer the same out come as well as hypothermia because of the coating affecting their ability to keep homeostasis.
Plants are affected by lack of sunlight being unable to get through the oil slicked water, curbing photosynthesis. This creates a ripple effect, each organism in the ocean is food for another organism. This affects everyone, including humans ability to eat, it affects the economy because of the loss of seafood and what that means to fisherman, restaurants and tourism.
Why you Should Care
Most of all it should affect our collective conscious, we may not have drilled the oil, but we all use it, and more importantly we all are responsible for life on this planet, as with all things, since we have the ability to help those weaker than ourselves we must do so, otherwise we do not deserve what we have and it will be taken away. Accidents happen, but this is a lesson, that should bring more awareness and thought to our footprint on the planet.
Sources :
Dunnet, G., Crisp, D., Conan, G., Bourne, W. (1982) "Oil Pollution and Seabird Populations [and Discussion]" Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B 297(1087): 413–427
Restorance Book NOAA - accessed May 3rd, 2010
Christina Dagnelli - non-fiction writer with 200+ published articles. Little Squares with Colors: A Different way to Look at Autism is a memoir about her ...
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