The oil spill in Deepwater Horizon is the largest offshore oil spill to have occurred in American history. This disastrous spill in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 20th 2010 after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. The explosion led to the deaths of 11 platform workers and resulted in a constant leakage of oil that slowly polluted a large area around the rig. Rescue workers have been working relentlessly to clear up this massive spill but its effects have been far-reaching and are a severe threat to seaside animals, birds and fish. The exact origin of the spill is a deepwater wellhead that is gushing up to 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day. This enormous amount is slowly spreading through the sea water and causing serious problems.
Risks and Relief Work
The major risk of such a large oil spill is the threat to marine and wildlife habitats. The thick crude oil can destroy the homes of many animals, birds and fish, leaving them displaced and making them vulnerable to death. Moreover, the oil can contaminate food supplies for these creatures, thus making it even more difficult for them to survive. Birds and fish who feed from the sea water are also at risk of consuming the oil and this can be extremely poisonous.
The immediate results of this oil spill involved heavy damage to the fishing and tourism industries of the region.
Relief forces are working day in and day out to try and stop the flow of oil and the methods that they have used include skimmer ships and sand-filled barricades along the shorelines. The American government has laid the blame solely on British Petroleum and all relief efforts are to be funded by this firm. Though these efforts have managed to remove 28,000,000 gallons of oil from the sea, there is no saying how long it will take to completely end the problem.
Who’s to Blame for the Disaster?
The blame game has indeed reached a whole new level with NGOs and wildlife conservation groups accusing BP of downplaying the incident and hiding important information. Some claim that journalists have been prevented from taking pictures of the extent of the spill and are barred from documenting the process and these accusations are further demeaning the image of BP. The long-running battle between BP, the government and the various concerned groups is definitely a serious problem as it can get in the way of relief work. Fortunately, everyone’s focus does seem to be on the oil spill and its effects and hopefully this mentality will prevail until the disaster has been cleared up.
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig was being used on lease by BP from March 2008. The explosion occurred while the rig was drilling an exploratory well and has resulted in a spill of enormously epic proportions. Indeed, this oil spill will go down in history as the most disastrous oil spill to occur in American controlled waters. Initial estimates put down the leakage to a relatively small amount of oil per day but external researchers discovered that the true figure was much higher. Scientists have also discovered that the leaking oil consists of a large amount of methane, a potentially dangerous gas that could lead to the suffocation of marine life. BP initially maintained that a measurement of the spill was unnecessary but a report released on June 20th 2010 reveals that the actual flow could be as large as 100,000 barrels per day. This BP document has raised many eyebrows and has prompted many to believe that the firm is trying to deliberately downplay the incident.
Potential Worries
Naturally the leakage has been worsened due to strong winds that have blown the oil to far-reaching locations. As of April 25th the oil spill covered an area of 580 square miles but five days later it was revealed that the area had increased to 3850 square miles. As the weeks went by, large amounts of oil were washed up onto the shorelines of Mississippi and Alabama barrier islands. Indeed, some oil was also washed onto a Florida barrier island. This vast spread has resulted in a ban on swimming in waters close to these regions and has thus significantly affected the lives of people living in the regions.
Initially scientists believed that once the oil reached the Loop Current, which flows towards Florida, it would undergo a massive spread due to the strength of the undercurrent. They believed that the strong deep water undercurrent would cause the oil to dissolve in the water much faster and this would make it difficult to continue tracking the oil. Moreover, the dissolved oil would definitely damage the coral systems in the region and this was definitely a cause for serious worry. Luckily current predictions eliminate the issue of the Loop Current region but it still cannot be predicted which path the oil will take and how far its damaging effects will reach. It is believed that the oil will stay several miles off the coast but small pockets of the oil could be washed ashore. The latter issue will be determined by local winds. The major fear is the onset of a hurricane which would seriously damage relief efforts and worsen the problem. A hurricane could blow the oil towards the shore and once this occurs the oil will seriously damage rice and sugarcane plantations. Moreover, the strong winds of a hurricane could spread the oil further and deeper, making it that much harder to solve the problem once and for all.
Recently scientists discovered the presence of undersea oil which is more difficult to track. The existence of subsea oil poses a serious problem as it is not easy to detect the oil once it has dissolved into the water. Research teams discovered that the numerous plumes of oil are at various levels and are of various depths and sizes. Subsea oil is definitely a threat to the marine ecosystem and is particularly alarming because it is so difficult to detect. Unfortunately, the world will have to pay the price of this oil spill for a long time to come as it is very unlikely that relief efforts will be able to remove every trace of oil from the sea. However, BP maintains that many of the plumes are unrelated to the oil spill and have contested the claims. As of now, it is impossible to segregate the issues for appropriate blaming and the most pressing worry is the removal of the oil, rather than anything else.
The BP oil spill is definitely a terrible tragedy that will cause extreme problems in the long-run. Images of the damaged ocean and the wildlife that are suffering at the hands of this calamity certainly alarm the mind and make one want to do their best to improve the situation. Unfortunately it is very difficult to handle such a massive natural disaster and one can only hope that everyone can work together to effectively handle the situation. Whether the firm will be forced to repent for their hideous mistake or not one will not know immediately but for now everyone should focus on removing as much oil as possible and ensuring that this kind of disaster does not happen again.