The Largest Offshore Oil Spill in United States History
The federal government has announced that the runaway BP oil well in the Gulf is the worst unintentional spill in history, spewing almost 5 million barrels (or 205.8 million gallons) of oil since the disaster started on April 20th. The worst oil spill recorded was during the Persian Gulf War in 1991 when Iraqi forces intentionally dumped 520 million gallons in an effort to stop American forces. To put in perspective, the Exxon Valdez leaked 11 million gallons, a fraction of the BP runaway well.
The federal government now estimates that 62,000 barrels were leaked into the Gulf at the beginning of the spill; at a time when the government and BP estimated the leak to be only 5000 barrels. Only in June did the federal government and BP raise their estimate to between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels a day.
The number of oil spill is extremely important to determine a price tag on what BP will owe the American people in a civil case. If found they were not negligent, BP would be fined a minimum of $1100 per barrel, or $4.5 billion because some of the oil was captured, but could be as much as $4300 per barrel if they are found to have been “grossly negligent”; that amount would be $17.6 billion. These fines will be used to help Gulf residents and wildlife most impacted by the spill.
Progress has slowly been made to stop the out of control oil well. BP successfully shut off the flow of oil on July 15th by placing an experimental cap on the blown out well head, the first in a series of actions designed to permanently kill the well. Beginning August 2nd, BP began pumping drilling mud directly into the well, which will gradually be replaced with cement and is an important step to permanently seal the gusher nearly four months after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded. While the flow of oil out of the runaway well has stopped, the final sealing of the well will occur when relief wells are completed and cement can be pumped deep into the oil reservoir - currently scheduled for completion in mid August.
On August 4th, the federal government reported that 75% of the oil has been accounted for - meaning it has been captured, skimmed, burned, consumed by bacteria, evaporated or treated with dispersants. Some independent scientists question weather these calculations are accurate and are concerned that oil treated with dispersants is still in the water but not visible, much in the same way sugar in water dissolves but is still present. However, even if government calculations are completely correct, that would leave 26% of the oil in the Gulf, roughly 56 million gallons - 5 times the amount spilled by the Exxon Valdez.
More information:
Oil Spill Legislation
On Friday, July 30th, in response to the runaway BP oil well in the Gulf, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3534, the Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources Act or CLEAR Act. Within the bill were several provisions to help wildlife impacted by BP’s runaway oil well as well as full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, one of the most important ways the Refuge System acquires lands and water rights.
The bill:
- Fully funds that Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at $900 million annually without being subject to annual appropriations. Appropriators will still determine the percentage for state side and federal, which includes funding for refuge land acquisitions, as well as what projects ultimately are funded every year.
- Gives national wildlife refuges the ability to collect and keep funds for damages from oil spills.
- Provides $1.2 billion to fund a "Gulf Coast Restoration Program" with civil penalties assessed against BP under the Clean Water Act. Those penalties could eventually hit $17.6 billion altogether, if calculated at $4,300 per spilled barrel -- the rate that corresponds to cases of "gross negligence." (see above) Within this provision, a Gulf Restoration Task Force, on which the FWS would sit along with other agencies and Gulf Coast Governors, would create a restoration plan with large-scale restoration projects, which Congress would approve.
If you’re curious about how your U.S. Representative voted, click here for a spreadsheet.
Spill Update: 8/3/10
- Oil has impacted eight refuges: Breton, Delta, Big Branch NWRs (LA), Bon Secour NWR (AL), Grand Bay NWR (MS), St. Vincent NWR (FL) and McFaddin NWR (TX) 36 National Wildlife Refuges are still threatened until the well is permanently capped;
- As of August 2nd, 563 FWS personnel are still engaged in the response but significantly less than the nearly 900 deployed at the height of the disaster
- 1643 visibly oiled birds had been captured alive by the FWS and its partners; of the birds rescued, 594 have been cleaned and released. 1451 oiled birds have been collected dead.
- 4914 birds, 843 sea turtles and 69 mammals (including dolphins and sperm whales) have been collected dead – this is believed to be the “tip of an iceberg” in how many animals are truly impacted.
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