More than
three years have gone by since the BP deep water horizon rig spill, which caused
more than 200 million gallons of oil and also 1.8 million gallons of dispersants
to be dumped into the Gulf of Mexico. At the peak of
the crisis, in June 2010, 37% of Gulf waters - a total of 88,522 square miles -
were closed to fishing due to contamination. There were also eleven people that
were working on the rig that died in the explosion, while 16 other workers were
injured. Three BP officials were accused on criminal charges in connection with
the 2010 Deep water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP pleaded guilty
to 14 criminal charges, including a dozen felony charges, and the company
agreed to pay $4 billion in fines and penalties. BP was not the only company
involved, BP, Transocean and Halliburton all share responsibility for the
deadly explosion that resulted in The Gulf of Mexico. The three companies
"violated a number of federal offshore safety regulations," according
to a report.
An oil
spill is very damaging to an ecosystem, oil is actually made up of thousands of
compounds and not all are equal. After the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 some
researchers found out that the majority of toxic chemicals in oil are a family
of compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). PAHs are often left
behind after the majority of the oil is cleaned up.
The oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico probably have caused thousands more
dolphin and whale deaths than have been observed. After analyzing historical
data on populations and death rates of 14 species in the northern Gulf, the
scientists determined that carcasses are found in only 2% of cetacean deaths. A
new study suggests that for every dead dolphin or whale that washes up on Gulf
Coast beaches, there may be 50 more that no one ever sees. The scientists urge
environmentalists and authorities not to rely solely on carcass counts in
judging the severity of an event because there is actually a larger number, and
the BP oil company should be held responsible for ALL the damage they did.
Understanding the effects
of the oil spill are not only important in the process of helping damaged
ecosystems recover but also to help the people that depend on fishery for their
income and even their food. The large amount of research being funded to better
understand this disaster will hopefully help people learn how to prevent something
like this from happening, and if not it will help people become more prepared
to deal with another disaster that may happen in the future.
Sources:
By, Cory Antonucci ( Wednesday @12 seminar)
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