British Petroleum Oil Spill
“On April 20, 2010, the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, operating in the Macondo
Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico,
... [Show More] 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.”
(EPA, 2017)
BP Oil Spill
The spill began on April 20th due to the explosion. The parties involved would be British
Petroleum (BP). This operation was theirs, but there were other companies involved as well.
Deepwater Horizon was the rig that was performing the operation. There was also Andarko and
Mitsui who were partners to BP. Immediately, all parties involved attempted to direct the spill
toward the coast, and they tried to prevent the oil from spreading. The well was not capped until
July 15, 2010. This was eighty-seven days later from the oil spill. (Smithsonian, 2018) “An
estimated 3.19 million barrels of oil had leaked into the Gulf” during this time. (Smithsonian,
2018) Clean up began, and it is continuing today, ten years later.
Laws
At the time of the spill the law in place was called the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security
Act (GOMESA). The purpose of this act was to allow for more oil and gas activities. It would
share revenue and allowed the exchange of leases between companies. Since the BP oil spill in
2010, though, there have been significant changes to oil rig drilling laws.
Ecological Risks
• Animals were covered in black oil.
• Fish were found dead in brownish sludge.
• Most animals later on showed health issues related to the effects of the spill.
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• Dolphins and sea turtles became more frequently stranded in the area.
• About 167,600 sea turtles died due to the spill.
• About 800,000 coastal birds died, and 200,000 offshore birds died, too.
• Commercial species died in large numbers.
• Deep water corals were damaged.
• Bacteria grew in the oil creating more negative effects.
• 1,000 miles of shoreline were impacted and eroded by the spill.
Future Risk Assessment
Today, drilling companies are required to have an “enhanced well design, improved
blowout preventer design, testing and maintenance, and an increased number of trained
inspectors.”
Economic Value
British Petroleum put forth six billion dollars toward the clean-up of the spill, and they
also hired out 4,000 jobs to help with the clean up as well. These six billion dollars also went to
help the fisheries and tourism that lost money due to the spill. It also helped bring back most of
the 3,000 jobs lost at the time.
Ecological Value
After the spill the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforced a $5.5 billion
penalty regarding the Clean Water Act (CWA) and about $8.8 billion in natural resource
damages. To assess the ecological value and damage done the EPA provides the National Coastal
Condition Assessment. “The National Coastal Condition Assessment (NCCA) is a national
coastal monitoring program with rigorous quality assurance protocols and standardized sampling [Show Less]