Efforts to stem the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

This article is part of a series about the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Efforts to stem the Deepwater Horizon oil spill were ongoing from the time that the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, 2010 until the well was sealed by a cap on July 15, 2010.[1] Various species of dolphins and other mammals (61 casualties), birds (2,095 casualties), and the endangered sea turtles (467 casualties) have been killed either directly or indirectly by the oil spill.[2] The Deepwater Horizon spill has surpassed in volume the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill as the largest ever to originate in U.S.-controlled waters; it is comparable to the 1979 Ixtoc I oil spill in total volume released (Ixtoc discharged 140 million US gallons (530,000 m3) to 148 million US gallons (560,000 m3); as of mid-July 2010, Deepwater Horizon had spilled 90 million US gallons (340,000 m3) to 180 million US gallons (680,000 m3)).[3][4]

Much of the oil is so far down in the Gulf that only nature, including microbes, will be able to remove it using a process called bioremediation.[5] Terry Hazen of the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said the process could take months or years.[5] But after six weeks of research, he said that microbes could work quickly in 84 °F (29 °C) water as opposed to colder-temperature waters. The A Whale, which is an oil tanker converted into a giant oil skimmer owned by the Taiwan Marine Transport Co (TMT), could do little because of BP's use of chemical dispersants, the company said.[6] Robert Bea of The University of California, who worked on the Ixtoc spill and the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, said the old methods would be the best ones. Dispersants, he said, did not work except in keeping beaches clean, and they hurt the environment.[5]

  1. ^ Robertson, Campbell; Fountain, Henry (2010-07-15). "BP Says Oil Flow Has Stopped as Cap Is Tested". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2023-02-17. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
  2. ^ Collection Report Archived 2010-07-18 at the Wayback Machine(PDF). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 5 July 2010.
  3. ^ "BP oil disaster: How much oil is left?". The Christian Science Monitor. Associated Press. 2010-06-17. Archived from the original on 2010-06-27. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  4. ^ Breen, Tom; Weber, Harry R. (2010-07-14). "BP delays work on stopgap and permanent well fix". The Sun News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2010-07-16. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  5. ^ a b c Berkeley scientist advises on clean-up in gulf oil spill - June 4, 2010 Archived June 8, 2010, at the Wayback Machine U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 5 July 2010.
  6. ^ "Giant oil skimmer 'A Whale' deemed a bust for Gulf of Mexico spill | NOLA.com". Archived from the original on 2011-01-20. Retrieved 2013-02-04.