Environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

This article is part of a series about the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
The oil slick as seen from space by NASA's Terra satellite on 24 May 2010

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been described as the worst environmental disaster in the United States, releasing about 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gal; 780,000 m3) of crude oil making it the largest marine oil spill in history. Both the spill and the cleanup efforts had effects on the environment.

The oil spill was called the "worst environmental disaster the US has faced" by White House energy adviser Carol Browner.[1] The spill was by far the largest in US history, almost 20 times greater than the usual estimate of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.[2] Factors such as petroleum toxicity, oxygen depletion and the use of Corexit are expected to be the main causes of damage.[3]

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