The Gulf Oil Spill 2010 Deep Horizon Offshore Oil Platform (Cleveland, 2010) Explosion, Fire and Oil Spill (Cleveland, 2010) It is in the Gulf of Mexico and about 41 miles off the Louisiana coast. It was built by Huyndai Heavy Industries and was completed in It is belong to BP. It began drilling in February Date of explosion, fire and oil spill: April 20, Billowing flames was taller than a multistory building. Date of capping the well: July 15, workers were safely evacuated. 11 workers were missing.

The Gulf Oil Spill 2010 The Worst Environment Catastrophes in the U.S. History (Cleveland, 2010) - The Deepwater Horizon spilled about 4,900,000 barrels (205,800,000 gallons) of crude oil. - In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused a spill of eight million gallons (> 190,476 barrels) of crude and refined oil products from many different point sources into the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. - In 1989, wreck of the Exxon Valdez released about 261,905 barrels into Prince Williams Sound in Alaska. - In , the Ixtoc 1 exploratory well operated the PEMEX, the Mexican national oil corporation, released about 3.3 million barrels (140 million gallons) of crude oil into the Bay of Campeche in Mexico. - In 1968, the tanker Mandoil II spilled about 300,000 barrels into the Pacific Ocean off Columbia River near Warrenton, Oregon.

The Gulf Oil Spill 2010 Estimate of oil spill (Cleveland, 2010) Government estimates: 1,000 – 5,000 barrels/day Non-government estimates are much higher than estimates of government: John Amos, the founder of SkyTruth.org: 5,000 to 20,000 barrels/day. Dr. Timothy Crone, a marine geophysicist at Columbia University ‟ s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory: estimated that 50,000 to 100,000 barrels/day of total flux (crude oil and natural gas) Dr. Eugene Chiang, an astrophysicist at the University of California at Berkeley: 20,000 and 100,000 barrels/day of flux. Dr. Steven Wereley, a mechanical engineer at Purdue University 72,179 barrel/day (±20%) of flux. Spreading of Oil Spill (Cleveland, 2010) Oil slick: Oil spill covered as much 28,958 square miles, an area about the size of South Carolina, with the extent and location of the slick changing from day to day depending on weather conditions. Oil on the seashore: By the first week in June, crude oil had come ashore in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Oil plumes: In the depths of 1,000– 1,400 meters waters of the Gulf of Mexico, great oil plumes were formed. Their sizes may be 10 miles long, three miles wide and 300 feet thick.

The Gulf Oil Spill 2010 The Life of People and animal before The Gulf Oil Spill 2010 may be affected According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2010, the life at the Gulf of Mexicoin 2008 are: The biggest industries in the Gulf of Mexico is the fishing (commercial and recreational). More than 3.2 million recreational fishers took fishing trips in the Gulf in 2008, totally 24 million fishing trips. Commercial fishermen earned $659 million in total landings revenue in Two of the largest commercial fishing operations in the Gulf of Mexico are red snapper and shrimp. 2 resident species of large whales in the Gulf of Mexico that may occur in the area of the spill: Bryde's whales, Sperm whales (endangered). 21 marine mammals and 9 species of dolphins that routinely inhabit the northern Gulf are protected under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act. 5 species of turtles inhabit the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf Oil Spill 2010 Responsibility of Mineral Management Service (MMS) Response of The Federal Government MMS is the government agency which has the responsibility of oversight of offshore oil and gas activity, but it lacks its responsibility in this catastrophe of oil spill. Are the offshore drilling regulations too weak? (Billiteri, 2010). MMS came under heavy criticism for lax environmental planning and for sacrificing sound stewardship of a public natural resource for the narrow economic gain to private industry (Cleveland, 2010). An ABC News review of federal records shows that in spite of chronic safety violations, MMS imposed inconsequential fines that often took years to collect. In a majority of cases in which workers were killed, there was no record of fines paid. When fines were imposed, the maximum penalty was only $25,000 (NEHA, 2010). Cleveland, 2010, reports that: On April 29, 2010, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared the event a Spill of National Significance (SONS), indicating that the government would designate more forces to contain the spill. On May 21, 2010, President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order that created the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. On May 27, President Barack Obama rescinded his March 31, 2010 proposal for expanded offshore drilling, and instituted a temporary halt to drilling and new safety requirements On June 1, 2010, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced that the Justice Department had begun civil and criminal investigations.

The Gulf Oil Spill 2010 Effecting of Oil Spill on Life By June 2, 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had banned fishing about 36% of federal waters, or 86,895 sq mi (229,270 sq km) of the Gulf. Oil slick, oil on the seashore and oil plumes have severe impact on the Gulf. Millions of fisherman lose their jobs. Local economies and tourism will be reduce. The negative effects of oil on organisms and ecosystems. Oil causes harm to wildlife through physical contact, ingestion, inhalation and absorption. Floating oil can contaminate plankton, which includes algae, fish eggs, and the larvae of various invertebrates. Many protected wild animals can be killed by the oil spill. (Cleveland, 2010) Effecting of Offshore Drilling Moratorium (Billitteri, 2010) the moratorium on deepwater drilling would have idled 33 deepwater Gulf rigs and cost 20,000 jobs by the end of next year Extended delay could reduce future oil production by up to 400,000 barrels per day by mid-decade “Shutting down offshore oil drilling would seriously hurt our economy, and not just from the lost jobs directly and indirectly attached to offshore exploration and production,” wrote former Delaware Gov. Pete du Pont, chairman of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative Dallas- based think tank. “Oil is the lifeblood of our economy. Limiting or reducing a significant portion of our homegrown oil supply would be both an economic setback and a national security risk.”

The Gulf Oil Spill 2010 The Important Position of Offshore Drilling Crude oil from offshore drilling brings many benefits to the U.S. economy. Billittery, 2010, states: Government scientists said in mid-June that up to 60,000 barrels of oil — about 2.5 million gallons — could be flowing into the Gulf each day Energy consumption : petroleum 37,3 %, natural gas 24,7%. Oil consumption: transportation 70%, industrial 23%, commercial 5% The United States uses about 21 million barrels of oil per day. Approximately a fourth of domestic oil production comes from offshore sources in the Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf Oil Spill 2010 Should Offshore Drilling Be Continued? Delaware Gov. Pete du Pont, chairman of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative Dallas-based think tank, says “Oil is the lifeblood of our economy. Limiting or reducing a significant portion of our homegrown oil supply would be both an economic setback and a national security risk.” (Billittery, 2010). NEHA, 2010, states that the offshore should be continued but the government should reorganize MMS and have more controls on offshore drilling. Senator Lindsey Graham, 2010, says “As a Senator from a coastal state, and in light of the historic oil spill off the coast of Louisiana, I think we need to find out what happened there, enact safety measures to prevent similar accidents from occurring in the future, and then build consensus for the expanded offshore drilling our nation will need in the years ahead.”

The Gulf Oil Spill 2010 Works Cited Billitteri, Thomas J. “Offshore Drilling.” The CQ Researcher Volume 20 Issue 24 (2010): Print. Cleveland, Cutler J. et al. “Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill.” Eoearth.org. The Encyclopedia of Earth. 09 Oct Web. 20 Nov Graham, Lindsey. “Should Congress Expand Offshore Drilling?” Nationaljournal12 Jul Web. 20 Nov National Environmental Health Association. “Position on Offshore Oil Drilling.” 12 Jul Print. United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Dept. of Commerce. Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. Silver Spring, MD: National Oceanic and Atmospheric