Deepwater Horizon oil spill

"Like all of you, and the world out there, I have suffered a huge sense of frustration at not being able to stop the loss. (Tony Hayward)"

"The Gulf disaster is worse than a terrible oil leak. It is the product of a failed energy policy that looked at profits before people and environment. (Robert Redford), nrdc.org"

"Divine intervention is needed to solve the disaster in the gulf, as man's efforts have been futile. Politicians should call for a day of prayer for a miracle to happen. (Sarah Palin)"

"Williams was the chief electronics technician for ... Managing electronics on the Deepwater Horizon had inured Williams to emergency alarms. s had been running high enough to prohibit any “hot” work such as welding or wiring that could cause sparks. Normally, the alarm system would have gone off with gas levels as high as they were. However, the alarms had been disabled in order to prevent false alarms from waking people in the middle of the night. But the emergency announcement that came over the on the night of April 20 was clearly no false alarm. Moments after the announcement, Williams was jolted by a nearby thud and a hissing sound, followed by the revving of one of the rig’s engines. Before he knew it, there were two explosions forcing him and other crew members to abandon ship by jumping into the partially flaming ocean. ... Of the 126 workers on board the Deepwater Horizon, 17 were injured, including Williams, and 11 were killed. The rig burned for 36 hours, combusting the 700,000 gallons of oil that were on board, leaving a trail of smoke over 30 miles long. The Deepwater Horizon sank on April 22, taking with it the top pipe of the well and parts of the system that were supposed to prevent s from occurring."

"Current estimates suggest that the Deepwater Horizon (DH) resulted in the release of approximately 4.4 million s ± 20% (7.0 × 105 m3) into the northern over a 3-month period during the summer of 2010 (Crone and Tolstoy 2010). The leak was a result of a deepwater rig explosion on 20 April 2010 due to methane gas release after drilling an . An attempt to activate a safety feature to prevent a blowout failed. After burning for 36 hr, the entire platform sank to the seafloor. Because of concerns over seafood safety, on 2 May 2010, the (NOAA) initiated closures of federal waters to commercial and recreational fishing; Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and eventually Florida subsequently instituted fisheries closures in state waters, in coordination with the (FDA) ... By 21 June, closures covered approximately 37% of the Gulf of Mexico (225,290 km2), extending east from , Louisiana, to (NOAA 2010b). The well was capped on 15 July, and on 19 September, relief wells were completed that permanently disabled the well."

"The Deepwater Horizon constituted an ecosystem-level injury in the northern . Much oil spread at 1100–1300 m depth, contaminating and affecting deepwater habitats. Factors such as oil-biodegradation, s and response measures (dispersants, burning) reduced coastal oiling. Still, > 2100 of shoreline and many coastal habitats were affected. Research demonstrates that oiling caused a wide range of biological effects, although worst-case impact scenarios did not materialize. s in individual organisms were more informative about oiling stress than population and community indices. es and seabird populations were hard hit, but were also quite resilient to oiling effects. Monitoring demonstrated little contamination of seafood."

"The Deepwater Horizon was the largest, longest-lasting, and deepest oil accident to date in US waters. As and jetted from release points at 1,500-m depth in the northern , entrainment of the surrounding into a buoyant plume, rich in soluble s and dispersed microdroplets of oil, created a deep (1,000-m) intrusion layer. Larger droplets of liquid oil rose to the surface, forming a slick of mostly insoluble, hydrocarbon-type compounds. A variety of physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms helped to transform, remove, and redisperse the oil and gas that was released. removed up to 60% of the oil in the intrusion layer but was less efficient in the surface slick, due to nutrient limitation. Photochemical processes altered up to 50% (by mass) of the floating oil. The surface oil expression changed daily due to wind and currents, whereas the intrusion layer flowed southwestward. A portion of the weathered surface oil stranded along shorelines. Oil from both surface and intrusion layers were deposited onto the via sinking marine oil snow. The biodegradation rates of stranded or sedimented oil were low, with resuspension and redistribution transiently increasing biodegradation. The subsequent research efforts increased our understanding of the fate of spilled oil immensely, with novel insights focusing on the importance of , the driving biodegradation, and the formation of marine oil snow that transports oil to the seafloor."