The result could have long-term effects because oil could remain in the food chain for generations. An official website of the United States government. On 2 March 2012, BP and plaintiffs agreed to settle their lawsuits. Boat captains were given the opportunity to offer the use of their boats to help clean and prevent the oil from further spreading. The oil firm alleged failed safety systems and irresponsible behaviour of contractors had led to the explosion, including claims that Halliburton failed to properly use modelling software to analyze safe drilling conditions. At the same time, organisms able to digest light components of the oil began to multiply, starting the process of converting the pollutant to carbon dioxide . [154], Oil was collected from water by using skimmers. The oil leak was discovered on the afternoon of 22 April 2010 when a large oil slick began to spread at the former rig site. On 23 March 2011, BOEMRE (former MMS) and the USCG published a forensic examination report on the blowout preventer, prepared by Det Norske Veritas. [89], On 3 September 2010, the 300-ton failed blowout preventer was removed from the well and a replacement blowout preventer was installed. On October 5, 2015, we proposed a comprehensive, integrated, ecosystem restoration plan to address impacts from the spill to the Gulf of Mexico. This process involves investigating the effects of the spill on natural resources and determining the costs to restore them. [142][143][144] BP reduced Corexit use by 25,689 to 23,250USgal (97,240 to 88,010L) per day, a 9% decline. The deepwater oil plume was greater than 35 km in distance and 30% was still in the water column. Although BP attempted to activate the rigs blowout preventer (BOP), a fail-safe mechanism designed to close the channel through which oil was drawn, the device malfunctioned. Once released by the fracture of the core, the natural gas traveled up the Deepwater rigs riser to the platform, where it ignited, killing 11 workers and injuring 17. Two methods of bioremediation were used: bioaugmentation and biostimulation [11]. Transcript: Media Encounter Access Problems While Covering The Oil Spill, "The BP Spill's Growing Toll on the Sea Life of the Gulf", "Biodiversity of the Gulf of Mexico: Applications to the Deep Horizon oil spill", "OSU researchers find heightened levels of known carcinogens in Gulf News and Research Communications", "U.S. oil spill waters contain carcinogens: report", "BP: Mile-long tube sucking oil away from Gulf well", "Oil spill full of methane, adding new concerns", "Dispersed Oil Disrupts Microbial Pathways in Pelagic Food Webs", "Oil from Deepwater Horizon disaster entered food chain in the Gulf of Mexico", "Scientists Find Evidence That Oil And Dispersant Mix Is Making Its Way into The Foodchain", "Gulf's dolphins pay heavy price for Deepwater oil spill", "BP oil spill: The 'horribly mutated' creatures living in the Gulf", "Eyeless shrimp and mutant fish raise concerns over BP spill effects", "Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists Features", "Gulf ecosystem in crisis after BP spill", Deepwater Horizon spill threatens more species than legally protected, study finds, "Deep sea fish named in world top ten new species", "Gulf Oil Spill: Coral Death 'Definitively' Linked To BP Spill", "Impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on a deep-water coral community in the Gulf of Mexico", "BP oil spill seriously harmed deep-sea corals, scientists warn", "Submarine Dive Finds Oil, Dead Sea Life at Bottom of Gulf of Mexico", "20102011 Cetacean Unusual Mortality Event in Northern Gulf of Mexico Office of Protected Resources NOAA Fisheries", Conservation Letters: Whale and dolphin death toll during Deepwater disaster may have been greatly underestimated by Dr. In the case of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, clean-up workers treated the oil with over 1.4 million gallons of various chemical dispersants. [116] The fires released small amounts of toxins, including cancer-causing dioxins. [59] As of January2011[update], tar balls, oil sheen trails, fouled wetlands marsh grass and coastal sands were still evident. An infamous example of this is the Deepwater Horizon oil spill . [349] $800million goes to Gulf Coast restoration Trust Fund, $300million to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, $150million to the National Wild Turkey Federation and $150million to the National Academy of Sciences. [282] Rand Paul accused President Obama of being anti-business and "un-American". [268][269] Later a six-month offshore drilling (below 500ft (150m) of water) moratorium was enforced by the United States Department of the Interior. British pension fund managers (who have large holdings of BP shares and rely upon its dividends) accepted that while BP had to pay compensation for the spill and the environmental damage, they argued that the cost to the company's market value from President Obama's criticism was far outweighing the direct clean-up costs. Several species of microbes played a significant role in the cleanup of BP oil spill which otherwise would not had been possible. ", "National Contingency Plan Product Schedule", "Dispersant Monitoring and Assessment Directive Addendum", "BP is sticking with its dispersant choice", "BP Used Much Dispersant Despite E.P.A. On August 3 BP conducted a static kill, a procedure in which drilling mud was pumped into the well through the BOP. [122] The EPA expressed concern that the booms would threaten wildlife. BP issued a statement strongly disagreeing with the finding, and saying the court's decision would be appealed. The gas released caused an enormous underwater explosion that sadly took 11 lives and injured 17 others. A lock (LockA locked padlock) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. The fines from the criminal cases administered by the National Academies of Science offsite link and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation offsite link are used for two programs: After the spill, state and federal agencies undertook an intense scientific study of the impacts of the spill. The British Petroleum oil spill (BP oil spill), also known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, is the largest oil spill in the history of the petroleum production industry [11] . Calling the vicinity of the spill "one of the most productive ocean ecosystems in the world", the study found that even at very low concentrations "PAH cardiotoxicity was potentially a common form of injury among a broad range of species in the vicinity of the oil. [257][258] BP's expenditures on the spill included the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid, and federal costs, including fines and penalties. "[304], The U.S. government rejected offers of cleanup help from Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations. [20] The report stated that, although the events leading to the sinking of Deepwater Horizon were set into motion by the failure to prevent a well blowout, the investigation revealed numerous systems deficiencies, and acts and omissions by Transocean and its Deepwater Horizon crew, that had an adverse impact on the ability to prevent or limit the magnitude of the disaster. [148] In a major study on the plume, experts were most concerned about the slow pace at which the oil was breaking down in the cold, 40F (4C) water at depths of 3,000ft (900m). [233] Chemicals from the oil and dispersant are believed to be the cause; it is believed that the addition of dispersants made the oil more toxic. API announced the creation of an offshore safety institute, separate from API's lobbying operation. [85][86][87] On 3 August 2010, first test oil and then drilling mud was pumped at a slow rate of approximately 2bbl (320L) per minute into the well-head. In addition to the private lawsuits and civil governmental actions, the federal government charged multiple companies and five individuals with federal crimes. Problems include the fact that microbes being introduced may require different conditions in order to grow, indigenous organisms out compete the new comers, and if growth is observed, it may not reach a high enough concentration to have an observable effect on the degradation of oil. The settlement ended all civil and criminal penalty claims against the owners and operators of the rig BP, Anadarko, TransOcean and Halliburton under the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act. Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA). The volume of oil escaping the damaged welloriginally estimated by BP to be about 1,000 barrels per daywas thought by U.S. government officials to have peaked at more than 60,000 barrels per day. Though fitted loosely over the BOP and allowing some oil to escape, the cap enabled BP to siphon approximately 15,000 barrels of oil per day to a tanker. [201] Prior to the spill, approximately 0.1% of Gulf fish had lesions or sores. They used this assessment to develop a science-based, comprehensive restoration plan for the Gulf of Mexico, which will be funded through a settlement with BP for up to $8.8 billion. [278], On 30 April, President Obama dispatched the Secretaries of the Department of Interior and Homeland Security, as well as the EPA Administrator and NOAA to the Gulf Coast to assess the disaster. [147] One plume was 22mi (35km) long, more than 1mi (1,600m) wide and 650ft (200m) deep. (1) Das, N. and Chandran, P. Microbial Degradation of Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contaminants: An Overview. Biotechnol Res Int., 2011, DOI: 10.4061/2011/941810, (2) Bik, H., Halanych, K., Sharma, J. and Kelly Thomas, W. Dramatic Shifts in Benthic Microbial Eukaryote Communities following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. PLoS One, 2012, DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0038550, (3) Safina, C. The 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Well Blowout: A Little Hindsight. PLoS Biol, 2011, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001049, (4) Kweon, O., Kim, S., Holland, R., Chen, H., Kim, D., Gao, Y., Yu, L., Baek, S., Baek, D., Ahn, H. and Cerniglia, C. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Metabolic Network in Mycobacterium vanbaaleniiPYR-1. J Bacteriol, 2011, DOI: 10.1128/JB.00215-11, (5) Beazley, M., Martinez, R., Rajan, S., Powell, J., Piceno, Y., Tom, L., Anderson, G., Hazen, T., Nostrand, J., Zhou, J., Mortazavi, B. and Sobecky, P. Micrbial Community Analysis of a Coastal Salt March Affected by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. PLoS One, 2012, DOI: 101371/journal.pone.0041305, (6) Kostka, J., Prakash, O., Overhalt, W., Green, S., Freyer, G., Canion, A., Delgardio, J., Norton, N., Hazen, T. and Huettel, M. Hydrocarbon-degrading Bacteria and the Bacterial Community Response in Gulf of Mexico Beach Sands Impacted by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Appl Environ Microbiol, 2011, DOI: 10.1128/AEM.05402-11, (7) McGenity, T., Folwell, B., McKew, B. and Sanni, G. Marine crude-oil biodegradation: a central role for interspecies interaction. Aquat Biosyst, 2012, DOI: 10.1186/2046-9063-8-10, (8) Ziervogel, K., McKay, L., Rhodes, B., Osburn, C., Dickson-Brown, J., Arnosti, C. and Teske, A. [287][288] CEOs from the top five oil companies all agreed to work harder at improving safety. [161], Several studies suggest that microbes successfully consumed part of the oil. Mark Clayton for the Christian Science Monitor. [282], Initially, BP downplayed the incident; its CEO Tony Hayward called the amount of oil and dispersant "relatively tiny" in comparison with the "very big ocean. [74] Pumping heavy drilling fluids into the blowout preventer to restrict the flow of oil before sealing it permanently with cement ("top kill") also failed. Washington, DC 20036. NIOSH personnel performed air monitoring around cleanup workers at sea, on land, and during the application of Corexit. Oil spill clean upusing oil bloom containments, skimmers, and separators were immediately deployed. [228] A 2015 study of the relative toxicity of oil and dispersants to coral also found that the dispersants were more toxic than the oil. [201] In October 2013, Al Jazeera reported that the gulf ecosystem was "in crisis", citing a decline in seafood catches, as well as deformities and lesions found in fish. [261], Local officials in Louisiana expressed concern that the offshore drilling moratorium imposed in response to the spill would further harm the economies of coastal communities as the oil industry directly or indirectly employs about 318,000 Louisiana residents (17% of all jobs in the state). [38][39] Ninety-four crew members were rescued by lifeboat or helicopter, 17 of whom were treated for injuries. [163][164] David L. Valentine, a professor of microbial geochemistry at UC Santa Barbara, said that the capability of microbes to break down the leaked oil had been greatly exaggerated. [2] BP conducted its internal investigation. BP also agreed to four years of government monitoring of its safety practices and ethics, and the Environmental Protection Agency announced that BP would be temporarily banned from new contracts with the United States government. [331] The federal judge assigned to the case, Judge Barbier, refused to halt the settlement program, saying he had not seen evidence of widespread fraud, adding that he was "offended by what he saw as attempts to smear the lawyer administering the claims."[332]. To assist with the efforts the captains had to register their ships with the Vessels of Opportunity; however, an issue arose when more boats registered than actually participated in the clean-up efforts only a third of the registered boats. [325] In June 2012, the settlement of claims through the GCCF was replaced by the court-supervised settlement program. Caused an enormous underwater explosion that sadly took 11 lives and injured 17 others in drilling. 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