1800 Square Miles And Spreading: Oil Spill In Gulf Of Mexico
As of Monday afternoon, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana spread to cover more than 1800 square miles. The oil spill is coming from a leak in the well that was drilled by the Transocean Deepwater Horizon, a giant offshore drilling rig that exploded and sank last week. The oil spill is reported to be leaking about t 42,000 gallons a day from a well nearly a mile deep. The leak is going to be put under control by the US coast guard using robots.
Bases off analysis of ocean currents and weather patterns, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to stay about 30 miles offshore. The states along the Gulf coast were warned in a statement on Monday by the Coast Guard to be on alert. The oil rig that burned and sank was drilling a well about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, putting that state’s shoreline at the highest risk.
Oil spill response
Louisiana has begun spending money now in oil spill response, installing containment booms around environmentally sensitive areas, to prepare for the oil spill which, according to the Coast Guard, could hit shore anytime Tuesday. According to the Associated Press, Alabama has also mobilized oil spill response to prevent damage if the oil slick hits. The Coast Guard says that they have spent extra cash on 15 specially designed skimming vessels which has collected 48,000 gallons of oil water mix by Sunday. Aircraft have been dumping dispersant chemicals to break down the oil.
Oil spill disaster fears come true
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was a big fear when the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank. The well is leaking its liquid cash today from the “riser,†as reported by the New York Times. The riser is a pipe that is 5,000 feet long and extends from the wellhead on the ocean bottom that was connected to the drilling platform. Now detached, the riser is kinked like a garden hose. Officials believe the kinks are preventing an even worse gusher of oil from escaping and the leaks are at the sea floor. Before the platform sank, a geyser of oil and gas shot from the riser to create a giant plume of flame and black smoke.
Cleanup oil spill
In order to contain the oil spill, the Coast Guard wants to have robotic subs activate a 450 ton valve at the wellhead 5,000 feet deep that might seal the wall. This vale was designed to prevent sudden pressure releases that led to the explosion that sunk the platform and may not work. BP has, has a contingency, dispatched two rigs to the area that could drill relief wells. It is estimated by officials that drilling down to the cavity of oil and gas and pumping it full of mud and concrete could take two months.
At this rate, The New York times said, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, at a rate of 42,000 gallons of oil a day, would have to continue for 262 days to match the 11-million-gallon spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound from the Exxon Valdez in 1989, the worst oil spill in United States history.