(Photo: NASA)
As officials continue to carry out clean-up efforts from the deadly April 20, 2010, BP oil spill, one thing is clear: Last week’s Gulf Coast spill is one of the worst in history.
It’s tough to say just how much oil might leak out before the three major underwater leaks are stopped. Right now around 210,000 gallons of oil are pouring into the Gulf each day. That’s nowhere near the 11 million gallons of oil leaked into Alaska’s Prince William Sound by the Exxon Valdez tanker. Yet.
But if the leaks aren’t repaired soon, the BP spill may overtake the iconic Valdez tragedy in volume. If oil continues to leak at its current rate, the BP spill will be larger than the Exxon spill by the third week in June.
This isn’t the first time British Petroleum has run into trouble. In 2005, a massive explosion occurred at the company’s Texas City, Texas, refinery, killing 15 workers and injuring 170 others. The company was fined $87 million for negligence. A year later, the company ran into problems again when it was cited for leaking around 4,800 barrels of oil into Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, due to a corroded stretch of pipeline. The company was warned about the corroded pipe four years earlier but did nothing to fix it — and was fined $20 million for ignoring opportunities to prevent the spill.
In order to give you a better sense of just how big the unfolding tragedy in the Gulf is, we dug out some surprising statistics:
11: Number of workers missing and presumed dead following the BP rig explosion. (Source: Huffington Post)
5,000 barrels a day: Rate at which oil is leaking from the Deepwater Horizon rig — five times faster than was originally estimated. (Source: New York Times)
$300 million: Estimated cost to BP to plug up the leaking oil spill, not including environmental clean-up costs. (Source: New York Times)
$25 billion: Loss of market value to BP stock since last week’s rig explosion. (Source: Huffington Post).
16: Miles off the coast of Louisiana the oil slick has crept. (Source: New York Times)
At least 30: Species of birds the Audubon Society says are potentially threatened by the oil spill. These include marsh birds, ocean-dwelling birds, and migratory songbirds. All reside in “Important Bird Areas,” according to Audubon, designated because of their “essential habitat value.”
Among the most vulnerable species is the brown pelican — the state bird of Louisiana — which was only recently removed from the endangered species list. The spill is especially devastating for bird populations because it coincides with the beginning of breeding season. (Source: Audubon Society)
25 million: Number of birds that traverse the Gulf Coast per day and which are potentially at risk from the oil spill. According to the LA Times Greenspace blog, “Late spring is the peak time for neo-tropical songbirds moving from the Yucatan Peninsula to make their first landfall in Louisiana,” and “more than 70% of the country’s waterfowl frequent the gulf’s waters.”(Source: LA Times Greenspace blog)
11 million: Number of gallons of oil leaked into Alaska’s Prince William Sound in 1989 by the Exxon Valdez oil leak. It is widely considered the worst oil spill in U.S. history, although a number of larger spills have happened around the world, including the 2002 Prestige spill off Spain. (Source: CBS News)
400: Number of wildlife species threatened by the spill. Threatened species include sea life such as whales, tuna, and shrimp; dozens of species of birds; land animals such as the gray fox and white-tailed deer; and amphibians such as the alligator and the snapping turtle. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune)
600 square miles: Latest reported size of the oil slick. In response to reports of the blooming size of the spill, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency, anticipating that it would reach Louisiana’s shores soon. (Source: CNN)
$1.5 billion: Amount in insurance claims experts believe the BP spill will cost insurers. (Source: Business Week)
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Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.