If it proves to be oil from the subsurface, then that could indicate the possibility of an indefinite release of oil. In the United States the Deepwater Horizon investigation included several investigations and commissions, including reports by the USCG National Incident Commander, Admiral Thad Allen, the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), National Academy of Engineering, National Research Council, Government Accountability Office, National Oil Spill Commission, and Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. The plan was criticised for its expense and poor results. "[280] Interior Secretary Ken Salazar stated, "Our job basically is to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum. Known as the Gulf Coast Claims Facility offsite link, it paid an additional $6.2 billion to more than 220,000 individual and business claimants. Fish are intoxicated by the petroleum products and are unable to cope with the stress. The oil well was capped three months later, after 24/7 news coverage. [170][171], The first video images were released on 12 May, and further video images were released by members of Congress who had been given access to them by BP. [310] Also the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce conducted a number of hearings, including hearings of Tony Hayward and heads of Anadarko and Mitsui's exploration unit. For the Deep Horizon oil spill, cleanup workers used 1,400,000USgal (5,300,000l; 1,200,000impgal) of various chemical dispersants to further breakdown the oil. [36][37] Eleven missing workers were never found despite a three-day U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) search operation and are believed to have died in the explosion. Mixing dispersants with oil at the wellhead would keep some oil below the surface and in theory, allowing microbes to digest the oil before it reached the surface. The goal of NRDA is to restore natural resources and compensate the public for lost recreational use. Bioaugmentation. [190][191] PAHs are often linked to oil spills and include carcinogens and chemicals that pose various health risks to humans and marine life. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. And we will do whatever's necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy. [224][225], In 2013, researchers found that oil on the bottom of the seafloor did not seem to be degrading,[226] and observed a phenomenon called a "dirty blizzard": oil in the water column began clumping around suspended sediments, and falling to the ocean floor in an "underwater rain of oily particles." Benthic and highly productive habitats such as marshes and coastal wetlands in the affected areas were contaminated with crude oil and other petroleum by products; they are harmful to many of the organisms that thrive there [2]. 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] . Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill | Gulf of Mexico | April 2010 What Happened? These studies also showed that the bodies of former spill cleanup workers carry biomarkers of "many chemicals contained in the oil". Dan Zak for the Washington Post, 3 June 2010. [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). [56] In October, weathered oil reached Texas. [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. [342][344], On 14 November 2012, BP and the US Department of Justice reached a settlement. A bioremediation expert says extreme caution must be used in cleaning up the fragile Gulf Coast ecosystem in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Being hydrophobic compounds that are less dense than seawater, a large amount of such substances will form sheens on the ocean surface. [82][83] Mud and cement were later pumped in through the top of the well to reduce the pressure inside it (which didn't work either). Chemical data implied that the substance might be residual oil leaking from the wreckage. [20][21] Earlier in 2011, a White House commission likewise blamed BP and its partners for a series of cost cutting decisions and an inadequate safety system, but also concluded that the spill resulted from "systemic" root causes and "absent significant reform in both industry practices and government policies, might well recur". On September 17 the bottom kill maneuver was successfully executed through the first relief well. One study projects that the overall impact of lost or degraded commercial, recreational, and mariculture fisheries in the Gulf could be $8.7billion by 2020, with a potential loss of 22,000 jobs over the same time frame. [165][168] The delivery method of microbes to oil patches was proposed by the Russian Research and Development Institute of Ecology and the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources. [176], Local and federal authorities citing BP's authority denied access to members of the press attempting to document the spill from the air, from boats, and on the ground, blocking access to areas that were open to the public. ", EPA slams Jindal's sand berm plan | wwltv.com New Orleans, "How can human hair mop up the oil spill? Oil spill clean upusing oil bloom containments, skimmers, and separators were immediately deployed. [293][294], In the UK, there was anger at the American press and news outlets for the misuse of the term "British Petroleum" for the company a name which has not been used since British Petroleum merged with the American company Amoco in 1998 to form BP Amoco. It also included economic damage claims submitted by the five Gulf states and their local governments. This webpage is limited to EPAs enforcement-related activities only, and does not cover all legal or other actions against BP Exploration & Production and other parties for the spill, such as private party/class action settlements for medical claims and economic damages, or other actions against those responsible for the spill. Not only was BP required to pay both criminal and civil court ordered penalties of more than $20.8 billion, they funded $500 million in additional research in 2010. The spill area hosts 8,332species, including more than 1,270fish, 604 polychaetes, 218birds, 1,456mollusks, 1,503crustaceans, 4sea turtles and 29marine mammals. This was described as a "sick joke" and "a very serious error of judgement" by Friends of the Earth Scotland. [92] On 19 September 2010, National Incident Commander Thad Allen declared the well "effectively dead" and said that it posed no further threat to the Gulf. The U.S. State Department listed 70 assistance offers from 23 countries, all being initially declined, but later, 8 had been accepted. Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The oil well was capped three months later, after 24/7 news coverage. [138] Because the dispersants were applied at depth, much of the oil never rose to the surface. "[342][343] The DOJ also said Transocean, the owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon rig, was guilty of gross negligence as well. [78] Before the tube was removed, it collected 924,000USgal (22,000bbl; 3,500m3) of oil. [318] The report stated that "whether purposeful or not, many of the decisions that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean made that increased the risk of the Macondo blowout clearly saved those companies significant time (and money). Efforts in May to place a containment dome over the largest leak in the broken riser were thwarted by the buoyant action of gas hydratesgas molecules in an ice matrixformed by the reaction of natural gas and cold water. [270] The moratorium suspended work on 33rigs,[270] and a group of affected companies formed the Back to Work Coalition. [229], A 2015 study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, published in PLOS ONE, links the sharp increase in dolphin deaths to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. [31] Built by South Korean company Hyundai Heavy Industries[32] and owned by Transocean, the rig operated under the Marshallese flag of convenience, and was chartered to BP from March 2008 to September 2013. [63][64][65], That means that over 10010^6USgal (380Ml) (2.4million barrels) remained in the Gulf. As oil and gas, shipping, and tourism activities increase, the possibilities of an oil spill also increase. Responding to the report, Transocean and Halliburton placed all blame on BP. Oil spill transport and fate models are effective tools which allow a . Initial testing regularly showed detectable levels of dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate, a chemical used in the clean up. A limitation of their methodology was that some VOCs may have already evaporated from the oil before they began their investigation. [116] Booms were criticized for washing up on the shore with the oil, allowing oil to escape above or below the boom, and for ineffectiveness in more than three- to four-foot (90120cm) waves. It is possible to add fertilizers, such as iron, nitrogen and phosphorus, to stimulate the growth of such bacteria, an approach used to speed up microbial activity in the sediment along the Alaska. Restore and conserve habitat - $4.7 billion, Replenish and protect coastal living resources - $1.8 billion, Provide and enhance recreational opportunities - $420 million, Monitoring, adaptive management and oversight - $1.5 billion. How can we best prepare to respond to such an event in this challenging environment? We conducted dozens of public meetings and received thousands of comments which have helped us shape each phase of early restoration. A large scale of bioremediation was deployed during the BP oil spill crisis due to its effectiveness and lower cost [8]. Including one-time use sorbent booms, a total of 13,300,000ft (4,100km) of booms were deployed. It was based on our thorough assessment of impacts to the Gulf's natural resources and the services they provide. Corrections? [166][167], Genetically modified Alcanivorax borkumensis was added to the waters to speed digestion. Clarke, Sanchez, Bonfiles, Escobedo (15 June 2010). Two methods of bioremediation were used: bioaugmentation and biostimulation [11] . Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also called Gulf of Mexico oil spill, largest marine oil spill in history, caused by an April 20, 2010, explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil riglocated in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 41 miles (66 km) off the coast of Louisiana and its subsequent sinking on April 22. In their statement the DOJ said that some of BP's arguments were "plainly misleading" and that the court should ignore BP's [181] They also said that they wanted to provide access to the information while maintaining safety. [274][275] On 8 July, Florida Governor Charlie Crist called for a special session of the state legislature to draft an amendment to the state constitution banning offshore drilling in state waters, which the legislature rejected on 20 July.[276][277]. The settlement includes: Up to an additional $700 million to respond to natural resource damages unknown at the time of the agreement, and for adaptive management. [15] Oil continued to be found as far from the Macondo site as the waters off the Florida Panhandle and Tampa Bay, where scientists said the oil and dispersant mixture is embedded in the sand. [329] An independent audit of the GCCF, announced by Attorney General Eric Holder, was approved by Senate on 21 October 2011. According to a NALCO manual obtained by GAP, Corexit 9527 is an eye and skin irritant. [305][306] The USCG actively requested skimming boats and equipment from several countries.[307]. 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. This places stress on many marine and shore habitats by placing an imbalance of nutrients through decreasing the amount of oxygen in the environment, since most petroleum degradation are aerobic processes. 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. Below is a summary of areas in which more research needs to be done. [193] Methane can potentially suffocate marine life and create "dead zones" where oxygen is depleted. Before it was capped three months later, approximately 134 million gallons of oil had spilled into the Gulf, the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. With a decrease in microbial diversity and members in these communities, many nutrients cycles are disrupted; this further affects microbes and organisms in general. The risk for new deep-sea spills is not expected to decrease in the future, as political pressure mounts to access deep-water fossil reserves, and poorly tested technologies are used to access oil. [286], The petroleum industry claimed that disasters are infrequent and that this spill was an isolated incident and rejected claims of a loss of industry credibility. Let us know. Much research has been done on microbes and their implications in oil spills, but there are still much more to know. An oil spill | Gulf of Mexico | April 2010 What Happened ``. Immediately deployed research needs to be oil deepwater horizon oil spill bioremediation the subsurface, then could! A total of 13,300,000ft ( 4,100km ) of oil requested skimming boats and equipment from several.... 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