11/16/2010
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
April 20, 2010 – Explosion aboard Deepwater Horizon
drilling platform
11 workers killed, 17 injured, pipe to well ruputures
Blowout preventer on the well fails to activate
For 88 days, as much as 62,000 barrels of oil gushed
Ed Clark, President
Wildlife Center of Virginia
from the well into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico
One barrel of oil contains 52 gallons (250,000/day)
The largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of
the petroleum industry
Resources and Risk- Who cares?
A few little things…..
Our tax dollars at work
8,332 species in the Gulf
Region (>1,200 fish, 200 birds,
1,400 mollusks,
1,500 crustaceans, 4 sea turtles,
and 29 marine mammals
In 2004 the Bush Administration
(MMS) granted a “categorical
exclusion” from the National
Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) to certain oil and gas
activities in the Gulf of Mexico,
including exploration plans.
110 neo-tropical migratory
songbird species— as many as
25 million pass through daily
32 National Wildlife Refuges
Louisiana has about 40% of the
nation's coastal wetlands.
The MMS did not review
environmental impacts of
activities such as the exploration
phase at Deepwater Horizon site.
Coastline vs. Shoreline
The U.S. coastline is approximately 1,631 miles;
If bays and other inland waters are included, the total
shoreline increases to over 16,000 miles
For every mile of affected “coastline”, there could
be >20 miles of affected shoreline, and potential
much more where coastal wetlands are concerned
NOAA/NMFS did not comment
Total coastal impact zone
Exxon Valdez vs. Deepwater Horizon
Gulf Coastline (in miles)
Tidal Shoreline (in miles
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill 1989
Deepwater Horizon Spill 2010
Florida (Gulf ) 770
Alabama 53
5,095
607
10.8 million gallons spilled
205.8 million gallons spilled
Mississippi 44
Louisiana 397
359
7,721
11,000 square miles of water
surface affected
up to 68,000 sq mi of water
surface affect
Texas 367
Total Gulf Coast 1,631
3,359
17,141
1,300 miles of coastline
Underwater impacts are
unmeasured and unknown
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11/16/2010
Who is to blame? Who pays?
British Petroleum, and their contractors who owned
and operated the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform
have been named as the “responsible party”
They are legally responsible for clean-up, restoration,
and restitution for damaged natural resources,
according to Natural Resources Damage Assessment
Act (NRDA)
It is up to the government to quantify the loss and
damages, then prove the “responsible party” is really
responsible
Report from USFWS Nov. 5,2010
Oiled coastline:
93 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline are currently
experiencing moderate to heavy oil impacts: 86 miles
in Louisiana, six miles in Mississippi and less than two
miles in Alabama and Florida.
Approximately 483 miles of shoreline are experiencing
light to trace oil impacts: 226 miles in Louisiana, 78
miles in Mississippi, 60 miles in Alabama, and 119
miles in Florida.
Wildlife Affected
Exxon Valdez
250,000 seabirds(~90 species)
247 Bald Eagles
Deepwater Horizon
As of November 2, 9,438
animals had been collected
6,814 dead (72%)
2,800 sea otters
12 river otters
300 harbor seals
22 Orcas
billions of salmon and
herring eggs
2624 alive (28%)
Of the total recovered
8,183 Birds (25% alive)
1,144 Sea Turtles (47% alive)
109 Mammals (9% alive)
2 Other reptiles (50% alive)
Does rehab of oiled wildlife work?
2079 oiled birds were recovered alive
1246 birds treated and released (60% success rate!)
535 oiled sea turtles recovered
397 turtles treated and released (74% success rate!)
REHABILITATION OF OILED WILDLIFE WORKS!!
Lessons learned
Vigilance and preparation are essential
Engagement with the system as professional must
begin before the crisis
Data collection and documentation of our work must
be complete and accurate
We need to demand more recognition and respect for
the clinical care of wildlife, but we must earn it as well
“Worst Case Scenarios” are almost always wildly
optimistic exercises in wishful thinking…
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