The Deepwater Horizon offshort oildrilling rig is engulfed in flames before eventually sinking.
Slideshow: Amazing Photography of the Gulf Oil Spill
U.S. Coast Guard, public domain.
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An epic environmental tragedy has been unfolding recently, with things going from bad to worse to terrible (and it's not over yet). What I'll do here is take a quick look at the timeline of events so far, and then look at what you can do to help.
Slideshow: Amazing Photography of the Gulf Oil Spill
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The Deepwater Horizon, a semi-submersible offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and caught fire at around 10 p.m. local time (CST). 126 people were on board, 17 were injured and 11 are still missing (presumed dead).
This photo of the Deepwater Horizon rig was taken on Wed 21 Apr 2010 12:39:42 AM EDT. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard
Most of the survivors escaped using lifeboats and were picked up by a supply boat that BP had hired. The survivors were brought to Port Fourchon to go through a medical check-up and be reunited with their families.
Read more: BIG Oil Rig Explosion Off Louisiana Coast, 11 to 15 People Missing, Infernal Blaze
Photo: U.S. Coast Guard
Wednesday, April 22, 2010
On April 22, officials stated that the 11 missing workers could have been near the blast and not been able to escape. After having been on fire for more than a day and leaving behind a plume of smoke more than 30 miles long that could be seen from space, Deepwater Horizon sank on April 22, 2010
Read more: 30+ Miles of Smoke: Satellite Photos Show Smoke Plume From Burning Oil Rig [Update: It Sunk]
Oil spill pictures. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard
Saturday, April 24, 2010
On Saturday, April 24, it was discovered that the underwater "riser" structure that connects the rig with the well was damaged and oil was leaking into the ocean. At first it was estimated that 1,000 barrels a day were being dumped into the Gulf of Mexico's ecosystems.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Search-and-rescue operations have been suspended with 11 people still missing. Officials warn that the leaks could take "months" to fix, even with the use of sophisticated underwater robots.
Read more: Oil Leaks Caused by Sunk Exploration Rig Could Take Months to Stop, Even With Robots
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The U.S. Coast Guard is considering setting fire to the oil to keep some of it from reaching the sensitive ecological areas on the shores. This is a tough decision, as there are pros and cons to each course of action. They set fire to a pocket of the oil, but not on a large scale.
Read more: Burn It?! Coast Guard Now Considering Setting Oil Slick on Fire. What Are the Pros & Cons?
Thursday, April 29, 2010
It is discovered that the leak is not spewing the equivalent of 1,000 barrels of oil per day, but rather 5,000 (and some even estimate it at 10,000 barrels/day using satellite images). By end of day, the oil slick has reached the Mississippi Delta.
Oil spill pictures. Image: NASA, public domain.
Friday, April 30, 2010
The slick was estimated, as of April 30, to cover 6,000 square miles, or an area approximately equivalent to that of Jamaica. It was so close to New Orleans that many local residents reported that they could smell the oil: The Times-Picayune reports that the city has been overwhelmed by a "pungent smell."
Read more: The 'Katrina of Smell' is Attacking News Orleans Thanks to BP Oil Spill
Saturday, May 1st, 2010
SkyTruth, a small non-profit, analyzed radar and satellite imagery and estimated that the oil was leaking much faster than the original official estimates. The initial figure was 1,000 barrels/day, which they successfully challenged with a new estimate of 5,000 barrels/day. But even that proved too optimistic, and on Saturday they revised their estimate to 25,000 barrels/day!
Also on Saturday, Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show that "maybe" the oil rig explosion was an act of eco-terrorism. Forget facts, why blame the people responsible when you can make up stories that allow you to blame people you don't like?
Oil spill pictures. Photo: NOAA
Monday, May 3rd, 2010
BP is trying to install a shutoff valve on one of the three underwater leaks, but this is a complicated operation that might not succeed. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the oil slick appears to be drifting toward the Alabama and Florida coasts, including the Chandeleur Islands off Louisiana's southern tip.
TreeHugger looked at why the oil wasn't set on fire (this was mentioned last week by the Coast Guard): "Burning such large quantities of oil would be a dirty proposition, blackening skies and severely impacting air quality in the Southern US, but wouldn't it be better than letting it coat hundreds of miles of beaches, endangered seabirds, oyster beds, and protective barrier wetlands?" Read on for the answer.
More craziness by Rush Limbaugh: He claimed that cleanup isn't necessary, that "the ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and left out there," and that the oil is "natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is." We debunk this claim here.
It's also important to look at the impact of the oil spill on the critically endangered bluefin tuna population that spawns in the Gulf of Mexico.
Image: Unified command releases new overflight map updated 5 p.m. May 3, 2010. Credit: uscgd8 via flickr/Creative Commons.
Tuesday, May 4th
Is the BP oil spill really that big of a deal? That's the question that we try to answer here; while it isn't the biggest spill ever, there's too many people who try to minimize it, mostly politicians who would like offshore drilling to keep going without any changes.
Jon Stewart does a segment about the spill.
It turns out that this catastrophe could have been prevented for very little money, but BP wasn't interested in these precautions.
Wednesday, May 5th
BP says that it succeeded in plugging one of the three leaks, but we're not out of the woods yet. Tomorrow, if all goes well, they're going to lower a 100-ton metal containment dome on one of the other leaks to siphon the oil.
Tom Zeller Jr. and John Broder wrote a piece of news analysis that ran on the front page of the New York Times, suggesting that many of the fears surrounding the gulf oil crisis were overblown. The article aggravated many in the conservation community, because it was hung up on questions of just how big of deal this would turn out to be in the history books, instead of analyzing actual damage that was being done. They spoke to a number of experts who were oddly optimistic in their outlook -- and now, it turns out that there's a reason that at least one of them was so sunny: his conservation group has strong ties to the oil industry.
And yet more about BP's cost-cutting measures that might have made this oil spill more likely.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
The plan to stop one of the oil leaks with a containment dome was a failure. The dome was removed and now BP has to figure out what to do.
Oil spill pictures. Photo: NASA, public domain.
Monday, May 10, 2010
NASA published photos of the oil taken from the International Space Station by an astronaut. They show the vast scale of the disaster.
Brian Merchant, who writes for TreeHugger and Planet Green, is in Louisiana covering the spill. He has photos of oil hitting the shore and of oil barriers that failed and ended up on the beach. He also reports about some of the health risks that fishermen working to contain the oil face.
If you are curious to know what BP's options are to stop the leaks now, check out this post: What are BP's Options to Stop the Oil Leaks? What are the Chances of Success?.
In the future, space-tech Aerogel could be used to sponge-up oil spills.
Matt writes about one of the rare positive things about this oil spill: The warm weather in the Gulf of Mexico should help the oil degrade faster than spills taking place in cold weather (like the Exxon Valdez spill).
Picture of the oil gushing from the riser pipe on the sea floor, almost 5,000 feet down below the Gulf of Mexico. Image: BP
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
BP finally decided to release pictures of the underwater oil leak, allowing independent scientists and engineers to have a look.
Executives from BP, Transocean and Halliburton appear at congressional hearings and blame each other for the fiasco.
Image: Screen grab from BP video showing underwater robot working on pipe.
Friday, May 14th, 2010
BP tries to intubate one of the oil leaks with a smaller pipe to siphon off the oil. Meanwhile, many people are starting to wonder if the official estimate of 5,000 barrels/day is accurate, and if BP isn't hiding that much more oil is leaking in the Gulf of Mexico.
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
BP succeeds in inserting a tube into the leaking riser pile of the well and capturing some oil and gas, but not that much compared to what is still leaking out.
Photo: NASA, public domain.
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
Actor Kevin Costner shows a machine that he claims can separate 97% of the oil from water. He personally invested money into its development and his brother, a scientist, is in charge of that project.
NASA shows images of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, revealing for the first time a massive "arm" hundreds of miles long.
Monday, May 24th, 2010
BP keeps delaying a "top kill" operation that could potentially plug the oil well and stop the flow of oil.
Some start to wonder what a rough hurricane season could mean to the oil clean up operations.
BP's robots are inspecting the well-head to see if the top kill succeeded. Image: BP
Thursday, May 27th, 2010
The "top kill" is finally attempted, and at first it looked like it was working (a U.S. Coast Guard admiral said as much). But after a few days of efforts, the "top kill" is abandoned. BP will have to try something else...
Meanwhile, more people are making ironic BP T-Shirt and some of the oil cleanup workers are getting sick.
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Contradicting the findings of many scientists, BP denies the existence of underwater oil plumes. Scientists claim they have found more than one oil plume, one of them "22 miles long, six miles wide and more than a thousand feet deep".
BP CEO, Tony Hayward, was quoted saying: ""I'd Like My Life Back". Poor him!
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
Some experts say that under a worst case scenario, the oil leak could last until Christmas. Things would have to go really wrong for that to happen, but so far, not much has gone right.
Sarah Palin used Twitter to defend her "drill, baby, drill" rallying cry, implying that environmentalists are to blame for the BP oil spill.
All of this is making the BP stock plunge on the stock markets.
BP is apparently trying to ban workers from sharing photos of animals killed by the oil, and according to polls, 1/5 of Americans still view BP favorably.
What Can You Do to Help the Oil Spill Clean Up?
Here are some ways you can help:
-Although a California-based organization, the Oiled Wildlife Care Network is currently advising officials on scene in Louisiana and has deployed the director, Dr. Mike Ziccardi, to assist with the wildlife response activities. Their donation page is here, and their volunteer page is here.
-The International Bird Rescue Research Center is also heading to the Gulf coast to help. "To report oiled wildlife affected by the Gulf oil spill please call the Wildlife reporting hotline at 1-866-557-1401. IBRRC has been receiving an outpouring of support and phone calls from people wishing to volunteer to help at the Gulf Oil Spill. To learn how to help, you must contact the BP Community Support Team Hotline at 1-866-448-5816."
-The Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary is asking for volunteers to sign up to be a volunteer. They are asking for items donated they plan to use cleanup wild birds once they get the call.
-The Alabama Rivers Alliance writes: "If you are interested in volunteering to reduce the impacts of the oil spill to our Bay, please call the Mobile Bay National Estuary office at 251-431-6409 or e-mail mbnep@mobilebaynep.com with the following information: name, address, phone, e-mail, resources (ex. boat or kayak)".
Our friends at Oceana have started a petition to fight offshore drilling by organizing volunteers who are interested in helping out. Sign the petition and take action against offshore oil drilling.
-People interested in volunteering in Alabama can call the Alabama Coastal Foundation at 251-990-6002; the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program at 251-431-6409; or Mobile Baykeeper at 251-433-4229.
-BP is also hiring boats from fishermen. More info here.
Continuing Coverage
See more: Slideshow: Amazing Photography of the Gulf Oil Spill
Slideshow: Devastating Oil Spill Disasters (Discovery News)
Read more: TreeHugger.com's Oil Spill Stories
Continuing Coverage of the Gulf Oil Spill From Discovery News
