BP Oil Spill Essay

In April of 2010 the United States experienced the worst oil spill in its history (Barron 2012). The company BP had a massive explosion on one of their rigs about 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana, which came to be known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The collapse of the rig and the accident took the lives of 11 people and the open well began gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill continued from April 20, 2010 until the well was sealed on July 15, 2010. The well flushed out an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil over a total of 87 days at a depth of 5,000 feet (Barron 2012). The ecological effects were some of the worst we have ever seen. Multiple species of animal were seen covered in oil on shores, fish floating dead in oil slicks, dolphins swimming through the oil and eventually beaching themselves, birds whose feathers were drenching in crude oil preventing them from flying.

Unfortunately this event effected everything from microorganisms to the top predators in the oceans. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncates) are especially sensitive to environmental disasters such as this (Balmer et al. 2014). It is yet known how hard the populations within the Gulf of Mexico will be impacted by this event. The ecological effects to the wetlands and the Gulf of Mexico were substantial. Once oil invades an ecosystem, depending on how heavy the amount has accumulated, the exposure can destroy that area. Wetlands and estuaries are very susceptible to oil. The immediate damage is devastating, however the long term effects on the system may completely destroy that wetland area or estuary (Copeland and Corn