deepwater horizon oil spill bioremediation

. [339] BP also agreed to spend $105million over five years to set up a Gulf Coast health outreach program and pay for medical examinations. [282], Initially, BP downplayed the incident; its CEO Tony Hayward called the amount of oil and dispersant "relatively tiny" in comparison with the "very big ocean. "[281] Some observers suggested that the Obama administration was being overly aggressive in its criticisms, which some BP investors saw as an attempt to deflect criticism of his own handling of the crisis. [3] After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on 19 September 2010. [318] Another was ignoring a pressure test that had failed. website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. [179] In another example, a CBS News crew was denied access to the oil-covered beaches of the spill area. In addition, links for additional information on the spill, cleanup activities and other responses are provided below. A final device was created to attach a chamber of larger diameter than the flowing pipe with a flange that bolted to the top of the blowout preventer and a manual valve set to close off the flow once attached. Following a five-year evaluation of the damage, the Trustees issued a plan in 2016 to restore the Gulf and allocate funds from the settlement with BP. The devastating environmental impacts of the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 and its media notoriety made it a frequent comparison to the BP Deepwater Horizon spill in the popular press in 2010, even though the nature of the two spills and the environments impacted were vastly different. Transocean plead guilty to criminal charges in January 2013, adding $300 million from criminal fines to funding dedicated to the restoration efforts in the Gulf region and to improve oil spill response training and prevention. [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. [270] The moratorium suspended work on 33rigs,[270] and a group of affected companies formed the Back to Work Coalition. The goal of NRDA is to restore natural resources and compensate the public for lost recreational use., we evaluated the type and amount of restoration needed in order to return the Gulf to the condition it would have been in before the spill and to compensate the public for the natural resource services that were injured or lost. [156] In mid-June 2010, BP ordered 32machines that separate oil and water, with each machine capable of extracting up to 2,000bbl/d (320m3/d). [80] On 16 June, a second containment system connected directly to the blowout preventer began carrying oil and gas to service vessels, where it was consumed in a clean-burning system. The Deepwater Horizon criminal case, also prosecuted under the Clean Water Act, resulted in the largest criminal penalty with a single entity in U.S. history. PR Newser, 20 May 2010, Crisis Communications. [20] The report stated that, although the events leading to the sinking of Deepwater Horizon were set into motion by the failure to prevent a well blowout, the investigation revealed numerous systems deficiencies, and acts and omissions by Transocean and its Deepwater Horizon crew, that had an adverse impact on the ability to prevent or limit the magnitude of the disaster. Two main types of affected coast were sandy beaches and marshes. [85][86][87] On 3 August 2010, first test oil and then drilling mud was pumped at a slow rate of approximately 2bbl (320L) per minute into the well-head. NOTE: If you need captions, please click the CC button on the player to turn them on.Unprecedented in both scope and nature, the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Hor. Under the final consent decree, BP will pay the trustees up to $8.8 billion, the largest recovery of damages ever for injuries to natural resources, to restore the Gulf. [3] For marshes, techniques such as vacuum and pumping, low-pressure flush, vegetation cutting, and bioremediation were used. Louisiana will receive more than half the funding, $5 billion, since it saw the most significant damage from the spill. argument that the Gulf region is "undergoing a robust recovery". An official website of the United States government. What caused the Deepwater Horizon oil spill? [17] One study released in 2014 reported that tuna and amberjack that were exposed to oil from the spill developed deformities of the heart and other organs that would be expected to be fatal or at least life-shortening and another study found that cardiotoxicity might have been widespread in animal life exposed to the spill. In March 2014, BP was again allowed to bid for oil and gas leases. "[341], On 31 August 2012, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed papers in federal court in New Orleans blaming BP for the Gulf oil spill, describing the spill as an example of "gross negligence and willful misconduct." [145] On 2 August 2010, the EPA said dispersants did no more harm to the environment than the oil and that they stopped a large amount of oil from reaching the coast by breaking it down faster. [89], On 3 September 2010, the 300-ton failed blowout preventer was removed from the well and a replacement blowout preventer was installed. The United States federal government estimated the total discharge at 4,900Mbbl (210million USgal; 780,000m3). [319][321] One was that it had not used a diagnostic tool to test the strength of the cement. [215] [52] On 10 July, the containment cap was removed to replace it with a better-fitting cap ("Top Hat Number 10"). [266][267], On 30 April 2010, President Barack Obama ordered the federal government to hold the issuing of new offshore drilling leases and authorized the investigation of 29oil rigs in the Gulf in an effort to determine the cause of the disaster. BP officials deny that the disease conditions are related to the spill, saying that dolphin deaths actually began being reported before the BP oil spill. Being hydrophobic compounds that are less dense than seawater, a large amount of such substances will form sheens on the ocean surface. How Microbes Clean up Oil: Lessons From the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Crude oil is a heterogeneous hydrophobic compound that contains four classes of molecules: saturates, aromatics, asphaltenes, and resins [10] . To assist with the efforts the captains had to register their ships with the Vessels of Opportunity; however, an issue arose when more boats registered than actually participated in the clean-up efforts only a third of the registered boats. [176] The Coast Guard and BP denied having a policy of restricting journalists; they noted that members of the media had been embedded with the authorities and allowed to cover response efforts since the beginning of the effort, with more than 400 embeds aboard boats and aircraft to date. The result could have long-term effects because oil could remain in the food chain for generations. What are some alternative methods to increase surface area of hydrophobic molecules on water surfaces? [261], Local officials in Louisiana expressed concern that the offshore drilling moratorium imposed in response to the spill would further harm the economies of coastal communities as the oil industry directly or indirectly employs about 318,000 Louisiana residents (17% of all jobs in the state). [citation needed], Prior to the oil spill, on March 31, 2010, Obama ended a ban on oil and gas drilling along the majority of the East Coast of the United States and along the coast of northern Alaska in an effort to win support for an energy and climate bill and to reduce foreign imports of oil and gas. Have a comment on this page? When Congress passed the RESTORE Act in 2012, it dedicated 80 percent of all administrative and civil penalties from the responsible parties to ecological and economic recovery efforts in the Gulf. A limitation of their methodology was that some VOCs may have already evaporated from the oil before they began their investigation. Degraded hydrocarbons mineralize to carbon dioxide, used in biomass or expelled as other hydrocarbon derivatives that are most likely used by other microbes. [172][175] The FAA acknowledged that media access was limited to hired planes or helicopters, but was arranged through the Coast Guard. Diaz warned that "chronic adverse health effects, including cancers, liver and kidney disease, mental health disorders, birth defects and developmental disorders should be anticipated among sensitive populations and those most heavily exposed". [325], The GCCF was administrated by attorney Kenneth Feinberg. Credits: U.S. Coast Guard [41] The oil flowed for 87 days. Offshore Oil Drilling, "Spike Reported in Number of Stillborn Dolphins on Coast", "Half of bottlenose dolphins in Barataria Bay were seriously ill or dying in 2011, new study finds", "Gulf Dolphins Exposed to Oil Are Seriously Ill, Agency Says", "Restoring A Degraded Gulf of Mexico National Wildlife Federation", "How You Can Help Wildlife Impacted by the BP Oil Spill National Wildlife Federation", "BP Oil Spill: Dolphins Plagued By Death, Disease Years After Rig Explosion", "Dolphins 'suffering miscarriage, lung disease, losing teeth after BP oil spill' researchers claim", "About 565,000 pounds of oiled material from Deepwater Horizon stirred up by Hurricane Isaac", "Tropical Storm Lee surge reveals tar mats on Fourchon Beach", "Discovery of 'tar mat' prompts Gulf closure", "Three Years After the BP Spill, Tar Balls and Oil Sheen Blight Gulf Coast", Gulf of Mexico, since the BP Oil Spill of 2010 April, "AP: BP oil not degrading on Gulf floor, study says", "Study: "Dirty bathtub" buried oil from BP spill", "Tuna study reveals how pollution causes heart problems", "Dispersant Used to Clean Deepwater Horizon Spill More Toxic to Corals Than the Oil", Spike In Dolphin Deaths Directly Tied To Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Researchers Say, Study Links Dolphin Deaths to Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, "Hundreds of baby dolphin deaths tied to BP's Gulf oil spill", "Louisiana DHH Releases Oil Spill-Related Exposure Information", "Is This Oil Spill Solution Worse Than The Problem? One year after the notorious BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and two decades after the Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound off the coast of Alaska the scientific lesson is clear - microbes matter! We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused. Phylogenetic Bioaugmentation is the inoculation of a relatively small amount of oil-degrading microbes into an affected area. Testing over the past year (2019) reported by GulfSource.org, for the pollutants tested have not produced results.[186]. [349] $800million goes to Gulf Coast restoration Trust Fund, $300million to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, $150million to the National Wild Turkey Federation and $150million to the National Academy of Sciences. [235][236], Mike Robicheux, a Louisiana physician, described the situation as "the biggest public health crisis from a chemical poisoning in the history of this country. BP originally estimated as part of a Federal Court supervised program offsite link, that those private claims would total about $7.8 billion. The Coast Guard said on Oct. 3 that over 5,300 feet of floating barriers, known as booms, had been deployed and that approximately 3,150 gallons of oil had been recovered from the water. [197] A study of insect populations in the coastal marshes affected by the spill also found a significant impact. [173][174][175] Restrictions were to prevent civilian air traffic from interfering with aircraft assisting the response effort. This incident was caused by an explosion of the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling unit located in the Gulf of Mexico capable of drilling down to 9144 meters deep under water [11] . [259] Due to the loss of the market value, BP had dropped from the second to the fourth largest of the four major oil companies by 2013. The plaintiffs included the U.S. Justice Department, Gulf states and private individuals. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Thus, oil that would normally rise to the surface of the water was emulsified into tiny droplets and remained suspended in the water and on the sea floor. Another possibility is that it is formation oil escaping from the subsurface, using the Macondo well casing as flow conduit, possibly intersecting a naturally occurring fault, and then following that to escape at the surface some distance from the wellhead. 97% of payments were made to claimants in the Gulf States. BP said administration of the 2012 settlement was marred by the fact that people without actual damages could file a claim. Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Though fitted loosely over the BOP and allowing some oil to escape, the cap enabled BP to siphon approximately 15,000 barrels of oil per day to a tanker. What resulted from this one incident was an economic, political, scientific and legal nightmare. [81] Prior to establishing the GCCF, emergency compensation was paid by BP from an initial facility. The oil firm alleged failed safety systems and irresponsible behaviour of contractors had led to the explosion, including claims that Halliburton failed to properly use modelling software to analyze safe drilling conditions. Fish and Wildlife Service and the. This webpage provides information and materials on EPAs enforcement response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, settlements with several of the defendants, including the record-setting settlement with BP Exploration & Production for an unprecedented $5.5 billion Clean Water Act penalty and up to $8.8 billion in natural resource damages. The Macondo well is found roughly 41mi (66km) off the Louisiana coast. [355], The trial's first phase was to determine the liability of BP, Transocean, Halliburton, and other companies, and if they acted with gross negligence and willful misconduct. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS 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. [223] In 2013, former NASA physicist Bonny Schumaker noted a "dearth of marine life" in a radius 30 to 50mi (48 to 80km) around the well, after flying over the area numerous times since May 2010. Due to the Deepwater Horizon spill, marine life was suffering. How long does oil spill take to clean up? [6][46] BP challenged the higher figure, saying that the government overestimated the volume. ", EPA slams Jindal's sand berm plan | wwltv.com New Orleans, "How can human hair mop up the oil spill? Transcript: Media Encounter Access Problems While Covering The Oil Spill, "The BP Spill's Growing Toll on the Sea Life of the Gulf", "Biodiversity of the Gulf of Mexico: Applications to the Deep Horizon oil spill", "OSU researchers find heightened levels of known carcinogens in Gulf News and Research Communications", "U.S. oil spill waters contain carcinogens: report", "BP: Mile-long tube sucking oil away from Gulf well", "Oil spill full of methane, adding new concerns", "Dispersed Oil Disrupts Microbial Pathways in Pelagic Food Webs", "Oil from Deepwater Horizon disaster entered food chain in the Gulf of Mexico", "Scientists Find Evidence That Oil And Dispersant Mix Is Making Its Way into The Foodchain", "Gulf's dolphins pay heavy price for Deepwater oil spill", "BP oil spill: The 'horribly mutated' creatures living in the Gulf", "Eyeless shrimp and mutant fish raise concerns over BP spill effects", "Gulf seafood deformities alarm scientists Features", "Gulf ecosystem in crisis after BP spill", Deepwater Horizon spill threatens more species than legally protected, study finds, "Deep sea fish named in world top ten new species", "Gulf Oil Spill: Coral Death 'Definitively' Linked To BP Spill", "Impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on a deep-water coral community in the Gulf of Mexico", "BP oil spill seriously harmed deep-sea corals, scientists warn", "Submarine Dive Finds Oil, Dead Sea Life at Bottom of Gulf of Mexico", "20102011 Cetacean Unusual Mortality Event in Northern Gulf of Mexico Office of Protected Resources NOAA Fisheries", Conservation Letters: Whale and dolphin death toll during Deepwater disaster may have been greatly underestimated by Dr. An infamous example of this is the Deepwater Horizon oil spill . [3], From April to mid-July 2010, 411controlled in-situ fires remediated approximately 265,000bbl (11.1million USgal; 42,100m3). So began an 87-day oil spill that spewed 3.19 million barrels, or nearly 134 million gallons, into the Gulf of Mexico. [132] However, some independent scientists and EPA's own experts continue to voice concerns about the approach. It also included economic damage claims submitted by the five Gulf states and their local governments. On the night of April 20 a surge of natural gas blasted through a concrete core recently installed by contractor Halliburton in order to seal the well for later use. The microbial ecosystem in the Gulf of Mexico may have been primed for oil bioremediation before DWH because of persistent oil seepage in the waters from drilling. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on April 20, 2010, when an explosion damaged the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. [78] Before the tube was removed, it collected 924,000USgal (22,000bbl; 3,500m3) of oil. [369], None of the charges against individuals resulted in any prison time, and no charges were levied against upper level executives. Anthony Badalementi was sentenced to one year probation,[369] Donald Vidrine paid a $50,000 fine and received 10 months probation,[370] Kurt Mix received 6 months' probation,[371] and David Rainey and Robert Kaluza were acquitted. The Deepwater Horizon accident has brought oil contamination of deep-sea environments to worldwide attention. The trusteesGovernment officials acting on behalf of the public when there is injury to, destruction of, loss of, or threat to natural resources. A citizen 's guide to bioremediation (Fact Sheet). [18][19], Numerous investigations explored the causes of the explosion and record-setting spill. [15][69] Although only "minute" quantities of oil continued to wash up in 2013, patches of tar balls were still being reported almost every day from Alabama and Florida Panhandle beaches. Oil spill cleanup. [16][71], First, BP unsuccessfully attempted to close the blowout preventer valves on the wellhead with remotely operated underwater vehicles. By 26 May 2010, over 130 lawsuits relating to the spill had been filed[333] against one or more of BP, Transocean, Cameron International Corporation, and Halliburton Energy Services,[334] although it was considered likely by observers that these would be combined into one court as a multidistrict litigation. A large scale of bioremediation was deployed during the BP oil spill crisis due to its effectiveness and lower cost [8]. On September 17 the bottom kill maneuver was successfully executed through the first relief well. BP strongly disagreed with the ruling and filed an immediate appeal. restoration plan to address impacts from the spill to the Gulf of Mexico, Trustees final comprehensive restoration plan, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA and the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission Partner to Restore Recreational Fish, Rescued from Deepwater Horizon, a Resilient Native Returns to Queen Bess Island, $226 Million in Projects Approved in Gulf Open Ocean Restoration Plan, Two Partners Recommended for Funding to Restore Habitat From Oil and Hazardous Waste Spills, Comments Welcomed on Deepwater Horizon Open Ocean Draft Restoration Plan, Deepwater Horizon Open Ocean Restoration Plan 1 Finalized, Mississippi Acquires Land in Grand Bay with Deepwater Horizon Settlement Funds, NOAA Announces Latest Partnership to Restore Habitats Damaged by Oil and Hazardous Waste, Deepwater Horizon Trustees to Host Two Public Events, July 18 and 19 in Mississippi, A Decade Later: Advances in Oil Spill Science Since Deepwater Horizon, Deepwater Horizon oil spill contributed to high number of Gulf dolphin deaths, https://www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/adminrecord. [338] On 13 January 2013, Judge Barbier approved a medical-benefits portion of BP's proposed $7.8billion partial settlement. "But tens of thousands of gulf residents still haven't been fully compensated for their losses, and many are struggling to make ends meet. [104] USGS director Marcia McNutt stated that the riser pipe could hold at most 1,000bbl (160m3) because it is open on both ends, making it unlikely to hold the amount of oil being observed. [150] The scientists concluded that "Mixing oil with dispersant increased toxicity to ecosystems" and made the gulf oil spill worse. [123], For a time, a group called Matter of Trust, citing insufficient availability of manufactured oil absorption booms, campaigned to encourage hair salons, dog groomers and sheep farmers to donate hair, fur and wool clippings, stuffed in pantyhose or tights, to help contain oil near impacted shores, a technique dating back to the Exxon Valdez disaster. [188][189] Between May and June 2010, the spill waters contained 40 times more polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) than before the 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. Though the leak had slowed, it was estimated by a government-commissioned panel of scientists that 4,900,000 barrels of oil had already leaked into the gulf. "Health of Exxon Valdez cleanup workers was never studied". [57] As of July2011[update], about 491mi (790km) of coastline in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida were contaminated by oil and a total of 1,074mi (1,728km) had been oiled since the spill began. [59] The reported 3.19 million barrels of spilled oil was not the only effect of this disaster. [59], On 25 July 2013, Halliburton pleaded guilty to destruction of critical evidence after the oil spill and said it would pay the maximum allowable fine of $200,000 and will be subject to three years of probation. [364][365][366] Three more BP employees were charged in November 2012. [359], On 4 September 2014, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled BP was guilty of gross negligence and willful misconduct. Official websites use .gov Tests for chemical exposure in the seven fishermen were negative; NIOSH concluded that the hospitalizations were most likely a result of heat, fatigue, and terpenes that were being used to clean the decks. [131] According to BP and federal officials, dispersant use stopped after the cap was in place;[132][133] however, marine toxicologist Riki Ott wrote in an open letter to the EPA that Corexit use continued after that date[134] and a GAP investigation stated that "[a] majority of GAP witnesses cited indications that Corexit was used after [July 2010]."[135]. People living for at least 60 days along oil-impacted shores or involved in the clean-up who can document one or more specific health conditions caused by the oil or dispersants are eligible for benefits, as are those injured during clean-up. [278], On 30 April, President Obama dispatched the Secretaries of the Department of Interior and Homeland Security, as well as the EPA Administrator and NOAA to the Gulf Coast to assess the disaster. ", "BP Buys 'Oil' Search Terms to Redirect Users to Official Company Website", "BP buys 'oil spill' sponsored links for search engines", "Bob Dudley: Profile of the new BP chief executive", "Why we disrupted Tony Hayward's award at the University of Birmingham", "Honorary degree for ex-BP Gulf of Mexico boss is a sick joke", "University defends degree for Deepwater Horizon boss Tony Hayward", "Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: International Offers of Assistance", "U.S. not accepting foreign help on oil spill", "Jones Act: Maritime politics strain Gulf oil spill cleanup", "Salazar Launches Safety and Environmental Protection Reforms to Toughen Oversight of Offshore Oil and Gas Operations", "Weekly Address: President Obama Establishes Bipartisan National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling", "Attorney General Eric Holder on Gulf Oil Spill", "Anadarko and Mitsui executives set to testify", "Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer 'faulty' Congress", Transocean, Halliburton blast BP report on cause of blowout, oil spill, "Gulf oil spill: President's panel says firms complacent", "Deep Water: The Gulf Oil Disaster and the Future of Offshore Drilling", "BP and firms made risky decisions before spill: report", "Blunders Abounded Before Gulf Spill, Panel Says", "BP, Transocean, Halliburton blamed by presidential Gulf oil spill commission", "Panel: Without changes in oil industry and government, BP-like spill could happen again", "DNV report on Deepwater Horizon BOP concluded", "Gulf oil spill report: BP ultimately responsible in Gulf spill", "Comment. ivanka trump engagement ring cost, wallaby spirit animal, ,

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