Yours Truly, BP: The Legacy of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster

The NRDC’s recent report on water quality at vacation beaches highlights the continuing legacy of the BP Gulf oil disaster, which killed 11 workers and spewed  approximately 170 million gallons of oil and released 200,000 metric tons of methane gas into Gulf waters, affecting approximately 1,000 miles of shoreline.

The report, “Testing the Waters: A Guide To Water Quality At Vacation Beaches”, states:

More than a year later, a sorry legacy of enduring damage, people wronged, and a region scarred remains. As of the end of January, 83 miles of shoreline remained heavily or moderately oiled, and tar balls and weathered oil continue to wash ashore.

…many beaches in the region have issued oil spill advisories, closures, and notices since April of last year. As of June 15, 2011 there have been a total of 9,474 days of oil-related beach notices, advisories, and closures at Gulf Coast beaches since the spill. Louisiana has been hit the hardest, with 3,420 days as of June 15, 2011, in that state, while there were 2,245 days as of June 15, 2011, in Florida, 2,148 days in Mississippi, and 1,661 days in Alabama. State and local officials took these actions in response to oil on beaches and in coastal waters because exposure to this oil can cause a variety of adverse human health effects, including headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, eye, throat or skin irritation, difficulty breathing, and even increased cancer or neurological risks for long-term exposure.

While most of the advisories, closures, and notices that were issued last year due to the oil spill were lifted by the end of the year, cleanup crews are still at work. And the spill is still interfering with trips to the beach as oil continues to wash ashore at Gulf Coast beaches in Alabama, Louisiana, Florida and Mississippi. As of June 15, 2011, four beach segments in Louisiana that have been closed since the spill have yet to open, and three beaches in Florida have remained under oil spill notice. Besides being a beloved source of recreation for local residents, tourism at these beaches is an important part of the region’s economy. In 2004 alone, ocean tourism and recreation contributed approximately $15.4 billion to the GDP of the five Gulf states (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas), so revenue lost from oil spill beach action days could be significant.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPbZe43pTC8]

More links:

NRDC: Gulfspill

Stories from the Gulf: Living With The BP Oil Disaster

BP Is Creepy: NRDC Issues Damning Water Quality Report on Gulf Beaches One Year After Oil Disaster

The NRDC released its annual “Testing the Waters: A Guide To Water Quality At Vacation Beaches” report last week, which included a special section dedicated to oil-related closures, advisories and notices in the Gulf of Mexico since the BP oil disaster last year. The report said, in part:

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and sparking the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Over the course of two months, approximately 170 million gallons of oil and 200,000 metric tons of methane gas gushed into Gulf waters, affecting approximately 1,000 miles of shoreline.1 More than a year later, a sorry legacy of enduring damage, people wronged, and a region scarred remains. As of the end of January, 83 miles of shoreline remained heavily or moderately oiled, and tar balls and weathered oil continue to wash ashore.

America’s favorite “Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet”, The Kinsey Sicks, have come out with their own more satirical take on BP in this video, BP Is Creepy:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C90DVNVORw&NR=1&feature=fvwp]

*thanks to Cheryl McNamara for sharing this link*

More links:

NRDC’s Report, Testing the Waters: A Guide to Water Quality At Vacation Beaches

BP Finds Success In Report About Its Failure

The Kinsey Sicks

The Oil Poisoning the Gulf Was Headed Into Our Ecosystem Anyway, Through Tailpipe Emissions

From The Huffington Post, “Gulf Oil Spill: A Symbol of What Fossil Fuels Do To The Earth Every Day, Say Environmentalists”:

The leading edge of a vast oil slick started to come ashore in Louisiana on Thursday night, a shroud of devastation falling on America’s coastline even as the blown-up BP oil well that produced it continues to belch millions of gallons of thick crude into the Gulf of Mexico for a third straight week.

At moments like this, it’s hard to see any silver lining here at all. But it’s possible there is one. Many environmentalists say that the wrenching and omnipresent images of filth and death are at last providing Americans with visible, visceral and possibly mobilizing evidence of the effects that fossil fuels are having on our environment every day.

Rick Steiner is horrified at the damage. A University of Alaska marine specialist, he’s watched cleanup efforts ever since the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, and has learned some bitter lessons.

“Government and industry will habitually understate the volume of the spill and the impact, and they will overstate the effectiveness of the cleanup and their response,” he said. “There’s never been an effective response — ever — where more than 10 or 20 percent of the oil is ever recovered from the water. Once the oil is in the water, the damage is done.”

And most of the damage remains invisible deep below the surface, including the wide-scale destruction of essential plankton in the area and the wiping out of an entire generation of fish larvae. “This is real toxic stuff,” Steiner said.

But the damage that is visible — the vast and foul oil slick, the dolphins swimming through sludge, the birds coated in oil, the dead fish and sharks and turtles — is enough to thoroughly disgust anyone paying attention.

And that, Steiner said, makes it a “teachable moment” that “will hopefully serve as a wake-up call that we need to turn to sustainable energy.”

After all, that carbon we’re seeing poison the Gulf was headed into the planetary ecosystem anyway, through tailpipe emissions.

“That’s part of the irony of all this, is it just took a shortcut,” Steiner said. “This carbon took a shortcut into the environment from what it normally does, and it’s obvious to people what the problem is here.”

Click here to read the full story on The Huffington Post.

Oil swirls through the water in the Gulf of Mexico on May 6.