As of Monday afternoon, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana spread to cover more than 1800 square miles. This specific oil spill is coming from a leak within the well that had been drilled by the Transocean Deepwater Horizon, a giant offshore drilling rig that exploded and sank last week. The oil spill is reported to be leaking about t 42,000 gallons a day from a well nearly a mile deep. The leak is going to be put under control by the US coast guard using robots.
The spill within the Gulf of Mexico is expected to remain about 30 miles offshore depending of analysis of the ocean currents and weather patterns. In a statement Monday, the Coast Guard warned states along the Gulf Coast to be on alert. The oil rig that sank was drilling a well about 50 miles off of the Louisiana coast butting that shore at the highest risk.
Responses to the spill
In preparation for the oil spill which might reach landfall sometime Tuesday according to the Coast Guard, Louisiana began spending cash now on oil spill response, installing containment booms around environmentally sensitive areas. According to the Associated Press, Alabama has also mobilized oil spill response to prevent damage if the oil slick hits. The Coast Guard said it is spending extra cash on 15 specially intended skimming vessels, which had collected 48,000 gallons of oil-water mix by Sunday. Aircraft have been dumping dispersant chemicals to break down the oil.
Oil spill disaster fears come true
An oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico was one of the greatest fears When the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank. The New York Times suggests that the well is leaking money today from the “riser”. The riser is a 5,000-foot-long pipe extending from the wellhead on the ocean bottom that was connected to the drilling platform. Now detached, the riser is kinked like a garden hose. Officials believe the kinks are preventing an even worse gusher of oil from escaping and also the leaks are at the sea floor. A geyser of oil and gas shot from the riser to create a large plume of flame and black smoke before sinking the platform.
Cleanup oil spill
In order to contain the oil spill, the Coast Guard wants to have robotic subs activate a 450 ton valve at the wellhead 5,000 feet deep that might seal the wall. However, it is possible that this valve, which was intended to prevent sudden pressure releases that led to the explosion that sunk the platform, may not work. BP has, has a contingency, dispatched two rigs to the area that could drill relief wells. It is estimated by officials that this strategy, drilling down to the cavity of oil and gas and pumping it out of mud and concrete, might take two months.
At this rate, The New York times said, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, at a rate of 42,000 gallons of oil a day, would have to continue for 262 days to match the 11-million-gallon spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound from the Exxon Valdez in 1989, the worst oil spill in United States history.
