Gulf of Mexico/BP Oil Spill: 2010

1. Gulf of Mexico/BP Oil Spill: 2010 By: Peyton Holt

2. Basic Facts • Started on April 20, 2010 • Ended on July 15, 2010 (officially sealed on September 19, 2010) • Cause: wellhead blowout

3. The worst Accidental Spill in History • 210,000,000 million gallons of oil were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico • 11 people died • Oil came out of the wellhead for 87 days • Destroyed estuaries and other habitats • Also killed many animals • Many fires were also started on the oil rig • Could happen again because they are still drilling in the gulf and the transportation of oil

4. What it Affected Biotic: • Many marine animals • Humans that lived in the area • Plants in the ocean and nearby Abiotic: • Beaches • Everywhere surrounding the Gulf • The oil company • The economy of the Gulf Common Resources: • Water • Fish

5. Human Aspect • Humans are drilling in the environment so something was bound to go wrong. • I would suggest to stop drilling in the ocean because this could easily happen again. • The only rule I would add is to limit the oil companies to a lower amount of oil that can be drilled.

6. Solutions • Injecting dispersants at the sea floor to break up the oil. • Closing the blowout preventer that for some unknown reason failed. • Deploying steel boxes atop the flows to contain oil and redirect it through pipes to a ship on the sea surface. • Installing new pressure control equipment at the well. • Drilling two relief wells

7. How the Company was affected • BP has spent about $42 billion fixing the spill and the places it has affected • They still have not paid for everything that needs to be paid for • People today are helping restore the habitats in the area back to the way they were before

8. More Pictures