The oil spill occurring due to the Deepwater Horizon disaster is an immense environmental tragedy for the Gulf of Mexico region. To make matters worse, the spill estimates also seem to be growing daily. It appears now that the spill may be able to surpass the 1979 Ixtoc oil spill disaster that occurred in Mexico in the Gulf as well.
In 1979, 140 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico due to the Ixtoc disaster. This spill lasted for ten months before crews were able to contain it. New estimates on the current oil spill in the Gulf are saying that the previous estimates could have been off significantly, estimating only half the actual spill. If these numbers turn out to be true, the Deepwater Horizon spill is nearing the Ixtoc spill in no more than fifth the time.
One of the earliest oil leaking measurements was 42,000 gallons a day. This amount soon turned out to be inaccurate and was changed to approximately 200,000 gallons a day. However, now scientists are estimating that the well is leaking between 840,000 to 1.68 million gallons a day. Scientists are estimating that the actual number of gallons that have so far made it into the Gulf to be near 100 million. This would make the spill nine times larger than the previous worst spill in U.S. history, the Exxon Valdez.
To put the spill in perspective, the amount of oil estimated to be leaking would amount to an Exxon Valdez disaster every five days. Such statistics would make it more than likely that this oil spill will easily surpass the Ixtoc disaster and become the worst environmental disaster to date.
It is still unknown when the leaking will stop and how many gallons in the end will have been pumped into the Gulf of Mexico. It is also a disturbing fact that it is still unknown how the far the oil and oil plumes created will travel. All that is clear thus far is that the environmental toll on the Gulf, the marine animals and all those non-human and human beings along the coasts is immense and will never be forgotten.
Planetresource.net has a Eco friendly solution to clean up the tragedy British Petroleum has created, please watch the video animation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60bdQQQ3iVw and pass this along to as many people as you know.
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