Harsh Facts
The Exxon Valdez Spill of 1989 was often considered the worst oil spill
ever before the BP Spill of 2010. Exxon Valdez leaked 11 million gallons of oil
into Alaska’s Prince William Sound.
Without taking the BP Spill into consideration, an average of one billion
gallons of oil are spilled into the world’s oceans each year.
In the BP Gulf of Mexico Spill, 60,000 barrels (2.5 million gallons) of oil were leaked each
day. On May 17th, 2010, the slick was 130 miles long and 70 miles
wide.
The cost of Gulf Oil Spill to BP as of June 14th, 2010, was
$1.6 billion. $1.5 billion is the estimated amount insurers paid as a result of
the spill.
About 400 wildlife species were threatened by the BP Spill, including
the 25 million birds that traverse the Gulf of Mexico each day.
2,300 square miles out of a total 7,000 square miles of Louisiana
coastal marshes and cypress forests have been damaged as a result of oil
drilling.
The United States consumes 19.5 million gallons of oil per day.
One estimate expects that over its fifty year lifetime, the Keystone XL
Pipeline will have about 91 significant tar sands oil spills (significant
meaning at least fifty barrels).
Picture courtesy of: http://justmytruth.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/the-ripple-effect/
