Workers race to contain an oil slick that is threatening wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico
BY VICKIE AN
Cleanup crews are racing against the clock to contain a hazardous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The slick is the result of an explosion that occurred on April 20 aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The thick, black ooze is threatening miles upon miles of coastline in four states, and putting hundreds of species of wildlife in danger.
One Big Mess
There were 126 workers aboard the oil rig at the time of the blast. An oil rig is a large, offshore platform that is used to house workers and machines needed to drill oil wells in the ocean floor. Most of the workers escaped. Eleven people are missing. The cause of the explosion is under investigation. The rig was owned by Transocean Ltd., and operated by the energy company BP.
Since the blast, an estimated 42,000 gallons of oil have been spewing daily from an undersea well, located 5,000 feet below the disaster site. As of Monday, the sticky spill had grown to more than 1,800 square miles. That's larger than the state of Rhode Island. Oil from the leak may ooze up on the white-sand shores of Florida as early as this weekend.
"We've never seen anything like this magnitude," said George Crozier, executive director of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama. "The problems are going to be the beaches themselves. That's where it will be really visible."
Scientists and environmentalists worry about the huge impact of the slick on sea life in the area. The waters are home to a variety of marine animals, including dolphins, sea turtles and sea birds. Plant life can also suffer from the spill. "It's already a fragile system," says Mark Kulp, a geologist at the University of New Orleans in Louisiana. "It would be devastating to see anything happen to that system."
Cleaning Up
So far, remote-controlled submarines have been unable to shut off the oil well. Workers will begin drilling a relief well to reroute the oil on Thursday. The process could take months. Crews have been working since last week to skim oil from the water's surface, but time is starting to run out.
In a last-ditch effort, the Coast Guard planned to start burning off the oil slick on Wednesday. Workers will use fireproof containment booms, or a string of floating barriers, to rein in some of the thicker oil. Then they will set it on fire. This will cause the oil to harden into balls of tar that can be removed from the water more easily. Authorities do no expect the burn area to affect marine life. The total cost of the cleanup could add up to $1 billion
Max-This disastrous oil spill spilled a few thousand gallons of oil, and it blasted at that time. Because the disaster was close from the Louisiana coast, so marine animals and some land animals are in danger. Without the oil spill, we know that these animals are safe. When the oil is on the sea, many fish cannot breathe because there is not enough oxygen, and even die. Sometimes the birds will also have oil on their wings and can’t fly, and will be stuck on the shore. Also, after the oil spill, many pieces of land are been covered with oil, so they might clean up the scene. Every day, it still leaked a few thousand gallons of oil, so there might be a bigger area of land covered with oil. This oil spill may cost a lot of money by just only cleaning up. There must cost more money by saving animals from extinction.
