Oil Spill Timeline Â

The 2010 Gulf Oil SpillPhilip J. Lazarus, Ph.D.

Florida International University

“I think we need to remember that [offshore drilling] has been going on for the last 50 years, and it has been going on in a way that is both safe and protective of the environment.”

-David Rainey, BP's vice president of exploration for the Gulf of Mexico

“If oil gets into the marshes, we are finished. Everything breeds in there, the whole food chain.”

-Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish

April 20, 2010 An explosion turns the Deepwater Horizon oil rig

into a massive inferno 11 workers are killed and 17 more are injured Within two days, the oil rig sinks while Coast

Guard search and rescue missions continue for missing workers Complete 17 missions in total (12 by air; 5 by water)

April 22, 2010 A National Response Team is activated

Organization of 16 federal departments and agencies including the White House, Coast Guard, the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Interior, and Environmental Protection Agency, among others

Barack Obama convenes an Oval Office meeting to discuss ongoing response efforts

Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) with camera goes under water, confirms no visible oil flow from the well

April 23, 2010 Search and rescue efforts officially are suspended Rig is found upside down about quarter-mile from

the blowout preventer. Oil sheen is reported, no apparent leak discovered.

Homeland Security risk analysis says incident “poses a negligible risk to regional oil supply markets and will not cause significant national economic impacts”

“I don't honestly think it opens up a whole new series of questions, because, you know, in all honesty I doubt this is the first accident that has happened and I doubt it will be the last.”

-Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary, April 23, 2010

April 24-25, 2010 On April 24, oil is found leaking from the

well for the first time Pressure and rate of release were unknown

On April 25, oil leak is estimated at 1,000 barrels a day (42,000 gallons) Five missions disperse about 13,000 gallons of

chemical dispersants

April 26, 2010 April 26, 2010—Homeland Security:

Attempts to activate blowout preventer valve are ineffective due to a hydraulic leak 10 missions disperse roughly 15,000 gallons of

dispersants, and 21,000 feet of containment boom are placed at the spill site (4 days after the rig went down)

April 27, 2010 Homeland Infrastructure and Risk Analysis Center (DHS)

report: “marine ecology may be significantly more impacted than

originally estimated based on more accurate (oil) release rate.” "Release of crude oil, natural gas and diesel fuel poses a high

risk of environmental contamination in the Gulf of Mexico.” Top administration officials—including Homeland Security

Secretary Janet Napolitano, White House senior adviser Valeria Jarrett, and White House energy adviser Carol Browner—meet with BP’s chief executive, Tony Hayward, and other company executives

49 response vehicles are deployed — including barges, tugs, skimmers and recovery vessels

April 28, 2010 A third oil leak is discovered, and the Coast

Guard revises estimates of the leak from 1,000 to 5,000 barrels of oil a day

BP's attempts to repair hydraulic leak on the blowout preventer valve unsuccessful

Controlled burning begins

April 29-May 1, 2010 Napolitano, EPS Administrator Lisa Jackson and

other officials hold news briefing at White House with Gibbs Napolitano declares disaster a “spill of national

significance” Obama talks about spill in the Rose Garden—his

first public comments on the issue Suspends future provisions for offshore drilling pending a

safety review Napolitano names the Coast Guard commandant,

Admiral Thad Allen, “point man” for the response

May 2, 2010 Obama visits the Gulf to inspect response

operations

An additional 30 vessels and 1,000 responders are deployed to Gulf Coast

"We are dealing with a massive and potentially unprecedented environmental disaster . . . The oil that is still leaking from the well can seriously damage the economy and the environment of our Gulf states and it could extend for a long time. It could jeopardize the livelihoods of thousands of Americans who call this place home.”

-Barack Obama, May 2, 2010

May 3, 2010 Dead jellyfish begin washing ashore in Mississippi and

Louisiana Oil begins poisoning the Chandeleur Sound  Fishing is halted in affected areas

BP takes responsibility for cleaning up the spill and will pay compensation for “legitimate and objectively verifiable” claims for property damage, personal injury and commercial losses Work begins on drilling a relief well—a long-term solution

BP CEO Tony Hayward says on ABC's “Good Morning America” that BP is not responsible for the accident He said the equipment that failed and led to the spill belonged

to owner Transocean Ltd., not BP, which operated the rig

The spill is “sort of an underground volcano of oil . . . we'll be more than happy to send them [BP] the bill.”

-Charlie Crist, Governor of Florida, May 3, 2010

May 4, 2010 Legal accusations mount against BP,

Transocean, and Halliburton on behalf of environmental groups, fishermen, and families of workers from the oil rig

BP announces $25 million grants to states affected by the spill

Plans move forward to test a giant “oil containment dome”

May 5, 2010 13 nations and UN offer oil spill help

Canada, Mexico, Britain, Sweden, Romania, and others

White House pushes to lift liability limit for BP From a $75 million cap to $10 billion The measure would be applied retroactively to cover

damages resulting from the April 20, 2010 spill Bill is co-sponsored by Democratic Sen. Robert

Menendez and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.

BP Profits 6.079 billion dollars: First quarter 2010 20.096 billion dollars: Year 2009 21.157 billion dollars: Year 2008 20.845 billion dollars: Year 2007

____________________________________ 75 million dollars: Present liability cap for

environmental damages

“I don't trust Big Oil”-Frank Lautenberg, Sen., D-NJ, May 5, 2010

Regarding the bill to lift the liability limit: “This is about making Big Oil responsible for its excesses”- Robert Menendez, Sen., D-NJ, May 5, 2010

In response to aforementioned legislation:

“We won't be entering into that legislative discussion”

-Tony Hayward, BP CEO, May 5, 2010

May 6-7, 2010 A 6-member panel is created to investigate

the cause of the rig explosion Composed of representatives of the U.S. Coast

Guard and the Minerals Management Service

Putrid orange and rust-colored oil reach the mouth of the Mississippi River

Crews move the oil containment dome towards the spill site

May 8, 2010 A bubble of methane is blamed for causing the rig

explosion Escaped from the well and shot up the drill column,

expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before exploding

Icelike crystals encrust the 100-ton steel-and-concrete containment box and render it useless A smaller dome is proposed

More than 3 million gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since April 20, 2010

May 9, 2010 Tar blobs begin to wash up on beaches in Alabama Crews put out more than 190 miles of boom in the Gulf A proposal is made to clog the oil well by shooting high

pressured “garbage” (e.g., old tires, golf balls) into the aperture The “junk shot”

An Associated Press investigation reveals that blowout presenters regularly fail Devices have failed or otherwise played a role in at least 14

accidents, mostly since 2005

May 10, 2010 Approximately 3.5 millions of gallons of oil spilled

so far At that pace, the spill would surpass the 11 million gallons

spilled in the Exxon-Valdez disaster by next month Louisiana officials request information on harmful

effects of oil dispersants Over 70 lawsuits have been filed against BP

BP requests for lawsuits to be consolidated before a federal judge in Houston

Benefits begin to support cleanup efforts "Gulf aid" 

Where from here? Oil may enter the “loop current” in the Gulf

and flow around Florida and up the Atlantic seaboard

Long-term ecological, economical, health, and psychological effects in affected regions and beyond