The Gulf of Mexico oil spill, caused by an explosion on oil rig on April 20, might become the worst oil spill in American history. This latest disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is leaking anywhere from 1000 to 5000 barrels of oil a day (there are 42 gallons in a barrel of oil so the flow is anywhere between 42,000 and 210,000 gallons per day) and the leak might not be stopped for 90 days.
The worst oil spill in U.S. history was the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. The Exxon Valdez was 10.8 million gallons of oil.
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has flowed into fragile wetlands and wildlife refuge areas just off the coast of Louisiana (map). The spill may spread throughout the Gulf over the next few weeks as oil continues to flow from a pipe 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The New York Times has the story.
Comments
How many nines?
Even the best gambler or stock picker doesn’t expect 9 out of 10 successes. That’s less than one 9. When we are operated on we are in the area of two nines, we expect to live through a medical procedure, something like 99% of the time. That’s two nines. When we go on a motor trip we might expect some car problem, such as a flat tire or a dead battery, only once in a thousand times. That’s three nines. We expect a thousand times more assurance when we ride on a commercial airliner. That’s 6 nines and we get it.
Relevance? There are now thousands of deep water oil wells. None has been the disaster that we are currently e experiencing. This terrible spill comes at a most inopportune time. The fact that we are at both Peak Oil and Peak Population is a coincidence that tells us perhaps this is the ultimate dilemma. there is little chance that large future oil discoveries will be on land.
Can deep water oil drilling ever be a 6 nine activity?
sorry but 810 nautical miles is not 4500 km, but 1500 km. Conversion woes persist, when will the U.S. ever convert once and for all?
Paul Rylance. I don’t even know where you saw the numbers you cited in your conplaint. I didn’t see them. I’m sorry you are annoyed.
The US officially adopted the the system you prefer long ago – long before such as Germany and Italy were even countries. We Ameicans find kilograms too course. liters too snall. kilometers too small. even Europeans don’t buy wine it seems in less than liter bottles, maybe 750 ml.
I don’t go ballistic when I have to deal with ergs and dynes, much too fine, or degress C, too course. I happen to think in degrees F, BTU’s and feet, human units – what we used to call “engineering units.” The units that were used to create our present world.
The power plants, airplanes, cars, food production we depend onn today came to being in these engineering units.
Why do people add comments with so many grammatical and spelling errors?