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The Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred between 10 April and 19 September 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. A variety of techniques were used to address fundamental strategies for addressing the spilled oil, which were: to contain oil on the surface, dispersal, and removal. While most of the oil drilled off Louisiana is a lighter crude, the leaking oil was of a heavier blend which contained asphalt-like substances. According to Ed Overton, who heads a federal chemical hazard assessment team for oil spills, this type of oil emulsifies well. Once it becomes emulsified, it no longer evaporates as quickly as regular oil, does not rinse off as easily, cannot be broken down by microbes as easily, and does not burn as well. "That type of mixture essentially removes all the best oil clean-up weapons", Overton said.[1]
On 6 May 2010, BP began documenting the daily response efforts on its web site.[2] On 28 April, the US military joined the cleanup operation.[3] The response increased in scale as the spill volume grew. Initially, BP employed remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROV's), 700 workers, 4 airplanes, and 32 vessels.[4] By 29 April 69 vessels, including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels, were in use. By 4 May 2010, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) estimated that 170 vessels, and nearly 7,500 personnel were participating, with an additional 2,000 volunteers assisting.[5] These volunteers help build relief walls, burn the oil, clean the water and other effected bodies of water such as marshes, beaches, and shorelines, clean contaminated equipment and vessels, and were involved in both land and water response outreach.[6]
In summer 2010, approximately 47,000 people and 7,000 vessels were involved in the response works. By 3 October 2012, federal response costs amounted $850 million, most of them reimbursed by BP. As of January 2013, 935 response personnel were still involved in response activities in the region. For that time BP's costs for cleanup operations exceeded $14 billion.[7] The oil drill was finally sealed on 15 July 2010.[6]
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VOA2010-05-04was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Kwok, Richard K.; Engel, Lawrence S.; Miller, Aubrey K.; Blair, Aaron; Curry, Matthew D.; Jackson, W. Braxton; Stewart, Patricia A.; Stenzel, Mark R.; Birnbaum, Linda S.; Sandler, Dale P.; for the GuLF STUDY Research Team (April 2017). "The GuLF STUDY: A Prospective Study of Persons Involved in the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Response and Clean-Up". Environmental Health Perspectives. 125 (4): 570–578. doi:10.1289/EHP715. ISSN 0091-6765. PMC 5382003. PMID 28362265.
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