The Deepwater Horizon Disaster By the Numbers

What can you do?

The Deepwater Horizon Disaster:

This presentation is to highlight the statistics from the Deepwater Horizon disaster and encourage public input on the Draft PDARP/PEIS.

All information presented comes straight form the Trustees’ overview document.

By the Numbers

The Deepwater Horizon Disaster:

By the Numbers

Presented by:

The Gulf of Mexico University Research Collaborative

In October 2015 the Natural resource trustees for the Deepwater Horizon incident, a group of 5 federal agencies and 13 state agencies from all five Gulf states, released the

Draft Programmatic Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan and Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement

(Draft PDARP/PEIS) and overview document,

Plan for Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Natural Resources Injury Restoration: An Overview.

Public comments should be made on the Draft PDARP/PEIS and not the overview document or this presentation.

The Disaster

On April 20, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon mobile drilling unit exploded. Tragically, 11 workers were killed and 14 were injured.

3.19 million barrels of oil were released from the Macondo well into the Gulf of Mexico, with oil sinking to the sea floor over hundreds of square miles.

On average more than 1.5 million gallons of fresh oil entered the ocean daily – the equivalent of a large oil spill occurring every day for nearly 3 months.

For 87 days after the explosion, the well blasted oil and natural gas continuously and uncontrollably into the northern Gulf of Mexico.

The Macondo well sat approximately 1 mile below the ocean's surface and was dug to a depth of about 13,000 feet below the sea floor.

Statistics:

Birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals all play vital roles in the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem.

43,300 square miles

1,300 miles

15,3000 square miles

Miles of shoreline fouled by oil

Cumulative extent of the surface slick during the course of the spill

The maximum extent of the oil slick on a single day (June 19, 2010)

Approximately the size of Virginia

More than the distance by road from New Orleans to New York City

10 times the size of Rhode Island

Marine Mammals

Birds

Sea Turtles

The northern Gulf of Mexico is home to 22 species of marine mammals.

Restoration

The Barataria Bay bottlenose dolphin stock, one of the most severely injured populations, experienced a 35% increase in death, a 46% increase in failed reproduction, and a 37% increase in adverse health effects due to the spill, compared with a healthy population.

51,000 - 84,500 birds of at least 93 species died as a direct result of the spill.

Five species of sea turtles live in the Gulf of Mexico:

• loggerhead
• Kemp’s ridley
• green turtle
• hawksbill
• leatherback

All of these species are listed

under the Endangered Species

Act.

These injuries are estimated to result in up to a 51% decrease in the Barataria Bay dolphin population, which will require approximately 39 year to recover without any active restoration.

An estimated 7% decline in the population of endangered sperm whales will require 21 years to recover.

It is estimated 4,900 - 7,600 large juvenile and adult sea turtles, and 56,000 - 166,000 small juvenile sea turtles, were killed by the Deepwater Horizon spill.

An additional 4,600 - 17,900 chicks died before they were developed enough to fly because their parents perished and did not return to the nest.

For Bryde’s whales, 48% of the population was impacted, resulting in up to an estimated 22% decline in population that will require 69 years to recover.

Nearly 35,000 hatchling sea turtles were also injured by response activities.

These are underestimates of overall injury.

The Trustees conducted a detailed assessment to determine the nature, degree, geographic extent, and duration of injuries from the Deepwater Horizon incident to both natural resources and the services they

provide the public.

More than 100,000 samples of water, tissue, oil, and sediment collected on roughly 20,000 field data collection trips.

What does this tell us?

Lost Recreational Use

The Deepwater Horizon spill caused the public to loose more than 16 million user days of boating, fishing, and beach-going experiences.

Total recreational use damaged due to the spill are estimated at $693.2 million with uncertainty ranging from $527.6 million to $858.9 million.