It has been more than three months since the Deep Horizon oil rig explosion, and some of you may be wondering the toll of this enduring oil spill. There are no exact numbers, but here are a few figures to assemble a picture of the ramifications.
Here are a few statistics:
- 4.9 million barrels of oil is estimated to have spilled into the ocean (source)
- 35,000 - 60,000 barrels (about 1.5 - 2.5 million gallons) of oil gush into the ocean daily (source)
- Approximately 630 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline has been contaminated by the BP oil spill (source):
- 89 miles in Florida
- 364 miles in Louisiana
- 107 miles in Mississippi
- and 70 miles in Alabama
- Roughly 1.84 million gallons (7 million liters) of dispersant have been applied (source):
- 1.07 million on the surface and
- 771,000 subsea
- 17,000 jobs estimated to be lost by year-end because of the oil spill (source)
- At risk is the livelihood of family businesses that took generations to build.
- $1,200,000,000 projected to be lost by year-end due to the oil spill (source)
- 400 species estimated to be at risk, from the base of the chain with oil-eating bacteria, shrimp, crab to endangered sea turtles, brown pelicans and whales. (source)
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