Gulf of Mexico oil spill - Threat to Environment & Wildlife

The British Petroleum (BP) is owner of the oil rig. As time passes by, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is getting larger and larger. On 20 April 2010, the oil spill was started from an oil rig explosion in the Deepwater Horizon, which is owned by Transocean is getting closer to the Louisana coastline. On its latest update, Louisana coastline poses a threat to the marine life over there. To contain the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from continuous leakage, every possible action has been called by US President Barack Obama. As of last week, the most amount of oil is being thrown into the water by a third leak in the oil rig.

“The current situation of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may probably surpass the extent of the BP oil spill which happened in 1989 from Exxon Valdez in Alaska. That particular oil spill is so far considered as the worst oil spill in the history resulting to millions of environmental damages particularly in the livelihood of fishermen and in the wildlife,” according to several experts.

Jie Jun Lan said, “They do the fastest possible action to contain this oil spill in Gulf of Mexico from further leakage to the water,” and “I’ve heard that these boom oil equipments clean oil spills and contains them to avoid further leakage.” Companies that have the necessary oil spill machineries like boom oil equipment should coordinate with the authorities.

According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “The oil slick has grown in size since the initial accident as the oil spreads across the surface of the ocean. The lighter the oil is, the faster it can spread — so gasoline would spread faster than thicker, black oils, such as the crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon. But even heavy oil can spread quickly in a major spill, spreading out as thin as a layer of paint on a wall in just a few hours.”

Action to contain the oil spill, which is spreading fast in the Gulf of Mexico, has been taken by the US Government. For the Gulf Coast oil spill, BP begins accepting claims through BP’s helpline at 1-800-440-0858 on 2 May 2010. Up-till-now, over 1 million gallons of oily water have been recovered and 367,881 feet of Boom have been deployed. To prevent this oil spill from further damaging, people must be united. Efforts to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill centered on huge oil containment dome, a four-story building that engineering teams hope will corral the oil that continues to spout from the seafloor. "This oil spill containment method through the use of this oil containment dome will work but they worry of the possibility of failure since it was never tried before at such depths,” according to Officials hopes.

From a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico, oil leakage has reached the shoreline. The catastrophic explosion was the cause of oil spill from a BP offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. According to some sources, “This oil spill is on track to become the worst oil spill in history, surpassing the damage done by the Exxon Valdez tanker that spilled 11 million gallons of oil into the ecologically sensitive Prince William Sound in 1989.”

Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is threatening birds and other wildlife along with fragile islands and barrier marshes and putting one of the world’s richest seafood grounds in peril. For the region's sea life, wildlife and bird species, the massive oil slick threatening the Louisiana coast has come at the worst time, due to they depend on a water system for their existence and now it becomes complex.

Photos of Gulf of Mexico oil spill: