Oil spill in Gulf of Mexico 'could be worse than Exxon Valdez disaster'

Source: The Independent

The first coating of oil from a growing spill in the Gulf of Mexico was expected to reach the US shoreline last night, despite frantic efforts by the United States and BP to halt its drift and avert the threat of an environmental calamity not seen since the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989.


The US Coast Guard and the oil firm were leading the bid to limit the spread of slick, fed by oil leaking from broken well pipes one mile under the sea at an estimated rate of 5,000 barrels a day – five times greater than initial estimates. But the White House last night served notice that BP, whose rig exploded last week and then sank, must foot the bill for the entire clean-up.

With three leaks detected near the sea, the spill could eventually match the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989, when 11 million gallons gushed from a crippled tanker into an Alaskan sound, devastating the local habitat. In fact, it could prove even more serious, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, told reporters. "The Valdez was a knowable quantity of oil because it was a ship. This is a well," she said.


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Exxon Valdez (1989)

11m gallons

On 24 March 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, off Alaska, spilling about 11m gallons of oil into the sea. More than 1,200 miles of coastline was spoiled – immediately killing 2,000 sea otters, 300 harbour seals and 250,000 seabirds – in what is now considered one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in history. When the incident came to court Exxon, fearing a $5bn award for punitive damages, applied to investment bank JP Morgan & Co for the credit to cover it. The bank covered the potential exposure by inventing the "credit default swap", a financial instrument which would later lie at the heart of the global banking collapse in 2008.






Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/oil-spill-in-gulf-of-mexico-could-be-worse-than-exxon-valdez-disaster-1958676.html

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Never knew the Exxon Valdez led indirectly to the 2008 financial meltdow!!!

"The bank covered the potential exposure by inventing the "credit default swap", a financial instrument which would later lie at the heart of the global banking collapse in 2008."

Oh well, I wonder how many folks will make millions off this disaster while all the cost of the clean up will simply be passed on to us!