We used ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry and liquid. Microbial responses to the deepwater horizon oil spill. Dispersants epa response to bp spill in the gulf of mexico. On april 20, 2010, an explosion on the deepwater horizon oil rig killed 11 people. New research has uncovered an added dimension to the decision to inject large amounts of chemical dispersants above the crippled seafloor oil. Deepwater horizon dispersants lingered in the deep nature. Ecological impacts of the deepwater horizon oil spill sage journals. Response actions to the deepwater horizon oil spill included the injection of. New view of dispersants used after deepwater horizon oil.
Used in response to accidental oil spills with varying success particularly in difficult to reach and remote areas. Vast areas of the gulf of mexico were contaminated with oil, including deepocean communities and over 1,600 kilometers of shoreline. Environmental chemistry of the mixture of deepwater horizon oil and dispersant oil spill dispersants are used to facilitate the physical mixing of crude oil with water. Dispersant used to clean deepwater horizon spill more toxic. After the deepwater horizon oil rig exploded on april 20, 2010 in the gulf of mexico and leaked 210 million gallons of oil into the ocean, authorities worked for months just to contain the spill.
Nearly two million gallons of dispersants were used at the waters surface and a mile. The deepwater horizon oil spill occurred between april 10 and september 19, 2010 in the gulf of mexico. Cdc oil spill response resources staying safe and healthy. Deepwater horizon oil spill final programmatic damage. What have we learned about using dispersants during the next. A variety of techniques were used to address fundamental strategies for addressing the spilled oil, which were. Deepwater horizon study group working paper a perspective from within deepwater horizons unified command post houma 4 study at uic mobile, demobilization surveys and interviews identified an alarming number of responders who were randomly mobilized and were not utilized in a capacity to take advantage of their specialized training. Potential immunotoxicological health effects following exposure to corexit 9500a during cleanup of the deepwater horizon oil spill. What have we learned about using dispersants during the. The report details the devastating longterm effects on human health and the gulf of mexico ecosystem stemming from bp and the federal governments widespread use of the dispersant corexit, in response to the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill. During the deepwater horizon oil spill an unprecedented volume of dispersants 1. Research resulting from the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill. Surface and subsurface chemical dispersant application during the 2010 gulf. The deepwater horizon dwh oil spill was the largest environmental disaster and response effort in.
A perspective from within deepwater horizons unified command. If you almost get injured, or see any unsafe condition, report that to your supervisor. On april 12, 2016, a research team reported that 88 percent of about 360 baby or stillborn dolphins within the spill area had abnormal or underdeveloped lungs, compared to. Dispersants are being used in the deepwater horizon gulf of mexico response to remove oil from the surface of water where it can be especially harmful to the environment. The fate of the chemical dispersants has been one of the biggest wild cards of the spills legacy.
National commission on the bp deepwater horizon oil spill and. On april 20, 2010, an explosion on the deepwater horizon dwh rig caused a release of 200 million gallons of oil into the gulf of mexico before the well was capped on july 15, 2010. Prior to the deepwater horizon disaster, dispersants had been used only to treat oil slicks at. Dispersants oil is toxic at 11 ppm while corexit 9500 is toxic at only 2. Fate of dispersants associated with the deepwater horizon oil. Oil spill prevention and response and deepwater horizon the. Reducing occupational exposures while working with dispersants during the deepwater horizon response. View 20 publications on oil spill prevention and response and deepwater horizon available to read, download, and purchase at nap. On a basic level, dispersants work the same way dishwashing liquid works on grease. Jan 27, 2011 the fate of the chemical dispersants has been one of the biggest wild cards of the spill s legacy. Dispersant used to clean deepwater horizon spill more. Oil properties and their impact on spill response options bsees. Gulf spill oil dispersants associated with health symptoms in.
Sep 19, 2017 workers who were likely exposed to dispersants while cleaning up the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill experienced a range of health symptoms including cough and wheeze, and skin and eye irritation, according to scientists at the national institutes of health nih. Much oil spread at 11000 m depth, contaminating and affecting deepwater habitats. The deepwater horizon dwh oil spill was the largest environmental disaster and response effort in u. Chemical dispersants and their role in oil spill response. The literature on oil spill dispersants between 2011 and 2014 is extensive, consisting of more than 200 papers, which is the greatest number of papers in any such time period. Deepwater horizon bp gulf of mexico oil spill us epa. Understanding the chemistry and physics of this mix as it churned through the salt water turns out to be an exceedingly complex problem with plenty of unknowns. Dispersant efficacy and effectiveness coastal response research. New research has uncovered an added dimension to the decision to inject large amounts of chemical dispersants above the crippled seafloor oil well during the deepwater horizon disaster in 2010. Federal seafood safety response to the deepwater horizon. If you feel worried, sick or get injured, get medical attention.
The dispersant used to remediate the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill in the gulf of mexico is more toxic to coldwater corals than the spilled oil, according to a study conducted at temple. Jun 15, 2010 msds corexit 9527a pdf according to the deepwater horizon response unified commands website, as of june 14, 2010, over 1,262,000 gallons of dispersants have been used as part of bps oil spill cleanup efforts. Apr 09, 2015 the dispersant used to remediate the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill in the gulf of mexico is more toxic to coldwater corals at lower concentrations than the spilled oil, according to a new. After the deepwater horizon disaster in 2010, our reports provided analyses of the spill and guidance for policy making, health care monitoring, and environmental protection. The interaction of dispersants with crude oil alters the chemical and physical properties of the oil and thus changes how the oil behaves in the environment. Dispersants have been researched extensively and used for oil spill mitigation for more. Use protective clothing, gloves, footwear and respirators as instructed. Many gulf coast residents have questions about why dispersants were used, how they were used, and what impacts dispersants could have on people and the environment. The largescale applications of dispersants used at the surface and wellhead during the deepwater horizon oil spill raised many questions and highlighted the importance of understanding their effects on the marine environment. Impacts of deepwater horizon oil spill to marine organisms.
Dispersants are a relatively common product used to clean and control oil spills in the ocean. You can learn more about the dispersants, and their effects, on the epas website, including information about. Prior to this incident, no deepwater applications of dispersant had been conducted, and thus no data exist on the environmental fate of dispersants in deepwater. Factors such as oilbiodegradation, ocean currents and response measures dispersants, burning reduced coastal oiling. Microbial transformation of the deepwater horizon oil spill. A study by johns hopkins university in baltimore indicates that the dispersants used during the 2010 deepwater horizon disaster in the gulf of. Over the next three months, the exposed wellhead released some 750 million liters of oil into the gulf. The deepwater horizon oil spill also referred to as the bp oil spill, oil leak, or oil disaster. As a result, there was concern about the risk to human health through consumption of contaminated seafood in the region. After the deepwater horizon oil spill, there was an increase of research on dispersants and dispersed oil, with a large amount of research coming from the gulf of mexico research initiative gomri, the bureau of safety and environmental enforcement bsee and industry. On april 20, 2010, an explosion tore through deepwater horizon, an oil rig in the gulf of mexico. Despite a complex effort to cap the well, oil and gas spewed from the site until july 15, 2010. Longterm persistence of dispersants following the deepwater. Environmental effects of the deepwater horizon oil spill.
Msds information for oil spill dispersants corexit 9500 and. Nov 09, 2015 on april 20, 2010, an explosion tore through deepwater horizon, an oil rig in the gulf of mexico. Corexit 9500 is four times as toxic as the oil itself. Oversight hearing on the use of oil dispersants in the. On april 20, 2010, the oil drilling rig deepwater horizon, operating in the macondo prospect in the gulf of mexico, exploded and sank resulting in the death of 11 workers on the deepwater horizon and the largest spill of oil in the history of marine oil drilling operations. The reason for this explosion of papers is, no doubt, the aftermath of the use of dispersants at the deepwater horizon spill. Deepwater horizon oil spill, largest marine oil spill in history, caused by an april 20, 2010, explosion on the deepwater horizon oil riglocated in the gulf of mexico, approximately 41 miles 66 km off the coast of louisianaand its subsequent sinking on april 22. Deepwater horizon uac environmental unit insitu burning and dispersants september 2010 unclassified 1. Pdf ecological impacts of the deepwater horizon oil spill. Pdf the deepwater horizon dwh oil spill was the largest environmental disaster and. Dispersants can turn oil spills into toxic mist, research. Deepwater horizon oil spill, bp used large amounts of the dispersant corexit 9500. Dispersant used to clean deepwater horizon spill more toxic to corals than the oil, study suggests apr 09, 2015 oil dispersants not as harmful to marine life as predicted.
Over the next three months, the exposed wellhead released some 750 million liters of. This chapter describes the deepwater horizon oil spill incident, including a. The deepwater horizon dwh oil spill was the first spill that occurred in the deep ocean, nearly one mile below the oceans surface. April 20, 2015 five years ago, in the middle of the response to the deepwater horizon oil spill, i was thrown into a scientific debate about the role of chemical dispersants in response to the spill. The deepwater horizon blowout, which occurred on april 20, 2010, resulted in an unprecedented oil spill. On april 30, 2010, 10 days after a blowout destroyed the offshore drilling platform deepwater horizon off the coast of.
Although a large proportion of the hydrocarbons was. The environmental protection agency and the national oceanic and atmospheric administration noaa, hosted a press conference call on may 12 at 4 p. Mar 25, 2019 a study by johns hopkins university in baltimore indicates that the dispersants used during the 2010 deepwater horizon disaster in the gulf of mexico and other large spills breaks down oil into. The deepwater horizon gulf oil spill public health. This represents the first onwater insitu burning at a spill since the 1989 test burn during the exxon valdez oil spill, which was the first time a fireresistant boom was used at a spill.
Federal and gulf coast state agencies worked together on a sampling plan and analytical protocols to determine whether. Dispersants are one of those things that are talked about a lot in the context of oil spills, but in reality used pretty rarely. We used liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry to quantify the anionic surfactant doss dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate in samples collected from environments known to contain oil persisting from the dwh oil spill. Following the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill, petroleumrelated compounds and chemical dispersants were detected in the waters of the gulf of mexico. Cdc oil spill response resources chemical dispersant. Oil under pressure gushed into the deep ocean from bps macondo well, located about 1 mile 1. Cumulatively over the course of the spill, oil was detected on over 43,300 square miles of the ocean, an area about the size of virginia. During the 2010 deepwater horizon dwh oil spill, 1. Research resulting from the 2010 deepwater horizon oil spill on april 20, 2010, the deepwater horizon oil rig exploded in the gulf of mexico, releasing 210 million gallons 780,000 cubic meters or m3 of oil and gas into the surrounding ecosystem. Cdc oil spill response resources reducing occupational. The largescale applications of dispersants used at the surface and. Bioactivity of oil dispersant used in the deepwater horizon cleanup operation. Selected issues for congress congressional research service 1 introduction on april 20, 2010, the deepwater horizon oil drilling rigunder contract to bp, the leaseholder of the tract approximately 50 miles offshore of louisianawas nearing completion of a deepwater oil well when an explosion occurred. Reducing occupational exposures while working with dispersants during the deepwater horizon response download this document cdcpdf dispersants are being used in the deepwater horizon gulf of mexico response to remove oil from the surface of water where it can be especially harmful to the environment.
The deepwater horizon oil spill constituted an ecosystemlevel injury in the northern gulf of mexico. Fate of dispersants associated with the deepwater horizon. Jul 15, 2010 controlled burns continued to be used at the deepwater horizon spill site through midmay, when conditions were right. Ecological impacts of the deepwater horizon oil spill. Et to answer questions related to the use, approval and science of dispersants being used on the bp oil spill in the gulf of mexico. May 28, 2019 massive amounts of oil, gas, and dispersant streamed into the gulf of mexico during the deepwater horizon disaster. May 24, 2010 a 2015 study by the national oceanic and atmospheric administration, published in plos one, links the sharp increase in dolphin deaths to the deepwater horizon oil spill.