Oil Spills

“Mr G’s Assignment”

By: Cole D.

Compare & Contrast the BP oil spill and the Exxon Valdez? Both oil spills are a wide spread oil slick that was or expelled at least 15 million gallons of oil combined. Also both oil spills were accidental and spread at least to 20,100 square miles combined. Also, they are both the biggest oil spill in the U.S. Both have major clean up costs associated with the spill and the deaths it caused.

The Deepwater Horizon or BP oil spill killed 11 platform workers and injured 17 others. Also, this spill of oil expelled about 4.2 million gallons of oil into the gulf of mexico. This oil spill is also known as the Macondo blowout. This oil spill was one of the worst in U.S. history which ocurred on April 20, 2010 which was 1,500 m below sea level. The government has named this disaster as the largest in U.S. history also surpassing the exxon valdez spill.

The Exxon Valdez oil spill was caused by a ground running of the oil tanker and caused 10.8 million gallons of oil to spill in the Princeton William’s Sound Bligh Reef. The type of oil that spilled was crude oil from the big ocean tanker that carried about 10.8 million U.S. gallons. This oil spill was also one of the most devastating human-caused disaster in history. This disaster ocurred in Alaska on March 24, 1989. The Shipmaster in charge was Joseph Jeffrey Hazelwood who left it in the hands of Third mate Gregory Cousins.