Oil spill in Gulf of Mexico is finally over
Five months after the explosion the oil spill is finally
at an end
It has been called the biggest environmental disaster in the
history of the United States.
The Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, off the
coast of America, exploded on 20 April this year.
Eleven people were killed and about 206 million gallons (about
936 million litres) of oil glugged into the water.
It has cost BP, the company that owns the well, millions of
pounds to clean up.
But now the well has finally been plugged once and for all.
Cement was pumped into the well around four km below the sea
floor and it has now hardened.
Experts have tested the pressure in the well to check that the
plug is holding. They say it has worked.
It is the end of a terrible series of events that killed sea
life, led to a ban on fishing, damaged local beaches and tourism,
and forced the boss of BP to resign.
After the rig of the oil well exploded, it sank into the sea,
leaving nothing to stop hundreds of thousands of litres of oil a
day spilling from the well into the water.
The leak may be plugged, but BP's work is not finished.
The company still has to try to undo the harm that has been caused
to the environment and to the livelihoods of people across the
region.
Lots of animals, including fish, dolphins, birds and turtles,
were killed in the Gulf waters.
Oil eventually washed up on the shore of five American states -
Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
Fragile habitats here were damaged, while tourists cancelled
plans to visit the beach resorts in the region, meaning that
restaurants, shops and hotels all lost money.
Fishermen were also badly affecting when they were banned from
catching anything in the area.
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Oil spill in Gulf of Mexico is finally over
How five months of turmoil unfolded
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, 52
miles from Louisiana, on 20 April this year. There were 126
workers on board when a huge bubble of natural gas escaped from the
oil well beneath, expanding so quickly that it ignited. Workers had
less than five minutes to escape as the alarm went off.
The rig was engulfed by huge flames that were visible for miles
around and burned for more than a day before sinking to the bottom
of the Gulf on 22 April. Eleven workers died.
Around a week later it became clear that hundreds of thousands
of litres of oil were leaking from the exposed oil well under the
sea into the surrounding waters. It was now that it was first
feared that this could become the worst oil spill in American
history.
By 30 April oil was starting to wash up on the shores of
Louisiana. Efforts by the coastguard to burn the oil at sea
before it reached ground had failed and fragile coastal wetlands
were inundated with thick mud.
The US president, Barack Obama, banned all off-shore drilling in
new areas near America until they could figure out what had caused
the spill. On a trip to the Gulf Coast he said that BP was
responsible for the disaster and that the company would have to pay
to clean it up.
BP, however, refused to accept total responsibility and
continued to blame other companies that were also involved in the
drilling operations.
Lots of attempts were made to stem the leaking oil. On 8
May a giant metal box was lowered onto the well, but had to be
removed when ice crystals formed.
Shortly afterwards, all sorts of old rubbish, like golf balls
and rubber tyres, were shoved into the well shaft in a plan known
as a "junk shot". But this doesn't work either.
Then a method called "top kill" was attempted. Heavy mud
was pumped into the well in the hope it would form a plug.
This, too, was declared a failure after three days of trying.
Meanwhile, nearly 600,000 litres of oil were leaking into the
sea every day. Attempts were made to skim oil from the
surface of the water with giant boats, and to contain the spill by
surrounding it with plastic barriers.
But by July, the oil from the spill had reached Texas, meaning
it had affected all five American states that surround the Gulf of
Mexico.
The boss of BP, Tony Hayward, announced that he would leave his
job "by mutual agreement". He had become very unpopular in
America following his comment weeks after the spill that he would
like the situation to be sorted out because, "I would like my life
back", and because he went on a sailing trip in the UK at the
height of the chaos. He was also accused of ignoring safety
warnings before the explosion and then for not taking
responsibility when disaster struck.
A temporary cap was fitted to the leaking well in mid-July,
which stopped the spillage for the first time. The well was
finally declared "dead" on Sunday when tests revealed that a relief
well and a cement plug had sealed the leak.
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