March 26^th 2010 marked the 20^th anniversary of the oil tanker, Exxon Valdez tragedy in Prince William Sound, Alaska.

The tanker was traveling from the Valdez oil terminal to Long Beach, California when at approximately some time around midnight the tanker struck Prince William Sound’s Bligh Reef causing the tanker to expel it’s cargo into the sea.  A single barrel of oil can reek havoc on an eco-system so one can only imagine the damage caused by the 250, 000 barrels worth that escaped into the Prince William Sound area from the crippled oil tanker.  This event would go on to be known as the worst human caused ecological disaster in history.

 

April 20^th 2010 Deepwater Horizon, an offshore drilling rig operating in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana suffered from a massive explosion, which caused the rig to sink and resulted in a major oil spill.  The spill originates 1,500m below sea level, has a span reaching approximately 10,000 sq. km and continues to release the equivalent of 25,000 barrels a day into the surrounding waters.  The rig is owned by Transocean Ltd and leased by BP.  Since BP is the principal developer of the oil field the U.S. government has named BP responsible for the cost of all damages and clean up efforts related to the incident.  Along with the obvious ecological damage 11 rig workers are currently missing and presumed dead while the explosion seriously injured another 17.

Photo courtesy of United States Coast Guard