4 ms·

I've been reading many of the news articles about the leak, but most seem to stray away from the long term effects of the leak if it's not fixed soon. If the en

by matt1 16y ago

I've been reading many of the news articles about the leak, but most seem to stray away from the long term effects of the leak if it's not fixed soon. If the engineers don't stop the leak within, say, a month, what kind of ecological damage can we expect? What about three months? A year? Longer? Is there a chance that it will just "run out" anytime soon?

ars 16y ago
I've been wondering that too, and the best answer I have is to look at the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc_I_oil_spill http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc_I_oil_spill It spilled for 10 months! At that spill was 2 to 6 times worse in terms of barrels per day. The only difference was that it took 2 months to reach the US coast, so we were a bit more prepared for it. I have not yet read about the long term effects. But my quick skimming did not come up with anything major. (Just short term effects.) And no, it won't run out anytime soon.
- jbooth 16y ago
  Don't quote that barrels per day figure too readily, the barrels per day from the BP spill figure is based on.. BP's estimate. I'd double the estimate just on general principles.
  - ars 16y ago
    I did. That's why I said "2 to 6".
    - jbooth 16y ago
      Fair nuff
Encosia 16y ago
The relief well they're drilling should resolve the issue sometime in August. Everything else they're trying in the meantime are just stop gap measures to mitigate the flow until the relief well is finished.