Oil Spill spreads as BP struggles to stop leak
The oil spill of the Louisiana coast is growing rapidly. In fact it has grown by 50% in just a single day and now covers an area of nearly 600 square miles of Gulf. British Petroleum is using robotic underwater vehicles to try to cap the leaking well, but has not had success as of yet in stopping the flow.
BP has dispatched skimming vessels to mop up the oil leaking from the debris of the Deepwater Horizon rig, which sank on Thursday. The company said at least four underwater submarines are being employed for the attempt to stop the leak by plugging up the leaking well.
The company said it was trying to activate the giant 450-tonne, 50-foot high machine using remotely operated submersible vehicles. At the same time, it is also preparing to drill relief wells that would permanently shut off the oil flow.
So far, the slick is not threatening the coast of Louisiana more than 40 miles away, where it could endanger ecologically fragile wetlands that are a paradise for rare waterfowl and other wildlife.
"In the trajectory analysis we don't see any impact to any shoreline within the next three days," stated Charlie Henry, scientific support coordinator of the US government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Still, environmentalists were sounding an alarm about the possible threat to Louisiana's fragile wildlife, and experts said the spill has the potential to be the worst seen in the United States since the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill.
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One year on, oil from the largest spill in US history clogs wetlands, pollutes the ocean and endangers wildlife.