Fuel: When Will We Learn?

I was shocked when I came across the video below.  Are you kidding me?  This has actually happened before and nobody learned from it?  Aaargh!

But wait! There are people out there trying to make a difference.  Phew! This film’s dvd is due out on the 22nd of June.  Very interesting and timely.
Check out the official website for The Fuel Film.

A by-the-numbers look at the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico
Source: cbc.ca

Workers shovel oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill on a beach in Port Fourchon, La. (Patrick Semansky/Associated Press)

$930 million US – The amount BP has spent so far to try to plug the well. This figure covers containment efforts, relief well drilling and federal government costs.

12,000-19,000 barrels – Amount of crude oil spilling into the Gulf daily, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

75 million to 162 million litres – Estimate of how much oil has leaked since the rig exploded and sank in April, killing 11 people.

41 million litres – Amount of oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989.

3.4 million litres – Amount of dispersant tipped into the Gulf to break up the oil. This amount would fill more than 100 tanker trucks.

30,000 – Barrels of mud pumped into the well in the “top kill” bid to block the oil flow.

1.1 million metres – Length of booms, or plastic barriers, used to contain the oil’s spread in the Gulf.

20,000 – Personnel working on the spill.

1,400 – Response vessels.

33 – National wildlife refuges at risk due to the oil spill, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

400 – Wildlife species at risk.

491 – Dead birds collected in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas as of May 30, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Not all the deaths were necessarily caused by the oil.

227 – Dead sea turtles collected in those five states as of May 30.

27 – Dead mammals (including dolphins) collected in the five states as of May 30.

9th – Ranking of the Gulf of Mexico on the list of the world’s largest bodies of water.

$661 million US – Value of the commercial fish and shellfish harvest in 2008 from the five U.S. Gulf states.

24.1 million US – Recreational fishing trips taken in the Gulf of Mexico in 2008.

$20 billion US – Value of the tourism industry in the Gulf, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.