The United States is witnessing about one oil spill every day. About
20,0000 oil spills are reported to the U.S. government annually. Of those,
approximately 300 are so bad that the Environmental Protection Agency either
intervenes itself or oversees private cleanup contractors. In other words,
that's about an oil spill per day. Good.is
The number of spills from offshore oil rigs and pipelines in U.S.
waters more than quadrupled this decade, a trend that could have served as a
warning for the massive leak in the Gulf of Mexico, according to government data
and safety experts. Usatoday.com
While most people have been paying attention to the debt crisis,
another American disaster has been taking place under the radar in Montana.
Good.is Three weeks ago, an ExxonMobil oil pipeline pumping medium crude into
the United States from Canada burst, spilling 42,000 gallons of sludge into the
immaculate Yellowstone River, the longest free-flowing river in the lower 48
states. Good.is The spills -- and the amount of oil that leaked -- grew markedly
worse even when taking increases in production into account, a USA TODAY
analysis of federal data shows. The leaks came as the oil industry repeatedly
claimed that offshore drilling was never safer. Usatoday.com Sitting in the hot seat on Capitol Hill for the first time since its
Yellowstone River spill, ExxonMobil pledged to pay all “legitimate claims” and
take full responsibility for the cleanup. Politico.com Lawmakers are reviewing pipeline safety in light of that accident and
a series of other recent pipeline problems, including an explosion in San Bruno,
California last year that killed eight people. Nasdaq.com
From the early 1970s through the '90s, offshore rigs and pipelines
averaged about four spills per year of at least 50 barrels, according to the
Minerals Management Service (MMS). Usatoday.com One barrel is equal to 42 gallons. The average annual total surged to
more than 17 from 2000 through 2009. From 2005 through 2009, spills averaged 22
a year. Usatoday.com The most memorable, and most destructive, recent oil spill occurred
last April in the Gulf of Mexico. Huffingtonpost.com Some estimates have placed the amount of oil that has gushed in to
the Gulf at 19 million gallons. Beforeitsnews.com Since the disaster in the Gulf, dozens of pipelines have spilled
millions of gallons of oil into streams and rivers across the continent. A year
ago, an Enbridge pipeline poured more than 800,000 gallons of tar sands crude
into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River. Huffingtonpost.com In May, a Plains All American pipeline that carries tar sands oil
spilled more than a million gallons in the Peace Region of Northern Alberta.
Huffingtonpost.com
RS/KA/DB
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