Graph of the Day for July 31, 2010

By Randall Hoven

"For 86 days, oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's damaged well, dumping some 200 million gallons of crude into sensitive ecosystems. BP and the federal government have amassed an army to clean the oil up, but there's one problem -- they're having trouble finding it." ABC News, July 26, 2010.

"This is, you know, an unusual case but there've been others like this so I think way too much is being made of the... of the oil that's being... that's coming out there in the Gulf. All of that will get cleaned up and we'll be back... we'll be back to normal, the world hasn't changed because of this blowout." T. Boone Pickins, May 2010. (This statement is listed as one of "the 7 stupidest statements" about the spill by treehugger.)

Sources: Popular Mechanics and PBS (using DOE estimate of spill rate for Deepwater). (Notes: The Deepwater Horizon spill could be as high as 200 million gallons or more depending on assumed spill rate, and the Gulf War spill could be as high as 336 million gallons. Wikipedia lists the California inland spill of Lakeview Gusher as the largest ever, at 378 million gallons. Except for Uzbekistan, all the above are ocean spills.)

Hoven's Index for July 31, 2010

Exxon Valdez 1989 oil spill facts:

Gallons of oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez: 11 million

Miles of shoreline affected: 1,300

Length of containment boom used: 512,000 feet (almost 100 miles)

Seabirds killed: 250,000

Source: National Park Service.

Birds killed per year by windmills: 75,000 to 275,000

Source: The Wall Street Journal.

Graph of the Day Archive.