Houston: A report into the environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster was released by BP on Monday and its main conclusion was that the environment in the Gulf of Mexico waters is returning to its baseline condition, five years after the worst oil spill in US history.
The “Gulf of Mexico Environmental Recovery and Restoration” report also says that impacts from the spill largely occurred in the spring and summer of 2010, immediately after the April 20, 2010 tragedy in which the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 crewmen and spilling millions of barrels of oil.
Drawing on data from BP, government agencies and academic bodies the report concludes that there was no significant long-term population-level impact to species in the Gulf. It attributes that to several reasons: the location far offshore; the temperate climate; the type of light crude involved; the offshore response and the shoreline cleanup.
BP has committed to pay $500 million over 10 years to support independent research into the effects of the disaster. It has also spent more than $28 billion on response, cleanup, restoration and claims payments.
