The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill did $17.2 billion in damage to the natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico, a team of scientists recently found after a six-year study of the impact of the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
This is the first comprehensive appraisal of the financial value of the natural resources damaged by the 134-million-gallon spill.
“This is proof that our natural resources have an immense monetary value to citizens of the United States who visit the Gulf and to those who simply care that this valuable resource is not damaged,” said Kevin Boyle, a professor of agricultural and applied economics in the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and one of the authors of the paper.
Findings from the study were published in the issue of Science released on April 20.
The scientists developed a survey to put a dollar value on the natural resources damaged by the BP Deepwater spill by determining household willingness to pay for measures that would prevent similar damages should a spill of the same magnitude happen in the future. Survey information included descriptions of damaged beaches, marshes, animals, fish, and coral.
On top of estimating the impact of the spill, the $17.2 billion represents the benefits to the public to protect against damages that could result from a future oil spill in the Gulf of a similar magnitude.
In May 2010, one month after the spill, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration commissioned a group of 18 researchers to put a dollar value on the natural resources damaged by the BP Deepwater spill.
To estimate Gulf Coast resource values, researchers created a scenario in which people were told that they could have a role in mitigating future damages by effectively paying for a prevention program.
Final analysis showed that the average household was willing to pay $153 for a prevention program. This rate was then multiplied by the number of households sampled to get the final valuation of $17.2 billion.
“The results were eye-opening in that we could tell how much people really value marine resources and ecosystems,” said Boyle. “And even more meaningful because we did additional analysis that proved the legitimacy of oft-criticized values for environmental resources.”
The project team administered surveys to a large random sample of American adults nationwide after three years of survey development. The first round of surveys was administered face-to-face with trained interviewers while the remaining surveys were completed via mail.
Survey participants were informed of pre- and post-spill conditions in the Gulf of Mexico and what caused the oil spill. They were then told about a prevention program, which can be viewed as 100 percent effective insurance against future spill damages, and that another spill would occur in the next 15 years. With this information, participants were asked to vote for or against the program, which would impose a one-time tax on their household.
“Our estimate can guide policymakers and the oil industry in determining not only how much should be spent on restoration efforts for the Deepwater spill, but also how much should be invested to protect against damages that could result from future oil spills,” said Boyle. “People value our natural resources, so it’s worth taking major actions to prevent future catastrophes and correct past mistakes.”
Phil_Alrite on April 21st, 2017 at 16:19 UTC »
I was living on the Gulf when the oil spill happened. It was a very surreal experience.
This is longer than I intended it to be. Sorry in advance.
20 April 2010. The news announced the oil spill occurred, and all the locals started assuming the worst. I remember sitting with all the staff in the dining room of the hotel where I worked, and we all had no idea what was going to happen. For a few days it was eerily quiet, the news kept showing the oil billowing out of the hole, and we had some people cancel their reservations.
The Media. The oil started washing up on shore, and the news started showing that. Almost every reservation we had, got cancelled. People would call and ask us how bad the oil was, assuming we were covered in oil, like the birds in Alaska, but that really wasn't the case. We had globs of oil wash up, but it was pretty spread out. This doesn't mean I would have went swimming in the Gulf. I'm just saying that in our area, the media was doing more damage than the oil. We lost about 3 months worth of reservations in the first week after the oil hit the shore.
The BP reps started showing up. It was like a movie. There were ads on TV, radio, and newspapers, billboards, they rented buildings, and set up trailers. When they first arrived, it was very obvious (to me anyway) that they wanted everyone to settle. They were offering $5k to any local who would sign away rights to sue. So many people jumped at the chance to get a quick $5k. I had a lawyer friend who told me to wait. This is a pretty common tactic, I guess, so they can knock out a good chunk of people with an enticing $5k.
The oil doesn't stop. Now, most of my co-workers had taken the $5k in the first week or two that the BP guys showed up. We were all expecting a quick solution. That wasn't the case. The next month (60 days or so), the oil was still leaking, the media kept showing it billowing out, and the oil was all over the shore. White sandy beaches with big chunks of oil stained the area in front of our hotel. We had no reservations, and the area was a ghost town. The amount of income lost, was now over $5k for a lot of people.
BP gets aggressive. BP started sending out reps to contact people who had inquired about settling, but didn't sign anything. They were now openly advertising $5k to anyone who signed their rights away. I was contacted by a BP rep, and he asked if he could speak with me at my house. I gathered all my documentation of lost wages, prior year total income, etc. and, he came over the next day. He wasn't sleazy or anything. He was wearing a "beachy" outfit, like a polo and khaki shorts. He flipped through my documents pretty quickly, and started to act all excited. He was acting like I had won the lottery. He kept telling me that I couldn't tell anyone about the offer he was making me, and that this was exclusively for me. Now, it was really shady, and I could definitely tell he was just bullshitting me. He offered me $8k and I told him no. I had lost over $10k by that point, and there was no sign of the oil stopping. I told him that based on my numbers I wanted $18k to cover future losses too. He said that he could give me $12k, but that was to cover current losses. I would still be entitled to $5k or more if I could prove I was still losing income in the next few months. I agreed to that.
Corexit. This is where it goes from bad to worse and, the oil spill had been declared a State of Emergency. Around this time (2 months in), the government started buying massive quantities of oil dispersants like Corexit. Some considered this a conspiracy (Cheney was part of Haliburton. Haliburton owned the company that made Corexit. Haliburton made millions off this deal). Corexit and other oil dispersants were nasty. There were times after dumping the Corexit, dead fish would wash up on shore. The smell was like paint thinner, rotten fish, and oil mixed. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, we had a storm come in. The Corexit and oil were then aerated into fine particles and brought inland. It was like chemical warfare. I developed burns on my skin, difficulty breathing, and a bunch of other health problems. It was so bad that certain metals were corroding. No one at the time knew that these common symptoms were from the Corexit. We only found out later, after people started testing the water and the air for pollutants.
They seal the spill. BP stayed around for a month or so after the spill to make sure everyone had signed away their rights to sue. Fishermen were out of work, most of my coworkers had been fired, people were still getting sick, and no tourists were coming. No one really had any legal repercussions at this point. BP made one more push and offered everyone another $5k. Once again, most people took this, because they no longer had jobs and had to pay bills. I spoke with my rep again, and he told me that since the spill was cleaned up and the oil had stopped leaking, I was only entitled to $5k. I argued back and forth, and finally settled with $6k more. I got $18k, and looking back, I am kicking myself for not doing this differently.
Aftermath. BP packed up and left. This is about 100 days in. Most of my friends and coworkers were still jobless. No one could eat any of the local seafood. Tourists were still not coming. People were still getting sick. Everyone was pissed. Friends of mine that were born and raised in the area had to move to find work. I was eventually fired, and the hotel "shut down for renovations". I'm doing fine now, but I will say, this event was one of the weirdest experiences I have ever had in my life. BP sucks.
mtgspender on April 21st, 2017 at 13:39 UTC »
not exactly what i was expecing when they say evaulation. i thought they actually looked at how much fixing the damage would cost.
Registar on April 21st, 2017 at 13:14 UTC »
You can't really put a price tag on the ecological damage. Money can't fix what has been done.