From the Orlando Business Journal
The April 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill did $17.2 billion in damage to the Gulf of Mexico, scientists at Virginia Tech concluded after a six-year study.
The 134-million-gallon spill lasted 152 days and became the largest ever in U.S. waters. The previous infamous record-holding oil spill was the 1989 Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound, Alaska, which leaked 10.8 million gallons of crude oil and cost an estimated $7 billion, according to International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Ltd.
“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 at Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Science and a co-author of the study, in a release Thursday.
The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration commissioned a team of 18 researchers one month after the spill to put a dollar value to the devastation.
The scientists spent three years developing the survey. They asked survey participants about a scenario in which a 100 percent effective prevention program existed, and if they would be willing to incur a one-time tax on their household if they knew another spill would occur in the next 15 years.
The average household was willing to pay $153 for a prevention program, according to final analysis. That rate was then multiplied by the number of households sampled to get $17.2 billion.
“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,” Boyle said in the release. “People value our natural resources, so it’s worth taking major actions to prevent future catastrophes and correct past mistakes.”
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill affected states along the Gulf Coast, including Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
