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National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) position on offshore oil drilling.

The destructive explosions and fire at the BP (formerly British Petroleum) Deepwater Horizon offshore well located off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico April 20, 2010 led to the tragic death of eleven workers and caused numerous additional injuries. The Deepwater Horizon rig sank less than two days later with 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel aboard, leaving the well gushing at the sea floor some 5,000 feet below the surface. That was the start of what is now the worst man‐made environmental disaster in United States history.  As of this writing, and more than eighty (80) days post disaster, several oil capture and recovery attempts have been employed near the wellhead to stop the leaks. All have proved futile. The United States Department of Energy estimates Deepwater Horizon is gushing almost 1.5 million gallons per day (gpd) (1) into surrounding marine environments. BP’s own worst‐case scenario assessment admits leak volume could exceed 2.5 million gpd. To bring perspective to volume of the current spill, the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska was the worst spill in US history. The Valdez spilled 258,000 barrels, 10.8 million gallons of oil (2), the effects of which linger in Alaska's Prince William Sound more than two decades after the disaster. Two bird species show little or no recovery from the oil spill while others are still recovering. Human resources linked to the Sound are also in differing states of recovery from the decades old spill. (3)(4)  While oil (and other leak by‐products such as methane) from the disaster has largely coalesced in waters off the coast, product has found its way to shore, oiling over 170 miles of shoreline in four states. Impact on the Gulf is already severe through loss of fisheries, impact on marine wildlife, impact on local economies and reduction in tourism.