Does anyone remember the Ixtoc 1 oil rig spill?...

[SidDithers]

Ixtoc 1 was a deep drilling rig leased to PEMEX, Mexico's state oil company. It had a blowout in June of 1979, and began leaking oil into the Gulf, between 420,000 gallons and 1.2 million gallons daily.

It continued to leak that much oil for almost 10 months, before a second well could be drilled to relieve the pressure and cap the leak. In total, more than 100,000,000 gallons of oil were spilled, almost 10 times as much as the Exxon Valdez.

Right now, the Deepwater horizon is leaking ~42,000 gallons per day. It will have to continue to leak at that rate for 8 months to be as bad as the Valdez. It will have to leak for 6 1/2 years to be as bad as Ixtoc.

In no way am I trying to minimize the Deepwater Horizon situation. The spill from the Deepwater horizon is an unmitigated disaster, and will negatively impact the Gulf environment for years to come. I am simply trying to add perspective about the scale of this spill compared to other spills.

Sid