Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook

Uproar After NC State Agent 'Fixes' Girl's Lunch Preschooler has to eat chicken nuggets instead of mom's meal »

Ike Spilled 500K Gallons of Gulf Oil

Strong winds, waves damaged dozens of oil platforms

By Laurel Jorgensen, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 5, 2008 7:00 PM CDT

(Newser) – Hurricane Ike knocked at least a half million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico and nearby waterways, according to an AP analysis of environmental reports. Worst hit were oil platforms near the coast of Louisiana, but about half of the spill occurred at a facility on Goat Island, Texas. More than 50 platforms were destroyed in all and 32 others took damage.

That’s nowhere near the environmental wound struck by Hurricane Katrina, which spilled about 9 million gallons of oil. But Ike's spill could still fill most of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Humans aren't the only ones suffering, either: Migrating birds that stop off on the Texas coast are in for a surprise, because their favorite trees and plants are gone. "It is going to cause wildlife to suffer for awhile," one bird expert said.

A pump jack is seen toppled over in flood waters left behind by Hurricane Ike on the High Island Oil Field, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008, in High Island, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

An oil sheen floats on waters covering an oilfield in Cameron Parish in southwest Louisiana, Sept. 15, 2008. The oil production field was flooded when Hurricane Ike made landfall. (AP Photo/Louisana Department of Environmental Quality)

Keith Long, with Nomad Consultants, photographs damage done by Hurricane Ike as he checks an oil and gas production platform near Lafitte, La., Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

Oil Appearing Around BP Well Again

Sheen reaches across a quarter mile

(NEWSER) - A year after BP capped its ill-fated Macondo well, oil is once again appearing on the surface overhead. Oil blobs climbed to the surface and spread into patches 4 and 5 feet wide, the Press-Register reports. The thin sheen covered an area some 50 yards wide and a quarter-mile long. No one knows where it came from, but researchers’ analysis showed it was sweet Louisiana crude that could have flowed from the BP well. More»

BP to Gulf Residents: Here's a Bonus ... Now Don't Sue Us!

Feinberg offering $5K to individuals who agree not to sue

(USER SUBMITTED) - The administrator of BP's $20 billion compensation fund is offering Gulf residents cash bonuses to speed up the process, reports the New York Times. But there's a catch: Anyone who takes the money ($5,000 for individuals, $25,000 for businesses) has to agree not to sue BP or any other company involved in the disaster. More»

Panel: White House Blocked Worst-Case Gulf Spill Figures

Findings slam government's handling of Deepwater Horizon disaster

(NEWSER) - The White House's response to the Gulf oil spill was sluggish and flawed by "a sense of over-optimism," according to a presidential panel investigating the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The panel discovered that the White House budget office rejected a request from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists for permission to release the organization's worst-case scenario models, AP reports. A government spokesman insists the budget office was concerned about the reliability of the NOAA model. More»

Microbes Gobbling Gulf Oil

Newly discovered species may have consumed plume

(NEWSER) - The latest take on the oil plume left behind by the Deepwater Horizon disaster: It's vanished, thanks to the luckiest microbe species on Earth. Researchers say that the newly discovered species, one of several that eats oil, multiplied rapidly after the spill and have dominated the natural clean-up in the Gulf of Mexico, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

BP Spill the Worst the World Has Seen

Gov't estimates 4.9M barrels of oil leaked into Gulf

(NEWSER) - The Deepwater Horizon disaster is the most massive oil spill ever to have fouled the world's oceans, according to US scientists in what they call the most accurate estimate to date. The latest report states that 4.9 million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's busted well before it was capped last month, putting the Mexican Ixtoc disaster of 1979 into second place. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Ike Spilled 500K Gallons of Gulf Oil

Strong winds, waves damaged dozens of oil platforms

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Hurricane Katrina • oil spill • hurricane season • Gulf of Mexico • disaster • Hurricane Ike

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Oil Appearing Around BP Well Again

Sheen reaches across a quarter mile

BP to Gulf Residents: Here's a Bonus ... Now Don't Sue Us!

Feinberg offering $5K to individuals who agree not to sue

Panel: White House Blocked Worst-Case Gulf Spill Figures

Findings slam government's handling of Deepwater Horizon disaster

Microbes Gobbling Gulf Oil

Newly discovered species may have consumed plume

BP Spill the Worst the World Has Seen

Gov't estimates 4.9M barrels of oil leaked into Gulf

About Us

Site

Newser By Users

Community

Site Maps

Tools

More News

What is Newser?

Ike Spilled 500K Gallons of Gulf Oil

Strong winds, waves damaged dozens of oil platforms

Bookmark & Share

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Hurricane Katrina • oil spill • hurricane season • Gulf of Mexico • disaster • Hurricane Ike

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Oil Appearing Around BP Well Again

Sheen reaches across a quarter mile

BP to Gulf Residents: Here's a Bonus ... Now Don't Sue Us!

Feinberg offering $5K to individuals who agree not to sue

Panel: White House Blocked Worst-Case Gulf Spill Figures

Findings slam government's handling of Deepwater Horizon disaster

Microbes Gobbling Gulf Oil

Newly discovered species may have consumed plume

BP Spill the Worst the World Has Seen

Gov't estimates 4.9M barrels of oil leaked into Gulf

About Us

Site

Newser By Users

Community

Site Maps

Tools

More News

What is Newser?