Larry Schweiger :: CEO of National Wildlife Federation on BP Oil Spill
Podcast: Download (Duration: 24:10 — 27.7MB)
We are extremely honored to have with us today, Larry Schweiger, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Wildlife Federation. To highlight just a few of his many past accomplishments, he served for eight years as President and CEO of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, where he pioneered watershed restoration and promoted ecological research, land conservation and community outreach. Prior to that, Larry was the Executive Secretary of the Joint House/Senate Conservation Committee for the Pennsylvania General Assembly. In his book Last Chance, he breaks down the science behind global climate change and shares how the clean energy economy can provide the solutions we need to avert the worst consequences of global warming.
Jan 19, 1991 the largest oil spill of all time (380-520 million gallons) was created intentionally by Iraqi forces trying to prevent the landing of US forces in Kuwait during the Gulf War. They intentionally opened valves at the port releasing a 4 inch slick over 4000 square miles.
The largest accidental spill of all time (140 million gallons) was also in the Gulf of Mexico June 3, 1979 – March 23, 1980. Ixtoc I, a two-mile deep exploratory well, leaked at an estimated rate of 10,000 to 30,000 barrels per day for almost ten months until it was capped in March 1980.
Approximately 5.65 million tonnes (that’s over 1.5 billion gallons) of oil were lost as a result of tanker incidents alone from 1970 to 2009
Learn More About The Science of Spills
New York Times Interactive map of the BP spill
What about the Natural Gas that’s mixed in with the oil
Welcome to Newlygreens on the Radio, Mr. Larry Schweiger.
Some points of interest from today’s interview:
Tony Hayward CEO of BP has claimed the environmental impact of this spill would be small relative to a really big ocean.
The Exxon Valdez spill was just over 21 years ago and it was considerably smaller than this spill.
On May 20th the EPA ordered BP to find a less toxic alternative to the dispersant called Corexit they have been using to break up the oil coming from the well. 100′s of thousands of gallons of to be more specific… (related story)
We see over 70 miles of oil floating on the surface.
The BP estimate of the leak has grown from 1,000 barrels a day up to 5,000 barrels/day at the prompting of the Coast Guard, that’s 210,000 gallons. A recent NPR scientist put the estimate at more like 84,000 barrels or 3.5 million gallons/day . BP currently claims to be siphoning 3000 barrels/day but admit there is still more leaking.
A reminder to our listeners the National Wildlife Federation has a number of ways for you to get involved from Finding Solutions to the Climate Crisis, getting kids outside with the BE OUT THERE™ campaign, or Safeguarding America’s Wildlife and Wild Places ,
If you care to refer people to help with NWF oil spill activities please feel free to refer them to NWF’s oil spill page.
They may also have job openings so if their mission speaks to your heart there may be opportunities for our listeners to get involved professionally as well. You can find more information at www.nwf.org.
How will this effect wildlife in the area?
