Ike Oil Slick

Hurricane Ike Oil Slick

Oil slicks covering Hurricane Ike floodwaters around High Island, Texas.

Hurricane Ike, Missing Drill Rig, And Oil Spills: It’s The System That Leaks

by Daniel Kessler, San Francisco, California on 09.22.08

Oil Slick After Hurricane Ike, High Island, Texas, Smiley N. Pool / The Houston Chronicle, Excerpt

Some politicians consistently say that offshore oil drilling is safe and that drill rigs have withstood Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike without any significant damage or oil spills. The facts, as they often do, tell a very different story. On September 16, the oil drilling company Rowan announced one of its drill rig was missing, and that it had likely capsized and sunk due to Hurricane Ike. (read the whole story)

Hurricanes and Oil Drilling: Ike’s Toll on Big Rigs

Published: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 12:01 a.m.

Hurricane Ike’s 12-foot storm surge was nowhere near the 20-foot monster that forecasters anticipated, yet it still managed to destroy 52 offshore oil platforms and cripple 32 more.

That is according to The Associated Press, which compiled an environmental score card of the damage caused when Ike hit the upper Gulf Coast on Sept. 13. (more on platform damage.)

Hurricane Ike Spilled 12,000 Barrels of Oil

…The hurricane’s toll highlights the environmental risk in offshore oil.

Hundreds if not thousands of individual spills, from both companies and individuals, resulted from the hurricane, according to the AP. None are classified as “major” but together they add up.

Of about 3,800 oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, 52 were destroyed and another 32 “severely damaged,” according to the AP. (more details on the damage and threat.)