How Much Is 4.2 Million Gallons of Oil?

[liberal N proud]

Oil continues to surge from the well where the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank, and Coast Guard officials say that the disaster may worsen.


"If we don't secure this well, this could be one of the most significant oil spills in U.S. history," said Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry, commander of the Eighth Coast Guard District.


Officials are warning that as much as 4.2 million gallons of oil could be spilled. Here's what that equates to:

The United States consumed about 137.80 billion gallons of gasoline in 2008 - that's 377,534,247 gallons of gasoline a day. With 4.2 million gallons of gasoline, U.S.'s consumption would be fed for approximately 16 minutes.

Each year, the average person in the U.S. drinks 54 gallons of soda and other sugary drinks. With 4.2 million gallons, 77,778 people could drink their fill for the year.

An Olympic-sized pool holds about 253,000 gallons (957,700 liters), so 4.2 million gallons of oil could fill about 16 and one half pools.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, one of the largest aquariums in the world, holds 1.2 million gallons of water. The projected oil spill would be able to fill the aquarium up three and one half times.

Since the early 1990s, the U.S. government has required that new toilets use no more than 1.6 gallons of water with every flush. The average American will flush about 140,000 times during their life, according to the EPA, so 4.2 million gallons of water would nearly provide 19 people with all of the flushes they will need in their lifetimes.

The White House is repainted each year, and requires 570 gallons of paint to cover its surface. It could be painted every year for the next 7,368 years with 4.2 million gallons of Whisper White paint.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100430/sc_livescience/howmuchis42milliongallonsofoil

[ret5hd]

1. Sounds like an effort to psychologically minimize what is happening.

[meegbear]

2. Sure, but how many Britney Spears stacked one on top of the other is it?

[Robb]

4. Not enough.

Never enough. :D

[kiers]

7. speaking of which....

has pat robertson had anything to say about the oil industry/louisiana this time?

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

3. How many gallons of ocean are tainted by it?

I would guess a lot.

[madokie]

11. That would be measured in cubic kilometers

I'm afraid

[kiers]

5. OIL PRICE IS UP!!!! HOORAY FOR CAPITALSM

THIS GEM from the associated press:

"Oil prices climb above $86 on improving economy".

Remember the go go days of the whores at CNBC in 2004-5: some truant kid through a rock at a pipeline in NIGERIA, and oil prices here skyrocketed to the glee of wall street!!!

[liberal N proud]

9. It will be just in time to cripple the economy again

[AnArmyVeteran]

6. Are you minimizing the damage? You didn't even mention the environment!

The Exxon Valdez oil spill created one of the biggest man-made disasters in history:

Three national wildlife refuges, three national parks, wilderness areas, a national forest, and extensive areas that had been inhabited for thousands of years by Alaska Natives, were an oily mess.

The spill destroyed much of the food chain that the Prince William Sound's commercial fishing industry and portions of the northern Gulf of Alaska. Animals were killed or harmed: It affected 10 million migratory shore birds and waterfowl, eagles, hundreds of sea otters, dozens of such other species as harbor porpoises and sea lions, and several varieties of whales.

More marine mammals and seabirds were killed directly by the oil than in any man-made disaster ever. Direct mortality of seabirds has been estimated at 300,000 to 645,000, with an additional loss in chick production of more than 300,000 following the spill. Some colonies of murres lost 60 to 70 percent of their breeding birds.

The marine mammal death toll included at least 25 killer whales out of an area population of about 180, 3,500 to 5,500 sea otters, and around 200 harbor seals.

The 1989 season of herring, which spawned in the near shore zone just as the oil arrived, was essentially lost. Terrestrial mammals, including river otters, brown bear, deer, and mink were all affected. Much of the intertidal zone was essentially cooked by the toxic oil, and invertebrate communities were severely altered.

Economically speaking, the studies of sportfishing activity and tourism indicators — vacation planning, visitor spending, and canceled bookings — indicated decreases in activity. The contingent valuation study estimated the lost passive use value at $2.8 billion.

But everything is okay in the Gulf of Mexico because it's only enough oil to fill 16 swimming pools. Good grief.

[liberal N proud]

8. God, I hope not

But this is some of the propaganda that is out there.

[AnArmyVeteran]

12. Yeah, I know liberalnproud. Conservative spin is ridiculous. They can justify anything.

Their spin machine is in full force as they are all busy trying to remove their feet from their mouths. Drill baby drill has come back to haunt them, if that's possible. They like to talk about personal responsibility, but then always run from it with lies, deception and spin. They believe corporations should not have any regulations to control their behavior. They actually believe if capitalism is allowed to operate completely unregulated that we would live in utopia. Just how stupid does a person have to be to enter their fanatical fraternity of freaks?

Keep up the good work liberal N proud. All the best...

[AnArmyVeteran]

13. Oh, I forgot. I heard conservatives use the word 'only' when describing troop deaths...

I heard conservatives like Limblah, Hannity, Beck and others use the word 'only' when describing the numbers of troop deaths in Iraq. They compared the 'low' troop deaths to other wars in a way to justify Bush's War. I wonder how the loved ones of those killed or mutilated in Iraq felt by having their sons, daughters, wives, husbands or children reacted when they heard conservatives describe the deaths as 'only'. How can anyone be a conservative and live with themselves???

[AnArmyVeteran]

10. Oh yeah, it 'only' took a pound of cyanide to kill 909 people in Jonestown too!

It was only about a pound. Oh well. That's okay. Let's not talk about the people.