The National Wildlife Federation report entitled "ASSAULT ON AMERICA: A Decade of Petroleum Company Disaster, Pollution, and Profit" released today takes a hard look at all the oil spills and accidents that occur everyday in communities all across the nation. While individually these are not of the scale we are witnessing today, cumulatively they represent a widespread environmental disaster.
According to the NWF's website:
"...the report, from 2000 to 2010, the oil and gas industry accounted for hundreds of deaths, explosions, fires, seeps, and spills as well as habitat and wildlife destruction in the United States. These disasters demonstrate that the BP incident is not merely an accident but an industry pattern that places profit ahead of communities, local economies, and the environment."
While NWF notes this isn't a comprehensive assessment, the report does offer some pretty amazing stats:
- OFFSHORE: The U.S. Mineral Management Service (now Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement) determined that 1,443 incidents occurred in the Outer Continental Shelf waters from 2001 – 2007. Of these incidents, 41 fatalities, 302 injuries, 476 fires, and 356 pollution events were reported.
- ONSHORE: From 2000 – 2009, pipeline accidents accounted for 2,554 significant incidents, 161 fatalities, and 576 injuries in the United States.