Popular Science - USA (2020 - Winter)

MICROBES AND

LOUISIANA, US

University of Hull in England.

A decade later, local govern-

ments have rebuilt towns with

flood-proofing and sustainability

in mind. The plant’s legacy also

continues to inform global man-

ufacturers, who as a result are

switching to an alumina- refining

process with drier byproducts

(and therefore less red mud).

Next on their list: a completely

zero-waste system.

burning organisms. They also

rinsed polluted areas with acids

to neutralize the pH, removed

and replaced contaminated top-

soil in farming villages, and

dredged bodies of water to catch

any noxious debris. The entire

cleanup took three years and cost

$127 million, a bill the small coun-

try largely footed itself.

If it weren’t for local tributar-

ies, however, that price tag might

have been much higher. The Torna

Creek and Marcal River, which ul-

timately feed into the Black Sea,

helped wash the mud into a less

toxic mix of sediments. “While

dilution is no real strategy for pol-

lution management, the fact that

downstream waterways around

Ajka were so large meant that the

spill material was diluted quite

quickly,” says William Mayes, an

environmental scientist from the

WAFFLE

DISASTER: Two days before the

40th anniversary of Earth Day,

an explosion on the Deepwater

Horizon rig triggered the worst

marine oil spill in American his-

tory. It took nearly three months

from the date, April 20, 2010, for

the energy corporation BP to

cap the undersea wellhead. By

then, at least 134 million gallons

of fuel had poured into the Gulf of

Mexico. The shiny waves touched

1,300 coastal miles, devastating

working beachside communities

and killing up to 102,000 birds.

COMEBACK: Because the leak orig-

inated about 50 miles offshore,

ocean waters broke down some

of the crude oil before it hit land.

Meanwhile, the more volatile chem-

icals like butane evaporated quickly.

Recent estimates published by the

Bureau of Ocean Energy Manage-

ment hold that up to 40 percent of

the spill dispersed in these ways.

Hydrocarbon- degrading microbes

also assisted by having a feeding

frenzy near the wellspring.

“It points to nature’s resilience,”

says Christopher Reddy, a ma-

rine chemist at the Woods Hole

Oceanographic Institution, who

thinks the spill’s ultimate impact

wasn’t as bad as feared.

As those natural processes un-

folded, cleanup crews fueled up

on Waffle House eggs before tack-

ling the slick with sand- cleaning

trucks, oil-corroding chemicals,

and booms. A multibillion- dollar

settlement fund from BP continues

to bankroll the recovery. One of the

direct recipients is GulfCorps, a

Nature Conservancy and National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-

istration (NOAA) job program that

trains local youth in restoration.

The spill also put a years-long

delay on big offshore drilling proj-

ects. To corral future leaks at rig

sites, NOAA has built a satellite

mapping program that can track

how oil moves on open water. This

technology, coupled with shored-up

sandbars and wetlands that barri-

cade businesses and homes, should

make the region stronger in the

face of disasters, old and new.

107

HOUSES

RECOVERY INITIATED: 2010

PROGRESS: PARTIALLY COMPLETE

DYNAMIC DUO