Pretty Sad

I feel terrible about the Gulf oil spill…..but I will also admit that when the problem isn’t right in front of your face….it’s easy to forget or ignore the reality of it.  So I had the idea of relating the amount of oil spilled…in Northland terms.  What does 2.5 million gallons a day mean to you?  To me it means a number I can’t fathom.  A barrel I’ve never seen…it means nothing.

Here’s my math.

    2,500,000                    million gallons/day are leaking

X             85                              days of leaking

212,500,000                    gallons

X            7.5                   estimated weight of a gallon of oil

1,593,750,000                 lbs of oil

Divide that into the number of pounds the William A. Irvin can hold (28,000,000) and you get………56.9 William A. Irvin ships full of oil.

Now think about that next time you hear about the oil spill.  Think about that the next time you pass the Irvin……pretty sad.