An oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana has spread to cover a lot more than 1,800 square miles as of Monday afternoon. The oil spill is coming from a leak within the well that was drilled by the Transocean Deepwater Horizon, a giant offshore drilling rig that exploded and sank last week. The oil spill is reported to be leaking about t 42,000 gallons a day from a well nearly a mile deep. The leak is going to be put under control by the US coast guard using robots.

Bases off analysis of ocean currents and weather patterns, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to stay about 30 miles offshore. In a statement Monday, the Coast Guard warned states along the Gulf Coast to be on alert. The Louisiana shore is at the highest risk given that the oil rig that burned and sank was drilling a well about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast.

Responses to the spill

To prepare for the oil spill, which the Coast Guard said my reach landfall sometime Tuesday, Louisiana has started spending money now on oil spill response, installing containment booms around environmentally sensitive areas. Alabama has also mobilized oil spill response to prevent damage if the oil spill hits according to the Associated Press. The Coast Guard said it's spending additional cash on 15 specially intended skimming vessels, which had collected 48,000 gallons of oil-water mix by Sunday. Dispersant chemicals are dumped by aircraft to break down the oil.

Oil spill disaster comes true with fears

The oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico was a large fear when the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank. The New York Times reports that the well is leaking its liquid money today from the "riser". The riser is a pipe that is 5,000 feet long and extends from the wellhead on the ocean bottom that was connected to the drilling platform. Now detached, the riser is kinked like a garden hose. The leaks seem to be at sea floor and officials seem to believe the kinks are preventing an even worse gusher of oil from escaping. Before sinking, a geyser of oil and gas shot from the riser to create a giant plume of flame and black smoke on the platform.

Oil spill cleanup

In order to contain the oil spill, the Coast Guard wants to have robotic subs activate a 450 ton valve at the wellhead 5,000 feet deep that might seal the wall. This vale was intended to prevent sudden pressure releases that led to the explosion that sunk the platform and might not work. As a contingency, BP has dispatched two rigs to the area that could drill relief wells. It is estimated by officials that drilling down to the cavity of oil and gas and pumping it full of mud and concrete could take two months.

At this rate, The New York times said, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, at a rate of 42,000 gallons of oil a day, would have to continue for 262 days to match the 11-million-gallon spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound from the Exxon Valdez in 1989, the worst oil spill in United States history.