Lessons learned from the largest oil spill in history
(CNN) — As oil continues to pour into the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, comfort may come from an unusual direction: the largest oil spill in history.
Between five and 10 million barrels of oil poured into the Persian Gulf in 1991 when Iraqi troops, retreating from their occupation of Kuwait, set fire to desert oil wells and opened the valves on oil rigs and pipelines.
The spill — at least five times the most recent estimate of that spilled in the Gulf of Mexico — devastated marine wildlife and coastal habitats in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Yet, against all the odds, the Persian Gulf appears to have shown amazing resilience in response to the ecological disaster.
Maybe there’s still hope for the Gulf coast.