Gulf War oil spill the adjacent areas. Full recovery of the salt marshes will certainly need some centuries. The "Financial Times", in reference to the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, cited the 1993 optimistic assessment of the Gulf War oil spill as evidence that "Initial warnings of catastrophic environmental damage from oil spills can turn out to be overdone". Gulf War oil spill The Gulf War oil spill was one of the largest oil spills in history, resulting from the Gulf War in 1991. The apparent strategic goal was to foil a potential landing by US Marines. It
Volume and extent of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill collected before it could enter the Gulf waters. In its permit to drill the well, BP estimated the worst-case flow at . Immediately after the explosion the USCG did not estimate any oil leaking from the sunken rig or from the well. On 24 April, USCG Rear Admiral Mary Landry announced that a damaged wellhead was indeed leaking. She stated that "the leak was a new discovery but could have begun when the offshore platform sank . . . two days after the initial explosion." Initial estimates by USCG and BP officials, based on remotely operated vehicles as well as