Gulf of Mexico

One million gallons a day is a lot of oil. According to estimates late last week, that could be the daily rate of oil escaping from the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico. To put that number in perspective, we decided to look at what it would take to compensate just for the lost gasoline. We asked, How many Toyota Prius hybrids would you need to sell to offset the loss? Turns out you'd have to sell almost 1 million Priuses globally to conserve enough gasoline to offset the amount wasted as the escaping oil pours into the oceans and fouls the beaches. Here's how the math works. An...