Bp Oil Spill Research Paper

With all of the disasters mankind has caused to this earth, one might wonder if things like earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, etc. are nothing more than a response to our actions. The BP oil spill, which took place in the Gulf of Mexico, is easily recognizable as the worst oil spill disaster in American history. More than 200 million gallons of crude oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days total. The entire 16,000 miles of the Gulf coastline were affected. This included Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. The oil may have stopped gushing in 2010, but it has yet to stop washing up on the shore.

Imagine 2,500 to 68,000 square miles covered in 4.9 million barrels of oil. No, imagine being covered in 4.9 million barrels of oil. Picture yourself gasping for air in an ocean filled with oil. That is exactly what birds, sea turtles, dolphins, and other animals had to do after the most catastrophic oil spill of all time occurred on April 20, 2010.

On April 20, 2010, one of BP’s drilling wells below the Gulf of Mexico exploded and caused a disastrous oil spill. Thousands of barrels of crude oil flowed into the gulf every day, causing widespread pollution in the Gulf of Mexico (Law Brain, n.d). The habitats of many bird species are threatened by this oil spill.

Yes, losing human life was bad enough already, but we also lost a lot of oil and most importantly the spill effected the marine life. The fish, turtles and birds that were in the area, were all drenched in the oil, majority of it didn’t survive. The fish that have survived, where infected/affected by the chemicals. As we all know oil does not stay in one area, it spreads like butter on the hot skillet, effecting even larger marine life area than expected. Obviously BP and people responsible for the spill have faced numerous fine and conducted numerous operations to clean up the mess, but it is almost impossible. As time progressed, some oil eventually sunk to the bottom, which effected coral and food that fish eat. According to CNN, “Scientists continue to study environmental impacts, but five years after the spill, the long-term negative effects remain unclear and are, in many cases, highly disputed.”(Griffin et al., 2015, para.

On April 20th 2010 an explosion on an oil ridge of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, was the cause of the greatest environmental disaster in history of the United States. This explosion took the lives of eleven men who were working on the ridge, and also ruptured an oil line, which dumped more than 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This oil spill significantly affected the wildlife of the gulf coast, killing hundreds of fishes, birds, and reptile that call the gulf coast home. The spill also affected global supply chain for major industries.

King, Rawle O. 2013. Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Disaster. 1st ed. [Place of publication not identified]: Bibliogov.

Whenever a man made creation harms the surrounding area, it is usually due to faulty human design or human error, as it was present in the BP oil spill. Similar cases were the Fukushima/Chernobyl Nuclear reactors. Both reactors similarly were a cause of human negligence. They underplayed the possibility of a large disaster occurring. All three disasters affected mostly people who were not directly involved with the blast. People had to be compensated for the drastic change in their lives, however, similarly in all cases, that was not enough. People still struggled to return back to everyday life as the conditions were no longer the same and various negative factors kept playing a constant role in helping them move backward. Fortunately, though, all three disasters were cleaned up to a point where people could start living their post-disaster life, maybe not to the full extent, but still moving the right direction. All these situations only took place because

On August 21, 2009 Australia was involved with one of the environment’s deadliest oil spills. The

The e Deepwater Horizon oil spill at the Macondo well began on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on 20 April 2010 killed 11 people and caused almost 5 million barrels of oil to flow into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill covered 68,000 square miles of land and sea and triggered a response effort involving the use of nearly 2 million gallons of dispersant chemicals (Pallardy). Considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in history, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS) resulted in widespread environmental and economic damage, the exact nature of which is only beginning to be understood (Shultz 59). This paper will address the causes of this unmitigated ecological disaster and discuss steps that need to be taken to prevent a similar disaster from occurring again.

The BP Oil Spill An Introductory Background - One of the most controversial ecological disasters in recent history focused on multinational British Petroleum and their Gulf of Mexico Operations. The Deepwater Oil Disaster began on April 20, 2010 with an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon Oil platform, killing 11, injuring 17. It was not until July 15th, however, that the leak was stopped by capping the wellhead, after releasing almost 5 million barrels (206 million gallons) of crude oil, or 53,000 barrels per day into the Gulf of Mexico. It was not until September 19th that the relief well process was complete and the U.S. Government, EPA, and Coast Guard agencies declared the well breach effectively stopped (Cavnar, 2010).

I agree with your point, the chance of oil spilling is zero due to technology.But on the other hand just in case it occurs Still, the risks are plentiful, let say that the pipeline will be transporting up to 500,000 barrels of crude oil a day under fertile farmland, forests and rivers that could be severely harmed if a spill occurs. Just in Iowa, the proposed route passes through various waterways, including the Mississippi River. As a result, of this, the endangered and threatened fish species will be harmed. Moreover, the Mississippi River provides water to thousands of Iowans, and an oil leak could close water plants. One thing we are not capable of is treating for oil. Typically an oil like this would float and there is no treatment

The Frontline report, “The Spill”, which focused on British Petroleum 's problematic management culture and its catastrophic effects, aired on October 26, 2010. Around then, the oil giant BP had suffered a crisis with its latest off-shore oil rig, the Deepwater Horizon. However, this was just the latest in accidents concerning its oil operations. In the years before the Deepwater Horizon accident, BP had also suffered major accidents in its oil production fields in Texas and Alaska. Its CEO, Lord John Browne, had greatly expanded the company by buying off other oil companies and cutting costs. Unfortunately, Frontline’s report suggests the company 's sole focus on expansion and cost reduction was what caused the

Compared to other countries, the United States has a history of showing little regard to the state of the environment. A blind eye is turned to big businesses that tend to take advantage of citizens and their homes; for example the methods used to conceal important facts pertaining to the cause and clean-up of the BP oil spill. Gas guzzling cars are driven. Trash is thrown into bins clearly marked recycle. Strip malls are opened and closed within a mile of each other. In the midst of all this construction, thousands of acres of trees are cut down, mulled over and cemented. This is done regardless of the fact that there are several closed down strip malls within the area. It’s understandable that demolishing, rebuilding or renovating can be

about the dangers of oil and how to clean it up in case it were to get released into the wild. Mitigation is the actions to reduce or eliminate the risks to people and property from such hazards and their effects (Haddow et al, 2014). This definition of mitigation seems to say that, when dealing with risks, they want to greatly reduce any dangers that might come with each risk, and want to save as many lives or property from severe damage or in some cases death. In the case of the BP oil spill, one mitigation would be so that no oil would get out and affect the ocean or marine life. Most oil rigs come with safety standards or protocols in order to mitigate any dangers it might have, to keep the marine life safe, and the safety of the workers on the oil rig. Here the lessons learned could apply to the BP oil spill to make sure it didn’t happen in the first place. In fact, the disaster could have been prevented through proper training, education, and exercises (Haddow et al, 2014). Here we can see that the BP oil spill could have been prevented if the right precautions were put in place and had the people running the oil rig had proper training on how to handle an emergency if it were to occur on their watch.

Peter has been working with the Bigness Oil Company’s local affiliate for several years, and he has established a strong, trusting relationship with Jesse, manager of the local facility. The facility, on Peter’s recommendations, has followed all of the environmental regulations to the letter, and it has a solid reputation with the state regulatory agency. The local facility receives various petrochemical products via pipelines and