Essay On Oil Spills

The oil spill was the worst environmental disaster the US had ever had because it wasn’t like a hurricane or earthquake that happens in a minute or a day this could take months or years to clean up (Friedman 13). There has been millions

The goal of our research is to seek possible solutions to reduce the risks of offshore oil spills. To attain this goal, we gathered information from over twenty sources, including “Deepwater Horizon oil” from Wikipedia research and an article from the LA Times.

One of the most recognized disasters regarding hazardous chemicals is the wreck of the infamous Exxon Valdez. After the oil tanker ran aground on Bligh reef in the spring of 1989, millions of liters of crude oil leaked into the Prince William Sound, off the coast of Northern Alaska causing millions of the native wildlife to die. Thankfully, it didn’t seep into the open ocean but the oil harmed not only the local Alaskan wildlife it also harmed the reputation and honesty of big oil corporations such as the Exxon shipping company, the livelihoods of thousands of the local fishermen and the water quality of the Prince William Sound. The Exxon Valdez

In fact, of the tens of millions of gallons of oil that enter North American oceans each year due to human activities, only 8 percent comes from tanker or oil pipeline spills, according to the 2003 book Oil in the Sea III (Transportation Research Board and National Research Council) by the U.S. National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, which is still considered the authority on oil-spill data (Geographic).” Oil ends up in oceans very frequently, and is extremely bad for both marine wildlife and the environment as a

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.

These particles can effect the lung and breathing system for many animals. Although these small particles from an in-situ burn will typically remain suspended and dilute high above the human breathing zone, monitoring plans have been established so responders can monitor particulate levels to ensure the protection of public health. The decision to use in-situ burning must consider the tradeoffs such as: impact of air quality, rapid oil removal, risk of secondary fires and safety and response of the workers. The in-situ has removed 90% of the contained oil during the experiments and accidental burns of petroleum on water, the small percentage of the original oil that they have has been left unburned. The material will float for a long period of time. The State Implementation Plans required by the Clean Air Act are the primary plans that regulate air quality. Agreements between state and federal regulatory authorities spoke about areas where the Federal On- Scene Coordinator and/or the State may make rapid decisions on in-situ burning. There are a decent amount of potential benefits. By reducing the surface oil on the shorelines, sensitive habitats, birds, mammals and other wildlife has been affected and they’re trying to avoid harming any of these areas. It gets rid of the air quality impacts of the hydrocarbons that would eventually dissolve. It also has a rapid consumes oil in the burn. Since so many of the sea life creatures were harmed during this oil

In 2010, an oil spill, now called the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill occurred at the Gulf of Mexico. An estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil was dumped into the ocean. The oil exposed to the marine life’s environment caused many of the marine life to become sick. Many of the birds would ingest oil while they tried to clean the oil off of their feathers and would cause them to have lung disorders. According to scientist, up to 800,000 thousand birds and 300,000 turtles died as a result. I am here to today to raise awareness on this issue and inspire others to help protect our oceans. I hope that one day, we can restore our oceans to the clean and pure ocean it once was.

An estimated amount of 206 gallons were let loose in the water.This oil spill has made the records of being one of the largest oil spills that has ever occurred. It happened when an oil well approximately a mile below the surface.blew out. In addition, this caused an explosion on the BP Horizon rig that killed 11 people. Experts made many attempts to stop the oil flow but it took time to reach success. However, every minute passing by is a very crucial one. Within as little as one day 2.5 million gallons were released into the water. The well was capped on July15, 2010. Meaning that the oil leaked for a grand total of 85 days. Resulting in 572 miles of the Gulf Shore being covered in oil. Not to mention the hundreds of animals found and taken into care due to the oil spill. Of course long term effects won’t be able to be further approached until time passes and experts are able to have obtained enough data throughout the years. However, experts have concluded that the damage from this oil spill will not be completely over with until years to come. Still today clumps of oil are being found coming from the shore. The oil is not the only thing to worry about however. Chemicals still remain in the environment and therefore can still affect the nature and can result in a chemical reaction which may be harmful. If parts of the oil are not able to reach oxygen it can just be a big toxic reservoir damaging the environment waiting to cause trouble.The only way to remove things like this is mechanically which only further destroys the habitat. Al in all it is a lose lose

To begin, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill was a man-made environmental disaster that occurred in 1989. On March 24, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck Bligh Reef and spilled 260,000 barrels of crude oil into the waters of Prince William Sound in Alaska (Piatt, Lensick, Butler, Kendziorek & Nysewander, 1990). Eventually, this oil spread across 30,000 km² of water, damaging ecosystems and marine life along the way (Piatt, 1990). Evidently, this oil spill is considered to be one of the most destructive man-made environmental disasters in history (Dimdam, 2013).

The only argument one can come up with is that an oil spill is a sad side effect of a very necessary oil industry. The oil industry plays a role in almost all machine based industries. It has arguably become the most sought after source of energy. Without the oil industry, much of the world would come to a halt. The energy based market would plummet. So, if minor oil spills and occasional large spills are required to keep the market intact and the energy output in the world consistent, technological enthusiasts will allow it. Even though we can always bring up the importance of the oil industry, on the contrary, an understanding and reasonable person would argue that since our world is being harmed by the oil, its acquiring process, and how the supply is slowly depleting, these oil conglomerates should stop trying to pretend that everything is and stop milking the oil industry till it fails and as the world have nothing to fall back

Every day individuals take the true beauty of our nation by visiting recreational areas along with beaches. Oil spills create nothing, but negative effects on the areas that it happens in. Many plants and animals are affected by this negative disaster which sickness the animals or some even die from it. Maybe if more time and money was spent working on having more efficient renewable energy sources than digging up a source of fuel that will eventually run out we would not have as much of a problem.

BP positively anticipated that with their new, tested equipment, there would less likely be a huge environmental effect. In the actual plan of the oil drilling, BP states that in case a spill would occur, “Currents and microbial degradation would remove the oil from the water column or dilute the constituents to background levels” (Naomi Klein 4). Therefore, BP falsely predicted that the ocean would just clean up the mess itself. The warrant that the BP Corporation had failed to plan any immediate actions in case of a phenomenon, like the Gulf Coast oil spill, is indeed true. When the Deepwater oil rig ruptured, BP was nowhere in sight. Even one of BP’s spokesman stated: “I don't think anybody foresaw the circumstance that we're faced with now” (Naomi Klein 4). BP was wrong in believing that earth would easily comply with such technological advances. Similar to BP, most of the top oil companies refrained from proper preparations; spending thirty nine billion on new provisions for oil and gas, and only twenty million on research for safety and prevention. The lack of investments on important procedures and precautions clearly has affected the amount of damage caused to our

For instance, Rufe, who is a scientist, states that we have not developed an approach that can clean more than 3 to 5 percent of the spilled oil” (Mufson, 2012). Furthermore, In the Gulf of Mexico, although 205.8 million gallons of oil have been spilled, just 51.8 million gallons have been collected, which equals approximately 25 percent. Moreover, in order to clean the Gulf from the oil spills almost 2 million gallons of toxic dispersants were used. Unfortunately, the toxic dispersants did not truly purify the spilled oil, but fractured them into tinier particles. As a consequence, that may make the oil more harmful for some ocean animals and plants ( A Center for Biological Diversity Report, 2008). However, with the increasing of offshore oil drilling accidents, and with no solution to solve the problem efficiently. The hazardous impact is not going to affect only on animals and plants. It might affect people who depend on the polluted area for food, ecological enrichment, and entertainment ( A Center for Biological Diversity Report,

Deepwater Horizon oil Spill: BP’s drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico had an explosion in April 2010, causing the “largest oil spill catastrophe in the petroleum industry history”. It caused the death of 11 men and injury to several others. “More than 150,000 barrels of crude oil gushed into the sea, every day, for almost 5 months and up to 68,000 square miles of the Gulf 's surface were covered” (1).

Oil spills can impact the environment greatly. Since the oil boats are on the ocean if the break and start to leak it goes into the ocean where it can harm the ocean and those that make their home in it. “That spill caused an immediate and significant impact to the ecosystem, with sightings of birds and turtles washed up on beaches covered with oil, as well as an increase in the deaths of other marine life” (Sinclair, 2017). The oil spill in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico was the biggest since Deepwater Horizon. It caused harm to the ecosystem around it because technology came in so it could pump oil out of the ground under the ocean. There is no way to know the impact that oil spill and really every oil spill has had on the marine ecosystem.