...Oil Spill The disaster that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010 was a huge deal to our nation. I'm sure that everyone old enough to understand heard about the oil spill. The spill was very bad, but I believe we got lucky because it could have been even worse than it ended up to be. The oil flowed into the open ocean for over three months, but it was originally thought that it was going to take even longer to stop. A oil spill of that magnitude could severely damage any environment that it was spilt into. The corporation BP took much heat from the government, along with everyone around the country for causing the leak, and not fixing it quick enough. The fact is, once the leak started as it did, it was a very hard problem for them to stop. My paper will cover three elements of this horrible disaster: First, the ecological impact on life in the gulf after the spill, Second, the current economic life of the local communities, and lastly, what is being done to mitigate future consequences. First, obviously the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico left an ecological impact on life in the gulf, and surrounding areas. On July 15, the leak was stopped by capping the gushing wellhead, after it had released about 4.9 million barrels,^ or 205.8 million gallons of crude oil. That is a whole lot of oil being released, so the impact that it had on the environment was a big one. Actually, it was the largest accidental marine oil spill in history. Obviously the marine...
Words: 1250 - Pages: 5
...Oil Spills in Water SCI/256 Louise Morell Oil is one natural resource that has been maintained for the most part around the world. It has had its positive and negative effects on the human population as well as in agriculture. Several practices have been put into place in order to manage the sustainability of oil. Countries around the world cross-train and share ways on how to be more conservative with this energy resource. With all of these practices in place, there is irreparable damage in the freshwater aquatic and marine ecosystems when oil is deposited into the environment. Oil spills are something that can affect large bodies of water as well as small. It has been made known the affects it has had on oil drilling in our oceans but, oil spills can happen accidently or due to poor drilling practices in local areas as well. In the freshwater and aquatic arena, oil can be found. Rarely does it exist in its fundamental state as in most areas it must be processed. Although it is a natural resource, it is considered a localized resource due to it being found only in certain areas. It is also an exhaustible resource, which means that it is something that can run out, unlike air. When there is an oil spill in the freshwater or marine ecosystem, there is no mixture of these two liquids as the two are immiscible. Unfortunately the freshwater, which serves as a nesting ground and food source for many different species, it creates a threat to the inhabitants who rely...
Words: 1460 - Pages: 6
...A Bad Idea Crude oil is one of the three kinds of fossil fuel (coal, crude oil, and natural gas) that are widely used by humanity. It plays a very important role in our world, as it is one of our primary energy sources. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the United States is the biggest oil consumption country in the world, which consumes 19.5 million barrels of oil per day (EIA, “Country Energy Profiles: Oil Consumption”). Crude oil can not only be found on the continent, but also in the ocean. The activity that people discover and extract oil from the ocean is called offshore drilling. Offshore drilling has a long history in the United States. The first offshore well was drilled in 1896, in California (“History of Offshore Oil” 163). Oil soon became the primary energy source of the United States by 1910, as the internal combustion engine, which requires gasoline to power, was invented (“History of Offshore Oil” 163). In the next few decades, offshore drilling industry in the U.S. was going up quickly (“History of Offshore Oil” 163-64). Along with the development of the industry, the government regulation came up. To pursue offshore drilling in the U.S. OCS (Outer Continental Shelf) lands, oil companies need to acquire the lease from the U.S. federal government (“History of Offshore Oil” 164). The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) passed in 1953 ensured federal government’s control of the OCS (“History of Offshore Oil” 164). However, the...
Words: 2690 - Pages: 11
...The Gulf oil spill is recognized as the worst disaster in U.S. history.(Worse than not graduating high school) Within days of the April 20, 2010 explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 people, underwater cameras revealed the BP pipe was leaking oil and gas on the ocean floor about 42 miles off the coast of Louisiana. By the time the well was capped on July 15, 2010 (87 days later), an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil had leaked into the Gulf. The well was located over 5,000 feet beneath the water’s surface in the vast frontier of the deep sea—a permanently dark environment, marked by constantly cold temperatures just above freezing and extremely high pressures. Scientists divide the ocean into at least three zones, and the deep ocean accounts for about three-quarters of Earth’s total ocean volume. Immediately after the explosion, workers from BP and Transocean (owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig), and many government agencies tried to control the spread of the oil to beaches and other coastal ecosystems using floating booms to contain surface oil and chemical oil dispersants to break it down underwater. Additionally, numerous scientists and researchers descended upon the Gulf region to gather data. Researchers are still trying to understand the spill and its impact on marine life, the Gulf coast, and human communities. Over the course of 87 days, the damaged Macondo wellhead, located around 5,000 feet beneath the ocean's...
Words: 2714 - Pages: 11
...but why isn’t it that easy when cleaning oil spills? Why does oil take almost days or even months to finally go away? Oils from organic to mineral all contain hydrocarbons, a compound of hydrogen and carbon that are the chief components of any petroleum and natural gases. Hydrocarbons spread which makes oil spread on any surface, thinner oils spreading faster because of their less viscosity. The specific hydrocarbons in oil are the reason it is so sticky and greasy. An oil spill is the discharge of liquid petroleum hydrocarbons into an environment. High populated areas and its high amount of human activity, is one of the main locations for this type of world pollution. Oil spills can have...
Words: 742 - Pages: 3
...The Gulf of Mexico oil spill The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is the biggest environmental disaster in the United States. The British Petroleum oil spill is caused by a broken drill ring pipe line and it led to a huge oil spill in the ocean of the Gulf of Mexico. There were about 4.9 million barrels of oil floating in the Gulf of Mexico which caused extensive damage to the marines. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has threated many of people live and it also has a big effect on wildlife, tourism and the economy. The Gulf of Mexico spill has affected the wildlife in the ocean. The thickness of the oil had killed many of the wildlife such as fishes, dolphins, sharks, eels and turtles; it also killed birds, ducks and mammals. It is really stressful situation knowing that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill had killed all these wildlife that cannot be replaced. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has affected tourism in many ways. The state had lost millions of dollars from tourism due to the oil spill. The oil spill had polluted many of the coast beaches which caused tourist to cancel their vacation. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has a big impact on tourism industry in the west coast. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has huge effect of the economy. The Gulf of Mexico has affected many of the business, seafood industry supplies, employees and top provider of shrimp, oysters, crab and crawfish But the ban affects hundreds of thousands of commercial and recreational fishermen...
Words: 350 - Pages: 2
...The Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on 20 April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-owned, Transocean-operated Macondo Prospect. An oil well about a mile below the surface blew out, causing an explosion killing eleven people. It is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry, an estimated 8% to 31% larger in volume than the previously largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill. Following the explosion and the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, a sea-floor oil gusher flowed for 87 days expelling an estimated 270 million gallons of oil, until it was capped on 15 July 2010.1 The Deepwater Horizon oil spill may be now considered one of the worst oil spills but it is not the only one that had a devastating...
Words: 866 - Pages: 4
...On July 27, 2010 oil began leaking from a well off the coast of New Mexico. This spill, classified as an accidental spill, will greatly affect worldwide business and business practices. Before the conclusion of the oil spill, 4.4 million barrels of oil will have leaked into the Gulf of Mexico. This catastrophic event will have a clear negative effect on international business that will in turn people living and working throughout the world. The primary business that was affected by the oil spill was the seafood market. Many worldwide seafood distributers and restaurants rely on this region for the products that make their business successful. According to Jaquetta White, the spill has decreased the number of crabs, lobsters, and other types of ocean fish produced around the world. The area that was affected by the spill was extremely rich in crabs which were exported to the many worldwide businesses that needed them. According to Scott O'Connell, the other type of crustacean that was affected was shrimp. The Gulf region has an abundant population of shrimp that are exported all around the world but especially to Mexico. In addition to negative seafood sales across the world, was the impact to fishermen and their crews when they could not continue to capture their product from the oily waters. The economic interdependence of these businesses was greatly compromised from the fishermen at the ocean level to the worldwide businesses that did not receive their product (nola.com)...
Words: 1466 - Pages: 6
...Institute Subject Date The BP Oil Spill Introduction Oil spill refers the condition in which fluids of petroleum flow into marine habitats (IMO 2005). Water pollution is one of the types of pollutions known to be very notorious in controlling. Although oil products are insoluble in water, the method of evacuating oil spills from the water surface, is never an easy task. When oil spills occur, the layer of petroleum formed on the surface of the water leads to blockage of the oxygen mixing with the water, to support marine life. Consequently, the marine life is affected, and if no control measures taken in time, it can lead to mass destruction to the marine life. In history, many oil spills have occurred with varied intensity. The accident of British Petroleum is one of the notable oil spills in the history. The BP oil spill that occurred back in April, 2010 in the Mexico’s Gulf is among the oil spills that caused a massive damage to the marine life. According to Ocean Portal Team (The Ocean Portal Team 1), the BP oil spill was ranked among the worst ever oil spills in the history. As a result of this accident, the British Petroleum management has been very vigilant in their businesses, and they have sought to assure everyone that they are committed to avoiding such occurrences in the future. BP being not an American firm, it has attempted to convince the Americans that indeed its management had felt the impact of the spill as any citizen of the nation would. In...
Words: 684 - Pages: 3
...concern about the ocean pollution? Because everything in the world we use comes from the ocean in some way. The ocean provides us with everything we need like; the air we breathe, water we drink, food we eat, new medicines, climate, and products we use daily. Our ocean absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and maintain our climate change impacts. The ocean holds about 97 percent of the worlds water supply. Is it the largest ecosystem on earth and it provides most of the animal protein we eat. Researchers says that there’s is about 50-80 percent of life underwater, and only 5 percent of it has been explored. Leaving thousands of millions undiscovered species. Here are some various types of ocean pollution and does it affect our ecosystem. Oil Pollution An oil spill happens when a crude oil and a refined oil spill on lands and into the water. For example, trucks can be a major cause of oil spill, because they transport oil from one place to...
Words: 986 - Pages: 4
...Ocean pollution is a substantial issue all over the world, people do not realize their impact on the environment is immense and are slowly killing marine life. Many things contribute to the death of marine life including oil, sewage, soil runoff, littering, and toxic chemicals. These affect many different types of marine life like marine animals, marine plants, and coral reefs, it also affects the amount of clean ocean water on earth. These are all important things in the earth's ecosystem and damaging the natural process of the earth could result in abhorrent things for the earth in the future. The first pollutant is oil, which happens when there is an oil spill somewhere in the ocean usually from an oil rig. Oil is a major pollutant...
Words: 256 - Pages: 2
...February 2012 BP Oil Spill Oil rigs provide the world with the fuel that is needed to keep it running. However, it is common knowledge that they may potentially cause harm to not only living creatures but also the environment they rely on to survive. This was proven in the spring of 2010 when an oil rig off the Gulf of Mexico exploded and resulted in an oil spill. This catastrophic event opened millions of eyes to the errors that can be found in the way oil rigs are set up. It also caused people to take a closer look at whose responsibility it is to make sure all the safety codes and procedures are being followed before a drilling plan in approved. The BP disaster not only drew people’s attention to the process of oil drilling, it also had a serious impact on the economy and an even more tragic impact on the environment and wildlife around it. It also provided a perfect example of the dangers oil drilling can pose if it is done in an area not prepared to handle the consequences. On April 20, 2010 an offshore oil rig owned by BP (British Petroleum) blew up, taking the lives of 11 people before beginning to dump dangerous amounts of crude oil into the ocean and coastlines of the Gulf of Mexico. The oil rig, known as Deepwater Horizon, is believed to have dumped more than 200 million gallons of the oil before it was capped off three months later. This number however, is only an estimate due to the refusal of BP to allow accurate measures of the spilt oil to be obtained by...
Words: 1896 - Pages: 8
...Microbes used in Oil Spill Cleanup Oil spills are very harmful to the environment and destroy coastal habitat and wildlife. Clean up and recovery from oil spills can be very difficult and costly. There are many factors to take into consideration when evaluating an oil spill such as what type of oil was spilled, water temperature, weather conditions, and the impact on the surrounding coastlines. A typical oil spill clean up approach is the controlled burn called IN-SITU Burning. This is where a high volume of oil is gathered together, using the help of ships and fire resistant booms, and then is ignited in a controlled burn. IN-SITU burning is a very fragile process because there are many factors to take into consideration and each burn has to be closely monitored by professionals. Another approach to cleaning up an oil spill is mechanical recovery. This method consists of using boats, booms, skimmers, vacuums, and separators to gather spilled oil on the surface and separate it from the water. Mechanical recovery requires cooperative weather, calm seas, and lots of man power to operate the work boats and equipment used to perform these processes. Mechanical recovery is usually the first and most common line of defense when it comes to oil spills. Dispersants are also commonly used to cope with disastrous oil spills. A dispersant is an agent used to spray on oil slicks to break them up into water soluble molecules and transfer them into the...
Words: 1650 - Pages: 7
...papers that illustrated how crude oil has affected the exposed area where Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill was located. Impact of The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Bioavailable Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons gave information on The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Which is the largest marine oil spill in United States history. It estimated the amount of oil spilled into the ocean the Federal government accepted estimate of 4.1 million barrels of oil and 7 million was supported by independent researchers. Furthermore, an estimated 2.1 million gallons of dispersants were applied at the ocean surface and the wellhead. This study demonstrated that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill impacted coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico and contributed to temporary increases in the bioavailable concentration of PAHs. Additionally, the data provide measures of potential exposures to PAHs in ecologically sensitive coastal areas, accessed by large human populations, which can be incorporated into ongoing studies in a variety of fields. Oil Impacts on Coastal Wetlands: Implications for the Mississippi River Delta Ecosystem after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill summarized the general knowledge of oil spill impacts on coastal marshes. Relative to the chemistry of oil and its related toxicity; the capacity of microbial processes to degrade oil and reduce toxicity; the responses of wetland vegetation, benthic biota, and marsh-dependent fishery resources to oil; and impacts on ecosystem services on which humans...
Words: 1533 - Pages: 7
...environmental impacts of offshore oil drilling greatly outweigh the economic benefits provided. Although it has been a continuous activity for more than a decade, One can not help but wonder why offshore drilling continues when considering the pollution caused, how it eliminates the supply of natural resources, murders innocent sea creatures, and actually damages the national economy. There are, however, solutions to this problem. Before solutions can be presented, it is important to discuss the various problems. First, offshore oil drilling results in both sea and land based pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, claims that "with offshore drilling comes substantial routine pollution in the forms of oil and gas." By routine, the EPA means "a near constant flow from oil rigs and derricks" (Sisskin). Nothing is ever done about the pollution, and until something is done about the oil being put into the sea, our oceans are at risk. So just how much oil is put in the oceans? According to a study conducted by the World Research Institute, "...between 3 and 6 million tons of oil are discharged into the oceans every year" (Gorman 48). To put this in perspective, that is approximately 4 football stadiums filled to the top with oil. That is just every year...and this has been going on for more than a decade. In total, 45 million tons of oil in the past ten years that have been put into the oceans. There are several ways that oil ends up in the oceans. One method is...
Words: 1401 - Pages: 6
