Pollution: A Looming Threat Ignored by Oil Companies

Over the last few years, the world has seen a growing movement that aims to save the Earth from one problem that threatens to kill all life on it: pollution. Pollution is a problem that continues to plague humanity today in the forms of plastics, greenhouse gases, and many more, which threatens today’s living beings. Even though the problem has been linked as the cause of drastic climate changes and several mass extinctions, several groups, most notably oil companies, still do not acknowledge it or attempt to prevent further pollution and avoid more destruction.

Recently, several oil companies, such as Royal Dutch Shell and BP, ignored the pleas of climate change campaigners and continued to drill for oil while facing the risk of polluting

the area they are drilling in. Despite the dangers that the oil can present to the environment, the oil companies are willing to take that risk just to make profit. However, one accident can be enough to produce devastating, irreversible effects that can greatly alter the environment and potentially kill off many species inhabiting the area. Yet, oil companies just seem to not care, which is demonstrated by their constant desire for oil without considering or trying to avoid the potential ramifications of their actions.
Royal Dutch Shell has already started to drill in the world’s deepest underwater oil and gas field, which is 1.8 miles below the sea in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Guardian. Previously, Shell had attempted to drill in the Arctic back in 2012, but there were some accidents with the ships and equipment, such as the breaking away of one of its drills. Due to this, the United States government suspended Shell’s plan to drill for oil in the Arctic before Shell was able to reach the deeper oil-bearing formations. However, Shell moved on from this failure and submitted a plan to the federal government on August 28, 2014, in hopes of drilling in the Chukchi Sea in 2015. Yet, this failed once again as Shell cancelled the plan and even halted another project that was going to take place in Alberta, Canada, according to the Guardian.
In addition, BP has been setting up their oil rigs to drill in the Great Australian Bight.

However, there has been some news that the oil company may use faulty equipment to drill for oil rather than taking the precautions to ensure that every piece of equipment is not defective. Without this assurance, the public, especially the conservationists, are calling to delay the drilling until all of the problems have been addressed and fixed. And what is causing this protest? Bolt failures. According to a letter from Director Brian Salerno of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to President and CEO Jack Gerard of the American Petroleum Institute, bolt failures have been occurring around the world since 2003, and it continues to be a problem that has not been fixed, which decreases the safety of oil

drilling.
Not only that, in the United States, a private oil company planned to build the North Dakota pipeline despite the protests among many Native American tribes, but it was recently suspended by the federal government, according to the New York Times.

With all of these negative responses to the oil drilling, it raises questions on why oil companies are willing to take those risks in order to make a profit. One of the main arguments from their side is the potential benefits for the economy. With a new pipeline or another source to drill for oil, a nation’s economy would benefit from the increased number of jobs and lower prices of oil.

But, this doesn’t mean that the benefits outweigh the detriments. Oil companies are still willing to face those risks in order to maximize their profits. Because of their main goal and desire, they will do anything to make as much profit as possible, which may lead to an accident that will cause permanent change to the environment that we have already damaged from other forms of pollution. In a world where humans have essentially defined the new epoch, Anthropocene, through human activity that has changed the Earth’s environment, ecology, and climate, we have already caused several mass extinctions and caused the increase of worldwide temperatures, leading to severe weather phenomena. In the only world habitable for humans, humanity avoid polluting the world to the point where even humans cannot live and the negative effects can be

minimized.