Impact of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on the Environment

1533 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Ocean pollution

The Deepwater Horizon spill occurred on 20 April 2010 and was caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 workers and injured 17 more. The drilling rig, located 66 kilometers southeast of the Louisiana coast, left an oil gusher that was finally capped on July 15, almost 2 months later. This was the largest accidental marine oil spill in history and the largest offshore environmental disaster in the United States (Telegraph, New York Times, BBC News). It is estimated by scientists that over 4.9 million barrels of oil were released into the ocean, about half of the crude oil the U.S. imports each day and worth $400 million (Popular Mechanics, CBC News). About 1070 kilometers of coastline were contaminated. Over 47 thousand personnel were deployed, 1.4 million barrels of liquid waste collected, and $40 billion spent on cleanup. Aerial photo taken in Gulf of Mexico more than 50 miles southeast of Louisiana showing the Deepwater Horizon oil rig burning after a deadly blowout of an oil well. Credit: Gerald Herbert The Gulf of Mexico contains commercially important aquatic life, including blue crabs, squid, shrimp, and fish. Toxins in the oil can kill these species or cause injuries such as genetic damage, disease, cancer, and reproductive and immune system impairment. Marine mammals, fish, reptiles, and birds depend on clean, healthy habitats to provide food, shelter, and breeding grounds. The presence of discharged oil in the environment can cause decreased habitat use in the area, altered migration patterns, altered food availability, and disrupted life cycles. Plants affected by the oil could die, eliminating the roots that help bind and stabilize the soil in the ocean floor, leading to erosi... ... middle of paper ... .... Web. 6 November 2011. Gunter, Ford. “Explosion could have Disastrous Business Consequences.” Portfolio. Wall Street Horizon, 28 April 2010. Web. 6 November 2011. “Bird Impact Data and Consolidated Wildlife Reports.” FWS Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Response. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, n.d. Web. 6 November 2011. “Sea Turtles, Dolphins, and Whales and the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill.” Office of Protected Resources. NOAA Fisheries, n.d. Web. 6 November 2011. “Gulf Coast Oil Spill: One Year Later.” Gulf Oil Spill Response. National Parks Conservation Association, n.d. Web. 6 November 2011. “British Companies’ Reputation in the U.S. is Under Threat.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 14 July 2010. Web. 6 November 2011. “David Cameron confronts Barack Obama in Battle to Protect BP.” The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 16 June 2010. Web. 6 November 2011.

Show More
Related

  • BP Oil Spill

    966 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ethical issues in this case are the impact on tourism industry of Gulf of Mexico and its beaches, unemployment around area because of closure of business, wildlife and the environment destruction and concerned with human health and post incident trauma. It has been almost year but world is still recovering from the devastation of disastrous oil spill. It destroyed the environment and wildlife all over the place and its total impact is still unknown. Environmental impacts may be noticeable for years to come.

    Read More

  • The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill: News Media Fantasy versus Reality

    3471 Words  | 7 Pages

    Leo, Roger. “Still Paying Price for Exxon Spill; Some Species Continue to Suffer.”Worcester Telegram & Gazette [Worester, MA.] 30 April 2000: D9

    Read More

  • BP Oil Spill VS. Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

    863 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most people believe that one man-made natural disaster would teach us to be better, but we have learned that history repeats itself. The Exxon Valdez oil spill (in 1989) and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, or BP oil spill, (in 2010) were both devastating oil spills that shocked the nation. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred due to a tanker grounding. The BP oil spill was caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. These two oil spills were both disasters and had greater effects in certain categories. In this essay, I will be comparing the cause of both oil spills, the damage/effect of both oil spills, and the cleanup of each oil spill.

    Read More

  • Exxon Valdez

    429 Words  | 1 Pages

    This oil as it moved through the water killed 300,000 sea birds, 2,600 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, and perhaps millions and millions of fish. Of the 23 studied species hurt by the spill only 2 are said to be completely recovered. The 2 are the Bald Eagle and the River Otter. Some show no recovery at all. Of these that haven’t recovered at all are the Harbor Seal, Harlequin Ducks, Pacific Herring, Cormorants, and even certain whales. If people were familiar with some of the clean up that went on, they would probably remember that cleaning of all those ducks. Well I hate to tell you but it was useless. Some of them died 5 days after they were released.

    Read More

  • Gulf Of Mexico Hypoxia Essay

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    Overall, the Gulf of Mexico dead zone is an area that should be taken very seriously. This is a part of the ocean that is drastically and undeniably affected directly by human activities. The economies surrounding the Gulf are very dependent on the resources they receive from it and would be devastated if economically-important species began dying off due to lack of oxygen. Although the dead zone varies in size from year to year, the area has increase exponentially ever since the birth of intensive farming practices involving nutrient-rich fertilizers. Thankfully, many efforts have been put forth to monitor and manage the dead zone. Revised farming practices along with greater environmental education for the general population with hopefully lead to a reduced risk of hypoxic conditions causing excess economic or ecological damage.

    Read More

  • The Globalization of ExxonMobil from 1980 to Present

    2517 Words  | 6 Pages

    12) Brad A. Andres (1997) The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Disrupted the Breeding of Black Oystercatchers. The Journal of Wildlife Management. Vol. 61, no. 4 pp. 1322-1328

    Read More

  • The Effects of Ocean Pollution on the Environment

    1635 Words  | 4 Pages

    “ Effects of Oil Spills on Marine and Coastal Wildlife” Holly K. Ober. WEB. 19 May 2014

    Read More

  • Oil Spill Response

    5767 Words  | 12 Pages

    Swift, W.H, . C.J. Touhill, W.L. Templeton, and D.P. Roseman. 1969. Oil spillage prevention, control, and restoration—state of the art and research needs. Washington, D.C.: The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.

    Read More

  • Marine Pollution Essay

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many causes to petroleum in b the oceanic environment. Oil naturally seeps into the ocean but the natural concentrations have been greatly exceeded. Shipping oil from one place to another contributes the most to oil in the ocean. The crude oil from transportation b is discarded into the ocean while cleaning bilges, which are the lowest compartment in ships, and transferring oil from tank to tank at sea. “Disasters like shipwrecks, oil tanker accidents, and offshore oil rigs fires continue to this problem, as does the disposal of urban garbage into oceans, dumping of waste oil by passing ships, commercial coastal and off-shore entertainment, and deep-sea industrial and nuclear waste dumps”(“Marine Water Quality”). Another large polluter is the oil industry. Tanker ports and refineries are located by the coast for shipping purposes. The coastal areas receive considerable damage from the spills. “Large numbers of seabirds are killed annually, their oil-matted plumage making flight impossible and exposing them to hypothermia. Oil-soaked fur of marine mammals loses its water repellency, also leading to death by hypothermia. Ingestion of oil by fishes, birds, and mammals may also result in death”(“Marine Pollution”). Another source of petroleum pollution is from the city streets. Oil runoff from urban streets and sewers enter waterways and the ocean. Oil has a very long term ecological impact on the ocean and the marine ecosystems. “The presence of oil in marine waters severely degrades water quality by clogging an animal’s feeding - structure, killing larvae, and blocking available sunlight for photosynthesis”(“Marine Water Quality”). Petroleum pollution has been a large problem for a very long period of time. “As early as 197p, oceanographic ecologists noted that they could rarely pull a net through the surface of the ocean without collecting some form of tar or

    Read More

  • The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the three months that it took to finally put a stop to the leak, 4.9 million barrels of oil were released into the ocean. The spill caused considerable damage to marine and wildlife habitats and the Gulf’s fishing and tourism industries. The White House energy advisor, Carol Browner, goes as far as to say that the Deepwater oil spill is the “worst environmental disaster the US has faced”. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has had an extremely negative effect on the surrounding wildlife and ecosystem. Oil spreads across the gulf, contaminating any living organism that comes into direct or indirect contact with it.

    Read More

  • John Grisham Pelican Brief

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Since oil was found, tens of thousands of acres of wetlands have been devoured by the ocean. Sixty percent of Louisiana vanishes every year due to oil companies” (Grisham 257). “In 1970, the Fish And Wildlife Service listed the brown pelican as an endangered species throughout its range”

    Read More

  • Bp Deepwater Horizon Environmental Issues

    608 Words  | 2 Pages

    The United States uses more than 21 million barrels of oil each day, the uses are gasoline, heating oil, jet fuel, and diesel fuel. On April 20, 2010 an explosion damaged the oil rig of the coast of Louisiana and over the next three months, a total of 5 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill caused environmental damage and thousands of animals and their habitats died as a result. BP did take responsibility and paid for the clean up and compensated the victims. After the spill, the U.S. Department of Interior issued and then later overturned a moratorium on off-shore drilling, but critics argued that it would cause thousands of workers to be laid off, but they were still suffering from the recession and the loss of jobs caused by the oil

    Read More

  • An Assessment of BP's Risk Management Issues and Poor Response to the Oil Spill

    3188 Words  | 7 Pages

    On the summer of 2010, the petroleum industry was shaken by one of the largest disasters in history known as the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. This resulted in the killing of eleven people, injuring of seventeen and an immeasurable damage to the ocean and the surrounding communities. BP had to immediately respond to the crisis and handle their financial and reputational risks.

    Read More

  • Offshore Oil Drilling

    1478 Words  | 3 Pages

    Corn, M. Lynne and Copeland, Claudia“The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Coastal Wetland and Wildlife Impacts and Response.”Congressional Research Service

    Read More

  • Ocean Pollution Summary

    886 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this world we have a phenomenon afflicting Earth’s oceans and they are called “dead zones”. These are formed through natural causes, climate change, along with human activities and industrial waste, this has intensified the situation. The most local and world’s second-largest, along with the most studied human-caused costal dead zone is the Gulf of Mexico. This dead zone has grown vastly over between 2008 and 2011 by growing as large as 17,348 sq km opposed to when it was first 9,774 sq km. This progression has created issues exposed by Dr Nancy Rabalais, a marine scientist and executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Conortium, she quotes “There’s been a collapse in certain fisheries in areas of Lousiana, and trawlers are having to go further offshore” because of the expanded dead zone.

    Read More

More about Impact of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on the Environment

Open Document