INTRODUCTION I. BACKGROUND A. History of Oil Spills The oil spills accidents started to occur at the beginning of the twentieth century. As figure 1 shows, in the seventies, there were 788 oil spill disasters, which resulted in 3.5 million tonnes of oil to be spilled in the oceans. This quantity dropped to 1.3 million tonnes in 454 accidents in the eighties. In the nineties, it reduced to 0.3 million tonnes of oil was spilled in 179 accidents. In 2014, the total number of oil spills happened is five spills only, which is very low comparing to the years of the last century. Despite that, even this small number should have been avoided. Therefore, oil spills must be studied to prevent them from happening completely. (The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation [ITOPF], 2014) B. 2009 Australian Montara Oil Spill The Montara Development Project is constructed in Timor sea and it is 250 kilometer to the northern west of Western Australian coasts. In August 21, 2009, a sudden blowout and fire on the Montara wellhead base, which resulted in the Montara, oil spill. …show more content…
Since it has lower density than the water therefore it will float and it will be at the top of water surface. There are three kinds of skimmers, which are weir skimmers, oleophilic skimmers and suction skimmers. Firstly, a weir skimmer is a sheet that is located on the water surface and under the oil layer. It removes the oil by oil by moving this sheet horizontally to contain the oil inside it. Then, the oil the oil is pumped in to a proper container. Secondly. Oleophilic skimmers are belts, disks or mop chains that absorb water. After the oleophilic skimmer contains the oil, they could be separated by squeezing the skimmer in a disposal. Thirdly, suction skimmers that remove the oil by sucking it by a hose and a pump into a tank. This technique is very efficient but it needs trained operator. (Nomack,
The British Petroleum (BP) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was one of the worst ecological catastrophes in human history, causing vast damage to a fragile and beautiful ecosystem while at the same time calling attention to the deficits in current approaches to energy prospecting, risk management, and cleanup. This analysis of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill will devote attention to the following questions: (a) What kind of technology is in use for deep-sea oil extraction, what are the factors that accounted for the BP catastrophe, what were the statistical components of the spill in terms of volume and concentration, and what was the spatio-temporal scale of the oil spill? (b) What were the environmental (physical, biological, hydrological, and atmospheric) impacts of the oil spill, in addition to the economic and social impacts? (c) What were the scientific, technological, and policy solutions implemented by various actors to pursue the cleanup of coastal areas, wildlife, and wetlands damaged by the oil spill? (d) What is the feasibility of long-term biodiversity conservation measures and the limits of such solutions?
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.
The Ocean Ranger The Ocean Ranger was an offshore exploration oil drilling platform that sank in Canadian waters 315 kilometres southeast from St. John's Newfoundland, on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland on February 15, 1982, with 84 crewmembers onboard. The Ocean Ranger was the largest semi-submersible, offshore exploration, oil drilling platform of the day. Built in 1976 by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, it operated off the coasts of Alaska, New Jersey, Ireland, and in November 1980 moved to the Grand Banks. Since it was so big, it was considered to have the ability to drill in areas too dangerous for other rigs.
Many businesses that sell seafood had to cut back on it for the past few months. It has been since April that businesses are now selling shellfish back on the menu for a somewhat reasonable price. A major incident occurred just two days before Earth Day. The incident is well known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, or as many others call it, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig along the Gulf of Mexico is an oil-spill that resulted from an explosion that is under contract with BP, leading up to over million barrels of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. This incident has led to many controversies. Arguments in discussion are whether or not we should continue to drill offshore, what exactly went wrong, and why none of the safeties were unable to activate.
When people hear the phrase "oil spill: they think a bunch of black stuff all in the water. Well there is a lot more to it then just that. It is an economical disaster as well as an environmental one. As you read along you will see how devastating this one oil spill, the Exxon Valdez, really was compared to others. Whether you, as the reader believe it or just think it is something that is none of you concern and happened 10 years ago is completely up to you. I think that your mind will change after hearing all the facts.
On January 9th, 2014, it was reported that a chemical spill has occurred from a storage tank owned by Freedom Industries. The spill occurred on the banks of Elk River in West Virginia, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without tap water. The company first reported that 7500 gallons of the chemicals had spilled into the river through a one-inch whole but had found that two weeks later, there was an estimated 10000 gallons of the toxic chemical in the river. The chemicals released include 4-methylcyclohexane (MCHM) and PPH. Methylcyclohexane is a chemical that is used in coal to reduce the amount of ash it produces(Field & Catherine, 2014). The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection are still calculating the exact amount of how much of the chemicals were spilled.
Because it is the most highly publicized of the different forms of ocean pollution, oil spills, oil leakages, and general oil contamination are something that we all seem to be aware of. Since the Exxon Valdez incident, the American public in particular has been more and more critical of oil companies.Each year, over 700 million gallons of oil end up in the ocean. Contrary to what you may have thought, most oil pollution doesn't come from tanker accidents. In fact, tanker accidents account for less than 90 million of the g...
Nelson, A.N. 1971. Effects of oil on marine plants and animals. London: Institute of Petroleum.
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, located in the Gulf of Mexico exploded killing 11 workers and injuring 17. The oil rig sank a day-and-a-half later. The spill was referred to as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP oil spill, Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and BP oil disaster. It was first said that little oil had actually leaked into the ocean but a little over a month later the estimate was 12,000-19,000 barrels of crude oil being leaked per day. Many attempts were made to stop the leak but all failed until they capped the leak on July 15, 2010, and on September 19 the federal government declared the well “effectively dead.” In the three months that it took to finally put a stop 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 to say that the Deepwater oil spill is the “worst environmental disaster the US has faced.”
One of the most famous pollution threats of the bay was the Oil Spill of 2007. A tanker hit the wall of the bay, and a total of 58,000 gallons of oil was spilt into the water of the San Francisco Bay Area. The spread of the oil was so severe that the governed of the States came to see the progress that he inducted during the cleanup. Initial investigation of the extent to which the spill had affected the ecosystem of the San Francisco Bay area took twelve hours. There are the different conclusion that was arrived at after the
discarge of oil from ships, and the development of emergency response systems to oil pollution accidents have contributed to the decline of ship-based souces of oil pollution over the last two decades. The moratorium on dumping of radioactive waste at sea under the London Dumping Convention also represents another response to concerns about the risks posed by such diposal. Some regions have concluded agreement which ban dumping of any radioactive waste at sea. In the Mediterranean and Red Sea, all discharge of oily wasted from ships is also banned.
In the time between 1995-2005 there has been more than 21 oil spills from polar cruises alone. In October of 2014 over 950 gallons of oil was spilled into the Arctic ocean of a barge in the Beaufort Sea. When big corporations drill for oil in the Arctic oceans they are spilling a lot of the oil that they extract into the Arctic Ocean. Some companies try to clean up the spill and salvage the lost oil. But are unsuccessful to clean up all the oil that was spilled.
The worst imaginable environmental catastrophe that could occur in Maryland has just become a reality. The lifeblood of Southern Maryland's Watermen has been forever affected. The ecosystems of the Patuxtent River and Chesapeake Bay have been irreversibly contaminated. The Three Mile Island and Chernobyl Nuclear Accidents have affected the world ecosystems; but the Chalk Point oil spill has reached us here in Southern Maryland. The ethical considerations with generating electricity from fossil fuels, specifically oil, has a profound impact on us all. We all use electricity to make our lives easier and more productive. By using this electricity have we given our permission for the oil companies free reign in order to provide us with the service we demand?? Are we just as responsible for the oil spill as the corporate leaders who run the companies? As citizens we are in a position to develop and enforce regulations to protect ourselves. Do we also protect the environment; or is the environment just something for us to use? These and many other moral dilemmas exist for modern man.
Levy, Eric M. "Oil Pollution in the World's Oceans." Springer 13.4 (1984): 226-35. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
Petroleum engineering is the drilling of oil from the earth’s crust. The oil comes from carcasses of prehistoric dinosaurs, plants, and fungi. Since the oil is laborious to extract, there are petroleum engineers that specialize in creating more efficient ways to extract that oil. “Petroleum engineers design and develop methods for extracting oil and gas from deposits below the earth’s surface. They also find new ways to extract oil and gas from older wells.” Petroleum engineering is very dangerous to the environment because of what it can do to wildlife and its habitats and ecosystems . There are oil spills that occur in the ocean like the one that happened in the Gulf of Mexico, which estimated to be 17 to 39 million gallons of oil making