...Lingering Effects of the BP Oil Spill The rest of the world has long forgotten the disaster that tore through the states along the Gulf of Mexico. Its lingering effects can still be felt three years later. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, otherwise known as the BP oil spill, has left the states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana in recovery mode. The oil spill not only affected the ecology of these states, but also the economy. This tragic disaster claimed the lives of eleven men. It also disrupted the way of life for the numerous people employed by the seafood industry, and its consumers. The shrimping industry located in these states in the year 2006 accounted for “83% of the total US shrimp landings”, according to John Tunnell (2011). Based on the results of the survey I conducted in Biloxi, MS, along with research I have done, I have found that locally both consumers and businesses are more willing to support the local shrimp industry than they are to purchase imported shrimp. However, on a global scale consumers are still wary of eating shrimp caught anywhere on or near the Gulf Coast. The people residing on the Gulf Coast of the United States of America are a resilient group. They have endured three consecutive extraordinary catastrophes: Hurricane Katrina, the BP Oil Spill, and the Mississippi River Floods, and still somehow have continued to strive and continue their way of life. However, the shrimp industry took a huge hit after the BP Oil spill...
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...Environmental Regulations 1-0: Introduction Two vessels collided on august 1990 near Gibraltar in Spain resulting in a sea disaster and oil spill. Sea Spirit along with the Norwegian gas tanker collided head on causing a spill of about 8000Tons of oil. Oil contamination in the marine spread far, even reaching the Moroccan coast in form of cakes, tar balls, and oil packs. Similar to this disaster is the major oil spill that occurred on July in 1979 near Trinidad and Tobago caused by the Atlantic Empress. The spill allegedly resulted in the largest oil spill of 287,000Metric tons of oil ever to be recorded. The disaster was never totally remedied since during pull away from the scene, the tanker continued to spill an additional substantial amount of oil. Conversely, the Aegean Captain also leaked large amount of oil. Some moments later on, Atlantic Empress sank deeply with its cargo remaining solidified. However, the spill from the two ships never reached the shores of the ocean. 2-0: Similarities 2-1: Similarities in environmental effects In terms of ecological contamination, Both Sea Spirit and Atlantic Empress caused major impacts on sea animal and plant life. Sea birds became highly affected dipping the insulating capacity among such animals. Birds became highly vulnerable to temperature changes and less buoyant in water. The two oil spills contributed to huge impairments and disabilities related to flight in aquatic birds (Horn and Neal 2006, para 3). In fact, species found...
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...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)...
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...Sam Wagner Section: Friday PWS Geography and Baseline Group #1 PWS Geography and Baseline The Exxon Valdez oil spill and the effects on Prince Williams Sound and the surrounding areas is the main focus of this first topic. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred on Good Friday in 1989. The oil spill had a major toll on the environment when it occurred. Many birds, sea otters, and fish died, and many beaches and were covered with the oil. There were some people that compared the Valdez oil spill to Chernobyl, Bhopal, and Hiroshima. Many people doubted if Prince William Sound would ever be able to recover from the oil spill. However, seven weeks after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, many beaches were still covered, but there were no more dead birds or sea otters to be found. The original thoughts of comparing the oil spill to Chernobyl or Hiroshima were way off base and were based off of an overreaction of the media and the general public. Although much of the general public overreacted, most scientists were not as dramatic when developing their predictions of what effect the oil spill would have on the environment. Even though, most scientists knew that the effects of the oil spill would not be as catastrophic as the media was portraying it, scientists experienced difficulty in providing pure “black and white” answers to the general public. Another problem that scientists faced was that much of the investigation was “litigation-sensitive.” As a result, many of the scientists’...
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...A Review of Literature Related to Oil Spill Dispersants 1997-2008 for Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council (PWSRCAC) Anchorage, Alaska by Merv Fingas Spill Science Edmonton, Alberta PWSRCAC Contract Number - 955.08.03 Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this PWSRCAC-commissioned report are not necessarily those of PWSRCAC September, 2008 ii Abstract This report is a review of the literature on oil spill dispersants published from 1997 to August, 2008. The report identifies and focusses on recent advances in dispersant effectiveness, toxicity, and biodegradation. Other topics such as application, use, behaviour and fate are also covered. The prime motivation for using dispersants is to reduce the impact of oil on shorelines, thus the application must be successful and effectiveness high. As some oil would come ashore, discussion remains on what effectiveness is required to significantly reduce the shoreline impact. A major issue is the actual effectiveness during spills so that these values can be used in estimates for the future. The second motivation for using dispersants is to reduce the impact on birds and mammals on the water surface. The benefits of using dispersants to reduce impacts on wildlife still remain unknown. The third motivation for using dispersants is to promote the biodegradation of oil in the water column. The effect of dispersants on biodegradation is still a matter of dispute. Some papers state that dispersants inhibit...
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...The Long- Term Effects of oil on ecosystems: A comparison of the Exxon Valdez and the BP oil spill The Exxon Valdez was a single hull, 987-foot super tanker built by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, out of San Diego, California. The Exxon Corporation commissioned this ship into service on December 11, 1986. After the March of 1989 collision with Bligh Reef, the vessel was towed to the shipyard in San Diego and repaired in June of 1989, more than 1,600 tons of steel needed replacing, and the cost of this repair was over $30 million dollars. The Valdez is back in use owned and operated by the Hong Kong Bloom Shipping LTD., renamed the Dong Fang Ocean, and registered out of Panama. At 12:04 A.M. on March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef, Captain Joseph Hazelwood was below decks and intoxicated, the vessel was under the control of the third mate, Gregory Cousins. It was later found that in addition to the intoxicated captain, the third mate, Gregory Cousins, did not have the proper endorsement on his coast guard license to operate a ship in the pristine waters of Prince William Sound, and on top of this Exxon failed to repair the damaged radar that could have prevented the accidental grounding of the ship. At the time of impact, the Valdez was carrying 55 million gallons of crude oil and 11 million gallons of crude was spilt into one of the most delicate, and bountiful marine ecosystems on earth, Prince William Sound. This number of 11 million...
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...The BP Oil Spill, which is also called the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and the Macondo blowout, started on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. It happened when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded due to methane gas that escaped from the well and caused a blowout. After the rig sank, the oil gusher located on the sea floor pumped up oil for 87 days until July 15, 2010, when a new oil well cap was installed and halted the flow. The BP Oil Spill is considered to be the largest accidental marine oil spill in history. According to a report by the U.S. government, the oil spill resulted to the release of 4.9 million barrels of oil (equivalent to 210 million U.S. gallons). This large amount of oil has caused to intense environmental effects, which include: Increased deaths and health problems in animals A couple of months after the oil...
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...the World To Have an Oil Change Prepared by: Nathan Banasek Submitted to: Betty-Anne Schlender Date: November 15, 2013 COMM 1101 Section 107 Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………...1 Environmental Impact…………………………………………….…….…2 Major Spills Occurring in Water………………………….………………4 Major Spills Occurring on Land………………………………………..…6 Cleaning up a Large Oil Spill…………………………………………...…7 What Can Be Changed…………………………………………………….9 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………10 References……………………………………………………...………….12 List of Illustrations Figure 1: An Oiled Pelican in Costal Louisiana………………………….3 Figure 2: The Exxon Valdez aground on Blight Reef……………………5 Figure 3: One of the many oil wells set afire outside Kuwait City……...6 Figure 4: A Boom on the Louisiana Coast………………………………..7 Figure 4: Shoreline Modification in Coastal Louisiana………………….8 Figure 6: Ships and Drilling Rigs Surrounding the Discover Enterprise9 Introduction The world’s dependence on oil is no secret. Feeding this addiction puts immense demand on oil companies to produce oil as quickly as possible. Finding large reserves of oil is a never ending quest for oil companies. Transporting oil is a major risk of the oil production process. This crucial step has the potential for the most catastrophic damage. Oil spills can impact ecosystems in devastating ways and decimate animal life in the area affected. The damage can last decades and sometimes the effects can be irreversible. Obviously...
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...Environmental Implications: When oil is leaked, it adversely alters aquatic environments by physically harming mammals and damaging their habitat. Oil is a compound derived from hydrogen and carbon, however, the process in which the compound is formed, enables it to be toxic to plants and wildlife (Cartage, 2012). The accidental spillage of oil is damaging to subsurface and surface organisms through the physical damage that is done to their habitat. The severity of an oil spill is contingent on two factors; whether it is petroleum or non-petroleum based and the general magnitude of the spillage which is typically measured in barrels or U.S. gallons. Oil is destructive to aquatic ecosystems since it interferes with animal membranes, disrupts the regulation of water controlled by fishes and inhibits metabolic activity (Environment Canada, 2011). Typically, wildlife is affected by oil since it gets sticky over time through weathering. This sticky oil induces hypothermia as oil destroys the waterproofing and insulation of their feathers (Australian Maritime Safety Authority, 2012). The ways in which oil spills damage mammals and birds is threefold; through contamination and destruction of food resources. Animals can be affected by oil through inhalation and ingestion. Vapors inherent in oil will denigrate a mammal’s central nervous system, liver, lungs. Additionally, when the oil is ingested, it may unable birds and mammals to properly digest their food as intestinal tracts become...
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...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...
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...What is an oil spill?(JDB) An oil spill is a type of pollution which consists on the dumping of petrol into the environment, mainly into oceans although it can also occur on land. These oil spills are mainly caused by the release of crude oils, wells, platforms and drilling rings. These oil spills, can very well damage the environment and therefore causing many consequences to different groups of animals and pollute the area where the dumping took place. Deepwater Horizon spill (MBR) This devastating event began the 20 of April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. it took away with it eleven lives and injuring seventeen more it is considered the largest oil spill ever in the history of the petroleum industry. For about 87 days there was a sea-floor oil gusher, until the 15 of July...
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...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...
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...Beijing No. 55 High School BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Investigation Subject: Geography Level: High (HL) Name: Stephanie Chinese: 姜智旻 Homeroom: 10-5 Word count: 1088 Student number: 4192 Supervisor: Craig Hamilton On 20th of August 2010, the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, operating in the Gulf of Mexico exploded then sunk resulting to 11 deaths. During the 87 days, about 4.9 billion barrels of oil had already spread. An estimation of 42,000 gallon of oil is oozing from underwater. From then 75,000km2 was not allowed for fishing. Apparently, the blowout preventer device had bad managements and operations, and failed. Investigators said, “The problems with this blowout preventer were worse than we understood.” (Seth, 2014) In addition, investigators have stated that the cause of this explosion was because of the screw ups with cement, drilling mud, fluid pressure, mismanaged tests, and poor decisions. Therefore, this device should be improved so it doesn’t happen again. They have discovered that it has been the device operator’s fault in view of the fact that the blowout preventer hasn’t been tested accurately, there were problems in the wiring and dead batteries. In order to clean the oil excess, they used powerful chemicals, which they don’t know the effects of on the environment. It was from 1.6km down to the bottom. After this cause, the British Petroleum (BP) went into investigation, negotiating with more than 50 expertise from within BP and industry....
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...1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Oil spill is the leakage or discharge of petroleum onto the surface of inland or coastal water. It assumes disastrous dimension when an uncontrollable well blows out or pipeline ruptures. On water surface, spreading takes place immediately, which is very harmful to various types of aquatic lives as it prevents sufficient amount of sunlight from penetrating and also reduces the land-dissolving capacity in the water. The magnitude of crude oil pollution and damage occasioned by multi-national oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria is incredible (Urhobo Historical Society, 2003). It is noteworthy that the devastating consequences of the crude oil spill in the region with its eventual hazards on both aerial and terrestrial environments is tantamount to an irreversible chain effect on both the biodiversity and human safety. Abbot (2007) in her article entitled “Think Jamaica is Bad? Try Nigeria” notes that the discovery of oil has been an ecological disaster for the Niger Delta where the oil is extracted. Oil and natural resources of a country are often considered to be national assets. Oil penetrates into the structure of the plumage of birds and the fur of mammals, reducing its insulating ability, and making them more vulnerable to temperature fluctuations and much less buoyant in the water. Animals that rely on scent to find their babies or mothers fade away due to the strong scent of the oil. This causes a baby to be rejected...
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...English 1301, 9:05 MW P. Schmidt, HLN Paper# 3 Research Paper October 22, 2014 After the oil spill in Gulf of Mexico in 2010, a research by Douglas. B. Inkley shows that scientists are still assessing the effects of the estimated 170 million gallons of oil that flooded into the Gulf after the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The effects of oil spills can have wide ranging impacts that are often portrayed by the media as long lasting environmental disasters. Such perceptions are understandable as they are often fuelled by distressing images of oiled animals and other wildlife. More than 8,000 birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals were found injured or dead in the six months after the spill. In the months following the Gulf oil disaster, wildlife managers, rescue crews, scientists and researchers saw many immediate impacts of the oil impacting wildlife. Though oil is no longer readily visible on the surface, it isn’t gone. Scientists have found significant amounts on the Gulf floor, and the oil that has already washed into wetlands and beaches will likely persist for years. We likely will not see the full extent of impacts for many years, which makes creating and implementing successful restoration plans a serious challenge. Here is a list of some animals that were affected by the oil spill: * Sick Dolphins - As part of the official investigation into impacts of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, a team of scientists did comprehensive physicals on dolphins in...
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