Exxon Valdez and the Recovery of Prince William Sound Essay

On April 20th 2010 an explosion on an oil ridge of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, was the cause of the greatest environmental disaster in history of the United States. This explosion took the lives of eleven men who were working on the ridge, and also ruptured an oil line, which dumped more than 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This oil spill significantly affected the wildlife of the gulf coast, killing hundreds of fishes, birds, and reptile that call the gulf coast home. The spill also affected global supply chain for major industries.

Going to the water was a hazard and they starved or was covered in the oiled

On April 20, 2010, one of BP’s drilling wells below the Gulf of Mexico exploded and caused a disastrous oil spill. Thousands of barrels of crude oil flowed into the gulf every day, causing widespread pollution in the Gulf of Mexico (Law Brain, n.d). The habitats of many bird species are threatened by this oil spill.

The oil spill created long term problems for the living organisms that inhabit the Gulf of Mexico. The oil covered the feathers of birds, making them unable to float at the surface. The oil killed some of the deep sea coral as far as seven miles away from the site. Mammals ingested the oil, which resulted in some of the mammals having internal bleeding and ulcers. This has also lead to an increase in sea turtles stranding, sick dolphins, and a decrease in population of many marine animals. This disaster stuck during the breeding season for many species of wildlife. “The oil’s toxicity may have hit egg and larval organisms immediately”, which could have wiping out those age classes. Population dips and cascading food web has occurred due to

These teams are looking to see how the remaining oil left in the Prince William Sound can affect the local wildlife. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States, or the NOAA, says that “spilled oil can harm living things because its chemical constituents are Poisonous. This can affect organisms both from internal exposure to oil through ingestion or inhalation and from external exposure through skin and eye irritation. Oil can also smother some small species of fish or invertebrates and coat feathers and fur, reducing birds' and mammals' ability to maintain their body temperatures” (NOAA, N.d). The spill from the crashed ship resulted in millions of animals to die after they ingested a massive Dose of the oil, and that has created a massive Environmental Hazard. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until years later that researchers found out the extent of the Exxon Valdez’s damage and just how large the Concentration of the oil was. According to Sara Graham of Scientific American, “the Exxon Valdez spilled 42 million liters of crude oil and contaminated 1,990 kilometers of shoreline. Some 2,000 sea otters, 302 harbor seals and about 250,000 seabirds died in the days immediately following the spill” (Graham, 2003). But that wasn’t the end of it. The oil has shown incredible Persistence and almost thirty years after the Exxon Valdez disaster occurred, we still feel the many Sublethal Effects that the spill had on the Alaskan

Offshore oil drilling is a controversial topic because when oil spills, it does extensive amounts of damage to the environment. Countries capable of mining oil in the ocean reap the economic benefits in addition to reducing their dependency on external oil. While it is uncontroversial that offshore drilling is a massive boon for those countries, the environmental consequences of a spill also affect the economic welfare of nearby residents. Oil contaminates animals through a process called biomagnification, where chemicals progressively become more detrimental to the animals the higher they are on the food chain. When oil spills into the ocean, it impairs the growth of native species and deteriorates the ecosystem. As a result, the livelihood of people in the tourist industry, fisherman, and shrimpers is crippled and may take decades to recover.

IMPACT OF THE DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL SPILL IN THE GULF OF MEXICO ON THE LOCAL ENVIRONMENT

Lutra canadenis, river otter, in the Prince William Sound, Alaska encountered major effects for the Exxon Valdez oil spill (Duffy et al. 1994). Lutra canadenis consume marine fish and marine invertebrates which makes them unique from freshwater otters and inshore otters (Bowyer et al. 1995). L. canadenis are terrific species to display pollution effects on mammals (Duffy et al. 1994). It was noted by, Duffy et al. that river otters in the areas located in the oil spill had a decrease in body weight and the levels of haptoglobin in the blood was elevated. Duffy et al. discovered that the river otters in the areas affected by the oil had a higher level of haptoglobin, aspartate aminotransferase, and interleukin which indicated that there was

In this century, there are nothing new about human corruption of the earth. However, in this article said that today, scientists has investigated the effects of Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 on Alaskan communities and ecosystems for embryonic salmon and herring. Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska shows that the spill may had much greater impacts on spawning fish than previously recognized because of crude oil can develop hidden heart defects that adjustment for their later survival.

The first most significant fact about the Exxon disaster is that more than 300,000 birds and 2,600 otters were killed because of the oil spill. The reason for this large number of animals being killed was because of the ingestion of toxic chemicals, starvation, and because of hypothermia when trying to swim through the oil causing the oil to soaked feathers, which than cause the birds to lose their insulating capacity. The second significant fact is that the cleanup that they were trying to do was futile because when they would clean the oil up more oil would come back cause only 3% of the oil to be clean. The third most significant fact is that with the steam cleaners and pressure washing only drove the oil deep into the ground and rocky

One of the most efficient approaches to was found to be Bioremediation (1). Nearly 70 miles of ocean and the shorelines were treated nutrients to aid the microorganisms in degrading the large amount of oil (7). “Two fertilizers were selected for full-scale bioremediation: the oleophilic fertilizer Inipol EAP22, manufactured by Elf Aquitaine of France; and the slow release fertilizer Customblen 28-8-0, manufactured by Sierra Chemicals in California” (3). The fertilizer addition displayed considerable results as the sediment samples that within the first days of restoration and weeks following the spill, the hydrocarbon concentration of the oil spilled in Prince William Sound had been reduced by 25-30%. During the summer 1990, massive applications of fertilizer consisted of over 1400 individual site treatments at 378 shoreline segments. “Measurements in September of 1990 showed that the proportion of oil degrading bacteria had returned to background levels of under 1% of the total bacterial populations in pore waters” (2). Nearly 220 separate site treatments were applied in 1991. “By 1992 the length of shoreline still containing any significant amount of oil was 6.4 mi (10.2 km) or 1.3% of the shoreline oiled in 1989” (2). From the year 1989 to 1991, approximately 107,000 pounds of fertilizer was used to treat the pollution

In Santa Barbara, California, in 1969, even though the spilled oil was not even very large, thousands of dolphins, seals, and birds were killed (Ivanovich, and Hays, 2008). Moreover, in the Gulf of Mexico, 82,000 birds, roughly 6,165 sea turtles, approximately 25,900 marine mammals, and indefinite amount of oysters, fishes, corals, and crabs have been harmed or killed by the spilled oil. Additionally, the spilled has killed many aquatic plants. ( A Center for Biological Diversity Report, 2008). As a result, vegetation, which are the most essential part of the ecological pyramid, and other animals will be affected negatively by the dangerous impact of the spilled oil, which probably is going to cause some problems in the ecological pyramid. In fact, any defect in the ecological pyramid may become a dreadful problem that occurs an ecological

The oil also has a physical and physiological effect including irritation, inflammation, or necrosis of the skin, chemical burns, ingestion of oil/dispersants can lead to inflammation, ulcers, bleeding, as well as possible damage to liver, kidneys, and brain tissue. It can also cause disfunction of the immune and reproductive system. The wildlife can become physiologically stressed, their physical condition will ultimately decline, and some may even die. The oil spill has additionally had an extensive effect on the ecosystem as a whole. An ecosystem can be defined as a biological environment consisting of all the organism living in a particular area, as well as the non-living physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact. Experts predict that the ecosystem could require years or even decades to fully recover since there is a chance of biomagnification. Biomagnification occurs once a PBT(Persistent Bioaccumalative substances) have piled up in one part of the ecosystem the substance becomes concentrated from one link in the food web to the next. It can affect entire populations and threaten biodiversity in “insidious, sub-lethal” ways. In addition to the possibility of biomagnification the oil causes

The damage caused by the spill is almost immeasurable; ecological, political, economic, social it almost devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast fishing and tourism industries. Even in January 2011 a report was made by oil-spill experts from the University of Georgia stating that tar balls continue to wash up on beaches, collect in shrimp nets, kill marsh grass, and even undegraded oil in the seabed (Dykes, 2011). It will likely be years, if not decades, before the final assessment of damage, short-term and long-term, is accurately noted from this disaster.

Over 8000 animals were reported dead 6 months after the spill, including many that were on the endangered species list (7). Subsequently, seafood prices increased affecting restaurants and supermarkets. People abstained from going to beaches covered in oil, water sports and other aquatic attractions which meant that all organisations involved in tourism such as hotels, tour operators, restaurants and boat rental companies were affected (1). Furthermore, the method of cleaning up the oil by “in-situ burning” (burning oil in a contained area on the surface of the water), had adverse effects on the environment as the burning off of the oil led to mutations and increased mortality due to pollution.