Gulf Oil Spill Essay

Massive cleanup efforts were initiated within a few weeks of the spill and they continued at reduced levels for the next three years. Approximately 14% of the spilled oil was recovered by cleanup crews (Newsweek, p.50). As a result of these efforts and natural weathering, little oil from the spill remained in the affected area by 1992. However, according to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration some oil residues are still found under the ocean surface in areas sheltered from wind and waves. Yet, these residues are highly weathered and the toxicity is reduced to levels tolerable by organisms in the water (7). Nonetheless, the magnitude and timing of the Exxon Valdez oil spill raised immediate concerns about possible effects on marine fish and wildlife and prospects that these effects might be long lasting.

Chemical dispersants pull apart oil particles that are suspended in water, reducing the oil slick to droplets that can be degraded by naturally occurring bacteria. When the chemicals are applied, dispersed oil is greatly less toxic. However, because the chemical properties of leaked oil will change over time, dispersants may lose their ability to break apart the oil. There are also concerns about the dispersants themselves , which can also be toxic and as a result it could be damaging the

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.

There are many renewable and nonrenewable resources that are being harmed in this world. One resource is oil. In 2010, there happened to be an explosion of oil in the Gulf Of Mexico which killed 11 people. 87 days after that happened, there was an estimate of 3.19 million barrels of oil leaked into the gulf. There were many problems about the Gulf Of Mexico oil spill but solutions are being made to help.

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

In 2010, an oil spill, now called the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill occurred at the Gulf of Mexico. An estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil was dumped into the ocean. The oil exposed to the marine life’s environment caused many of the marine life to become sick. Many of the birds would ingest oil while they tried to clean the oil off of their feathers and would cause them to have lung disorders. According to scientist, up to 800,000 thousand birds and 300,000 turtles died as a result. I am here to today to raise awareness on this issue and inspire others to help protect our oceans. I hope that one day, we can restore our oceans to the clean and pure ocean it once was.

Until now, when the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded in 2010 and dumped 4.9 million barrels of oil into Louisiana salt marshes, scientists had no idea which kinds of animals were most affected and what impact it had on the food chain. However, with a new study from a Coastal Waters Consortium team of researchers led by Rutgers University postdoctoral researcher, Michael McCann, has found out what animals and insects affected by the Deepwater Horizon explosion that should be given the top priority for conservation, protection and research. The researchers found that terns, gulls and wading birds were both sensitive to the oil and so deeply connected to other animals in the food chain as predator and prey that losing them would impact

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

Oil has cytotoxic effects on aquatic life, affecting effecting cardiac abilities of fish. It is well known that oil spills leave nothing but disaster in their wake, but there may be death on a slightly lower, but hidden scale in aquatic life in lakes. Motor oil discharge may increase the heart rate of aquatic organisms, leading to death and other health problems. Sodium dodecyl sulfate, an oil dispersant commonly used in clean up operations, may produce the same harmful effects on aquatic life. The objective of this study was to determine if oil in fact did increase the heart rate of the daphnia magna, a water flea, as well as If SDS is a similar culprit. The heart rates of the daphnia before they were placed into treatments were standard and

The topic of this paper is the toxicity of dispersants in the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform explosion. The main purpose is about the hazard effect, or the toxicity of crude oil and the dispersant. How the oil and dispersant effect the ocean, the coast and the creature live in the Gulf of Mexico area. In this case, the BP Company used Corexit 9500 and 9527 as the dispersant in this accident. In addition, the toxicity of crude oil and dispersant will be studied. As a result, not only the crude oil has a toxic effect on the nearby environment and living creature. The dispersant itself is very harmful to the living cell such as epithelial cell, neuron cell and skin cell. Furthermore, the combination of crude oil and dispersant has more

For instance, Rufe, who is a scientist, states that we have not developed an approach that can clean more than 3 to 5 percent of the spilled oil” (Mufson, 2012). Furthermore, In the Gulf of Mexico, although 205.8 million gallons of oil have been spilled, just 51.8 million gallons have been collected, which equals approximately 25 percent. Moreover, in order to clean the Gulf from the oil spills almost 2 million gallons of toxic dispersants were used. Unfortunately, the toxic dispersants did not truly purify the spilled oil, but fractured them into tinier particles. As a consequence, that may make the oil more harmful for some ocean animals and plants ( A Center for Biological Diversity Report, 2008). However, with the increasing of offshore oil drilling accidents, and with no solution to solve the problem efficiently. The hazardous impact is not going to affect only on animals and plants. It might affect people who depend on the polluted area for food, ecological enrichment, and entertainment ( A Center for Biological Diversity Report,

In her case study, the author Emily Ahonen (n.d) makes us revisit the gulf oil spill that took place on April 20, 2010. She begins the paper by giving us a brief background about the Gulf oil spill and how it went on to become the largest spill in the history of U.S. The drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon, is believed to have exploded due to “a series of safety, regulatory, and oversight problems” (Ahonen, n.d.). As stated by the National Oil and Hazardous Substance Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) of 1994, the Gulf spill was declared a spill of national significance after nine days of disaster. The NCP held the responsible party, British Petroleum, accountable for the costs related to response efforts.

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.