How Oil Drilling Works Essay

Ship operations and bilge cleanings release around 137 million gallons of water into the ocean a year. When it rains, hydrocarbons that are released from cars and industry settle from the air into the ocean releasing 92 million gallons of dangerous hydrocarbons into the marine environment. 37 million gallons of spilled oil in the ocean is due to major tanker accidents. One big spill, however, can affect not only sea life but also shore life for miles. Offshore drilling causes 15 million gallons of oil to be spilled into the ocean per year due to operational discharges and other spills. Although humans cause much of the oil pollution, natural seeping is also a large contributor. Natural seepage comes from the bottom of the ocean and also from sedimentary rocks that are gradually wearing away. Natural seeps allow 62 million gallons of oil to be released into the ocean per year. (Gradwohl) This roughly means that around 706 million gallons of oil are dumped into the ocean every single year, threatening the lives of fish and sea creatures and destroying the luscious marine environment.

Senator Everett Dirksen once noted “The oilcan is mightier than the sword”. In today’s world, it is easy to see why oil can be considered the most important resource to hold. Without oil, many of the common day occurrences we take for granted would be impossible. Oil is used for almost everything; from the fuel used to drive our vehicles, to the plastics used in every facet of life, and providing the heat needed to live through the winter. In fact, the United States depends so much on oil that as a nation it uses over 20 million barrels a day. Importing oil increases the total costs because of the need to transport it from around the world. It is estimated

Oil also plays a big role in Canadian’s everyday lives. Not only does oil fuel our vehicles, cook our food and heat our homes and generate electricity; it is also used in almost everything we use on a daily basis. From rain, snow or sunshine and from head to toes, you could be wearing petroleum-based products. There’s more than gas in your vehicle, tires, mud flaps, wiper blades, your vehicle is an oil and gas machine. From the time, you wake up and put your coffee maker on, until you set your alarm clock at night. You’re using oil products. We use hundreds of petroleum-based oil products every day from household appliances, electronics, personal products and much more. In an article about oil and Canada’s future it states “These along with

Fracking is considered by many business oriented people as the way to enhance our fossil fuel reserves that currently are needed within the United States. While there are many people that take either side of this heated debate, the scientific data is just beginning to come in and the perils that are culminating from using this form of extraction are becoming a problem for many throughout the Kentucky and the U.S.

America must wean itself off of dependence on foreign oil, and one valid solution to this problem is offshore oil drilling and production. America’s economy is heavily based on petroleum, as though it is the nation’s blood; a necessity for survival. About 25% of oil produced in the U.S. comes from offshore rigs. Most of the U.S. coastline has been off limits for oil drilling since the early 1980s. Due to environmental concerns after an oil spill off the coast of California in 1969, an offshore drilling moratorium was imposed. Since then, the U.S. has amplified its energy consumption to where it uses nearly 25% of the world's oil. Meanwhile, the U.S. produces about 10% of the world's oil. That has made the U.S. heavily reliant on imported

In addition, offshore oil drilling causes water pollution and disrupts the marine ecosystem. Doctor Ermal Xhelilaj states in his article, "The Behavior and Effects of Oil Pollution into Marine Environment and Oceans” that “Shorelines are also vulnerable to the oil pollution and a study of the US Coast Guard has revealed that exposed rocky cliffs and seawalls, wave cut rocky platforms, fine to medium-grained sand beaches, coarse-grained sand beaches, mixed sand and gravel beaches, gravel beaches/ riprap

America the beautiful, land of the greed and the home of oil. Along with being a major superpower comes an insurmountable thirst for fossil fuels. Imperialist ideals and the corporate oil empire can bring stability and jobs but heavy costs also arise. Numerous solutions have been tried, but without fixing the underlying problem more issues are inevitable. Our over-consumption has an incredible effect on our reliance on foreign oil. OPEC, the Organization of the Oil Producing Countries, has supplied Americans with a constant flow of both oil and jobs. Nevertheless, progression comes with high cost to our environment, in addition to pulling us into international involvements. Increasing the United States’ domestic oil production was just a

You've almost made it. The captain says that around these mountains, in about 15 minutes, you should see it, the great coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: birthplace to caribou, polar bears, and much of the other arctic wildlife. You've been looking forward to seeing this for as long as you can remember and when you do it's breathtaking: crisp clean white plains, just like you'd seen in the National Geographic. You listen to the sounds surrounding you, the ocean lapping along the boat, the air whistling through the mountains, thewhat's that? That mechanical noiseit sounds likelike engines, but what are machines doing on this remote, beautiful, peaceful, and highly

In the United States oil consumption is an everyday occurrence, for every citizen. Our country without oil would not be able to function properly within all aspects of life. Our political, transportation and economics systems would all encounter drastic affects if there were no oil to transform into petroleum. Due to our huge dependency on petroleum products, oil companies like British Petroleum (BP), Exxon Mobil, and Saudi Aramco hold extreme power over many countries and make billions off our need to live our daily lives. The extraction of oil from these companies are causing life altering effects for future generations, by causing major environmental complications. Each of the three main oil companies have experienced oil spills that were damaging to the environments around them and gain the global attention, because of the size of the oils spills and the lack of effort to accurately clean the spills.

Americans depend on this resource because it is beneficial and works for us as an energy but it is not so beneficial to the citizens of the country health wise. Taking this shift is critical to the health and well-being of the citizens. Each year the health of 54,000 Americans is caused by the air pollution generated by power plants and oil refineries. Death can be caused by the pollution and by the particles from the oil in the air that we breathe. Besides the cons of the problems of oil in the atmosphere. Pros being the United States are ready to become the leading oil producer by 2015. The United States relied on the imports for about 40% of the oil in 2012. Half of those imports came from the Western Hemisphere. The United States depended on foreign oil since 2005 since then it has significantly declined. The United States produced 18.6 million barrels per day in oil products during 2012, making us the world's largest oil producer. The United States was third in crude oil production, in 2012; the U.S. had more than 30.5 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. America now uses oil in the oil refineries for energy to run cities. The U.S. has the most preserved oil than other continents in the world more than south

BP oil leakage was noted that tons of crude oil was spilled into the open ocean, destroying the habitats that marine animals lived on. The environmental loss was significant. The impacts include the contamination of the coast, the ocean surface and the sea floor. The species that were affected include fish, seaware, planktons, birds, turtles, sharks, marine mammals such as whales. The impact was a long-term destroying to both the ocean and human, but one thing to be clear is that different area of Gulf coast have very different levels of contamination.

This essay is about how oil drills affect the earth. It affects oceans,the ground,and it affects the animals.

Oil spills usually occur as temporary accidents, while pollution from trucks happens every day. Therefore, offshore drilling does not contaminate the water as badly as the United States thinks.

Crude oil is black gold that has been even sought out even in the ancient times. The Chinese in the fourth century drilled 800 feet deep oil wells to burn the oil to produce salt. Oil has a long history. America’s has massive oil demands and off-shore drilling has become a temporary solution and scientist are trying to find alternative sources of energy that can last us a very long time. There are many disadvantages and hazards when it comes to offshore drilling. Theses disadvantages can affect the wildlife, animal population, marine environments, pollution and much more. With there being so many disadvantages for offshore drilling, why continue drilling?

Advocates for offshore drilling claim that a ban would eliminate over one million jobs in the oil industry (Kreutzer). The number of people currently in the clean energy sector, however, surpassed 4.5 million. The number of jobs in the clean energy sector grows twelve times faster than the rest of the US economy (EDF). In fact, jobs created by clean energy would surpass the number of offshore drilling jobs created along the Atlantic Coast by 2 to 1 (Oceana). Also, the GDP the clean energy sector contributes grows rapidly and will surpass $1.3 trillion by 2030 (Guerrini). Additionally, offshore drilling threatens jobs that rely on a clean ocean. On the East Coast, 1.4 million jobs rely on tourism, fishing, and other ocean-related occupations (Oceana). These industries contribute $95 billion in GDP for the US. Allowing for more offshore oil drilling by inaction or deregulation will not improve the US economy. It contributes less than the coastal industries