Impact Of Drilling On The Earth 's Oceans And The Well Being Of Wildlife And Humans

Environmentalists are one the biggest critics against the notion of increasing domestic oil drilling. By increasing the amount of drilling we do in the United States, we increase the risk of disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Disasters are hardly the only source of economic damage either, to find oil reserves under the ocean, seismic waves are generated into the ground. These waves bounce off the ground back up to the ship, where computers and scientist can use the results to make educated guesses on whether or not oil is located under the surface. These seismic waves can wreak havoc with marine animals like whales; where in one case over 100 whales beached themselves to get away from the painful experience (Nixon). Using seismic waves does not even guarantee that oil might be located underneath the surface, the only way to tell is to actually drill into the potential finds causing even more destruction for what might be for no gain. Once oil is found and drilling has begun, the amount of damage done to the environment can become unimaginable. The recent example is that of the Deepwater

Offshore drilling has become an essential part of today’s oil production and demand for energy. With the growth of population comes the increasing demand for oil. The oil industry today, is one of the most used providers of energy. Today in the 20th century the majority of the population in America has a car and cars needs gas to run. The oil reserves in the earth that are easily accessible via land are starting to run dry and are becoming harder to find. This is why we have begun to see more and more offshore oil drills. Although there are benefits of offshore drilling such as profit, lower gas prices, and becoming less dependent on foreign oil. There are also many drawbacks in which if something were to go wrong, the mistake would be catastrophic impacting the environment, the nature, and have trickling effects all around the world.

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.

Americans have been drilling for oil for more than half of their existence. Before the 1850’s oil was of little use and had no market for commerce as there was not one overwhelming use for it. Until around the 1850’s, when technology advanced, with it sparking search for one of the most sought after natural resources that countries would later go to war over, petroleum oil. Early inventions like the kerosene lamp provided a new stable home necessity to live by, increasing the demand for crude oil. This would be met in part by Colonel Edwin Drake, who drilled the first successful oil well in 1858. While Drake’s invention for extracting crude oil from the ground would bring about a new era for industrialization, his “black gold” would bring about an even larger effect, the environmental disasters caused by man. For over one hundred and fifty years of drilling for oil, both on shore and offshore, has led to some of the worst catastrophes to both nature and mankind. While many of these catastrophes have led to the deaths of hundreds of crew members, they have also led to long lasting effects on the environment, local and national economies, legislation, regulations, and human morale. These following effects can be seen in the most recent and most contaminated marine oil spill in history. To the media and public it’s known as the British Petroleum offshore drilling oil spill in 2010.

On April 20th, the Deepwater Horizon oilrig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and sank, 11 people died in the explosion. Five days after the explosion, underwater cameras revealed that the British Petroleum (BP) pipeline, connecting the oilrig to the underwater well, had ruptured and was leaking 3.19 million barrels (over 130 million gallons) of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The pipeline was finally capped 87 days later on June 15, 2010. The five states that were affected by the spill are Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. This is considered the worst accidental oil spill in history.

The biggest oil spill in history started on April 20th, 2010 by an oil ring called the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil ring was owned by an offshore oil drilling company called Transocean and they were leasing the oil ring to British Petroleum. The oil well was located on a seabed 4,993 feet below the surface of the ocean. On April 20th, a surge of natural gas penetrated through the concrete core and went up the Deepwater rig’s riser which led to the drilling platform catching fire, and exploding. This caused eleven people to die and injured another seventeen people. During this oil spill more than 200 million gallons of oil was pumped over a period of 87 days into the Gulf of Mexico until the well was capped in July, 2010. A study in the blowout preventer showed that huge blades known as blind shear rams

Mammals are losing their ability to hear, which makes some not able to communicate, which leads to death or other health issues; All caused by sonar exploration to find where to drill for oil. Oil drilling leads to spills that cause an enormous mortality rate on sea life, oil can also create harm to animals, not only in the ocean, but in surrounding areas. In sum, Offshore drilling, and all to do, has a negative effect on the ocean, thus should come to hult to improve the

Oil is one of the most precious substances on Earth. It takes millions of years to form and has many applications throughout the world. Offshore oil drilling in the coastal waters of the United States is a technique used by companies to extract the oil buried deep beneath the ocean floor. Many people refer to the ways that offshore drilling will help the economy, both locally and globally, but despite the apparent benefits, the process is not without controversy. Oilrigs produce wastes which affect marine life and the associated fishing industry, and they pose a danger to the employees who operate them. Because of these consequences, the United States should look to restrict offshore oil drilling.

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon explosion started what would be the largest marine oil spill in U.S. waters to date. By the time the well was finally capped, nearly 5 million barrels or 205.8 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico (Robertson & Krauss, 2010). To put this into some context of comparison, the New Your Times did a calculation and estimated the oil flow to be the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez every 8 to 10 days – the spill lasted 83 to 87 days depending on sources. Now for the human cost – 11 died in this “accident” (Gillis & Fountain, 2010).

On April 20, 2010 the British Petroleum (BP) licensed Deep Water Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. The initial blast killed 11 people, injuring 17 others. Over a period of the next 87 days, over 200 million gallons of oil was pumped into to Gulf of Mexico, polluting over 16,000 miles of shoreline, including the coast of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The Deep Water Horizon oil spill is the largest human-caused disaster in U.S. history roughly 20 times larger than the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in March of 1989. The spill had many negative effects on the tourism and the fishing industry. Many businesses such as fishing, oyster harvesting, and charter fishing boats were directly impacted by oil in the water. Following the spill, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) closed all recreational and commercial fishing in affected waters between the mouth of the Mississippi River and the Pensacola Bay, in Florida. With the world being completely dependent on oil it is hard to argue that

In 2010 British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oilrig1 suffered a devastating explosion that resulted in the death of 11 workers and initiated the largest marine oil spill the world had or has ever seen (Pallardry). This spill also became the largest offshore environmental disaster in United States history (Elliot). Over 200 million gallons of crude oil were pumped into the Gulf of Mexico (Hoch), polluting over 16,000 coastal miles in the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas (Mackey). The spill and subsequent coastal pollution impacted the environment negatively, causing harm to natural resources and especially wildlife, the affects of which are still being witnessed today (Elliot). The surrounding

The BP Oil Spill An Introductory Background - One of the most controversial ecological disasters in recent history focused on multinational British Petroleum and their Gulf of Mexico Operations. The Deepwater Oil Disaster began on April 20, 2010 with an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon Oil platform, killing 11, injuring 17. It was not until July 15th, however, that the leak was stopped by capping the wellhead, after releasing almost 5 million barrels (206 million gallons) of crude oil, or 53,000 barrels per day into the Gulf of Mexico. It was not until September 19th that the relief well process was complete and the U.S. Government, EPA, and Coast Guard agencies declared the well breach effectively stopped (Cavnar, 2010).

With very little regard to the people affected and the effects of oil drilling, the money at stake is so vast that human rights and environmental destruction is merely a regrettable necessity for enormous profits. Ecuador’s rainforest houses half the earth’s species, has four national parks and is home to a group of indigenous people. Nevertheless, this alone is not enough to stop China from drilling to compensate the billions of dollars owed to them. Oil extraction companies have disposed drilling waste which is often found in waterways. Pipelines can bust or leak and cause harm to the rainforest, ancient tradition is loss, wildlife is disrupted, and the ecosystem is affected. These are just some of the reasons why oil extraction is harmful to the environment as well as the people in the rainforest. Drilling should not be considered if it causes harm in any form.

Second, in 2010, BP rig blew up into the Gulf of Mexico. It was killed 11 people. According to biological diversity (2014) it was the worst environmental disaster in U.S., 82000 birds were killed, and more than 2 million gallons of chemical poison sprayed into the Gulf of Mexico.

Deepwater Horizon oil Spill: BP’s drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico had an explosion in April 2010, causing the “largest oil spill catastrophe in the petroleum industry history”. It caused the death of 11 men and injury to several others. “More than 150,000 barrels of crude oil gushed into the sea, every day, for almost 5 months and up to 68,000 square miles of the Gulf 's surface were covered” (1).