preview

Oklahoma Oil Spill Case Study

Decent Essays
To date, the majority of oil spill operations are rarely capable of recovering and/or treating more than a small portion of the oil which was spilt.12 Within the Gulf of Mexico it was estimated that nearly 4.9 billion barrels of oil were spilt, and approximately half of the oil spilt was 100% methane which and is still within the Gulf today.12 The oil was able to rise to the ocean surface and extended over an estimated 68,000 square miles—this is approximately the same size as the state of Oklahoma.12 Considering the amount of oil spilt, there has been and continues to be a huge impact on marine life, wildlife and their ecosystems, as well as the fishing and tourism industries.
Ecosystems
Between the months of October and November, 2010, an estimated six months after the
…show more content…
Researchers found that eighty-six percent of the colonies within the central region exhibited at least 50% signs of impact.13 forty-six percent had exhibited impact levels of either a 3 or 4, and 23% of the colonies sustained impact which accumulated of more than 90% of the colony—displaying impact levels of 4.13 Another study focused on the impact which Deepwater Horizon had on the coastal salt marshes, located in and around the Bay Jimmy within northern Barataria Bay, Louisiana. This area was just one of the many which were severely impacted by this oil spill, the area affected covered more than 8 km x 5km.14. Within this field study seven stations were randomly selected from a much larger population which received heavy, moderate, as well as non-oiled marsh land.14 Both heavy and moderate shorelines accounted from 283 km of the 692 km of oiled march shorelines within Louisiana.15 Results showed that concentrations of total petroleum hydrocarbons within the soil were found to be significantly greater in heavily oiled marshes, when compared to moderate and controlled (non-impacted) marshes.15 Marshes which contained
Get Access