Pollution : Why Is It Important?

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.

Still people make the argument that oil is just too important to stop drilling and that if anything we should drill more. Again author Margaret Haerens talks about how “According to the nation academy of Sciences, current cleanup methods can only remove a small fraction of the oil spilled into the ocean, leaving the remaining oil to continue affecting ocean ecosystems over time” (126). The long term impacts of offshore spills continue to corrupt the oceans and who knows when they will completely be gone. The effects of the oil directly on sea life such as sea birds, fish, shellfish, and other sea life are extremely dangers. “Studies have shown that tiny amounts of oil – as little as one part per billion – can harm pink salmon and cause their eggs to fail” (Haerens Margaret). Imagine swimming in the ocean when a large pool of toxic oils comes floating along right into you when you are trying to enjoy a day at the beach. Not only is offshore drilling have one of the longest lasting ecological impacts on society and living things on and off shore, it effects our economy as well.

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.

The demand for oil is ever expanding as the world’s energy needs continue to increase resulting in companies striving to meet the demand for oil production. The huge costs of oil importation are what ultimately push the need to tap into our backyard rather than import oil from countries around the world for significantly higher prices. While oil corporations can be credited with providing people minimized costs of products due to their offshore oil drilling efforts. The fact of the matter is that having a cleaner environment is seen as being more vital than having a cheaper product at the cost of an unhealthier environment. Though, many experts agree that the potential risks of offshore oil drilling are often exaggerated, recent disasters such as the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill have proven

The oil plume in the Gulf of Mexico is a direct environmental impact on subjects like eutrophication of

The oils spills can kill the animals or delay their reproduction, growth and development. The entire reef ecosystem can suffer from an oil spill, affecting the many species of fish, crabs, and other marine animals that live in and around the coral reefs.

Besides that, these tiny oil particles can be degraded more quickly by bacteria presence in the ocean and wash away from spill site by ocean waves3. It was about 2 million galons1 of dispersants was used to prevent the oil slicks to clear up the surface water contaminated. The dispersant chemical helped to clear the slicks out of vision however it somewhat distributed negative impact to the ecosystem from potential harm wildlife to food chain. The tiny oil droplets either suspended in the water or fall down to the bottom of the ocean floor. Therefore, bottom sediment samples were collected to analyze for the remaining of crude oil and the main active compound of dispersant which are the anionic sufactant dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate

The oil industry, though it harnesses over hundreds of billions of dollars’ revenue worldwide, it provides many consequences to ecosystems. They have the potential to kill marine mammals and birds by Direct Toxicty, and weakens the organism’s immune systems. Offshore drilling affects the geological structure of the oceans as the process of it includes drilling into the sedimentary rocks and into the oil reserves. The Exxon Valdez spill is an example of oil contamination that has killed an estimate of 250,00 sea birds, 3000 sea otters, 3000 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles, more than 70 killer whales, and billions of salmon and herring eggs.

Oil spills are a worldwide issue- widely known for polluting the oceans, infecting plant life, and killing many different species of animals. In fact, during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, approximately 205.8 million gallons of oil was pumped into the Gulf of Mexico (“A Deadly…” 2011). Over 82,000 birds, 6,165 sea turtles, and around 25,900 different species of marine mammals were either harmed or killed because of The Deepwater Horizon spill (“A Deadly…” 2011). Not only are oil spills a huge biological issue, the mere production of oil has a negative effect on many ecosystems: contaminating oceans, air, soil, and killing many species of flora and fauna.

Wildlife is affected by oil spills in many ways and the severity of the impact is correlated with how much oil was released into the environment, the type of oil, the season and the weather, and tidal energy occurring in the environment of the spill, (NOAA, Effects of Oil Spills on Wildlife and Habitat: Alaska Region, 2004). The Exxon Valdez oil spill had a numerous amount of impacts on wildlife habitat and marine systems. The oil caused harm to wildlife through physical contact, ingestion, inhalation and absorption. The oil contaminated plankton such as algae, fish eggs and larvae of various invertebrates, (NOAA, Effects of Oil Spills on Wildlife and Habitat: Alaska Region, 2004). Contamination through these variables occurred to fish that rely on these organisms to survive, and larger animals in the food chain that rely on fish that eat these organisms such as bigger fish, birds and terrestrial mammals, and even humans became contaminated through ingestion of these animals, (NOAA, Effects of Oil Spills on Wildlife and Habitat: Alaska Region, 2004). Fish were impacted directly through the uptake of oil through the gills, which changed their heart rate, eroded their fins, and affected their eggs. As stated above, it only becomes worse due to other mammals consuming the already contaminated

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.

The oil spill in 2010, “the second highest oil spill in history,” took place because of an eruption at an oil-drilling site, which caused the oil to spill into the Gulf of Mexico (Abdul). About 666,400 tones of oil spilled harming birds, seat turtles, mammals, and

Oil drilling affects thousands of marine animals in their ecosystems and has caused massive damage before. For example, on April 20, 2010, 210 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. It is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the world and the largest environmental disaster in U.S History. (“Deepwater Horizon.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 06 July 2017. Web. 06 July 2017.) “As the Deepwater Horizon disaster shows, it’s hard to contain and remove oil that is spilling into the ocean.” (Hamalainen, Karina. "DRILLING FOR OIL." Science World Sep 27 2010: 8,12,TE8. ProQuest. Web. 30 June 2017.) This clearly states the known severity of oil spills. Oil in the ocean is hard to clean up, imagine how the animals that live in the affected areas struggle to survive. It stays in the water for

An oil spill is a manmade disaster that has had an environmental impact as well as an economic impact on the various countries that they have occurred in. Oil spills have not only been a problem in the United States, but they have also caused damage in many other countries. However, there is a set of safety measures and regulations that can be taken to help prevent this manmade disaster from occurring. While drilling for and extracting oil, mistakes can be made that cause an oil spill to occur; however, there are also various methods to cleaning up an oil spill.

Exxon’s recovery response was slow, the response team came 13 hours late. The immediate impact of the spill on seabirds was the death of 500,000. There were over 3,000 sea otter deaths, seals, salmon’s breeding sites, and more than half of wildlife died (NV, 2014). Displacement of oil using high-pressure hot water destroyed the crabs, molluscs, and sea scallops populations that existed at the shoreline. According to Riki Ott, the dispersant could eliminate oil spill from the surface into the water column, hence affecting the fishery resources as they increase the toxicity of dispersed oil. Several long-term effects are surrounding the oil spill on the environment. A wide range of habitats are affected since the spillage negatively impacted the ecological balance and the natural balance of the