Pros And Cons Of Offshore Oil Drilling

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.

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.

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.

Every day individuals take the true beauty of our nation by visiting recreational areas along with beaches. Oil spills create nothing, but negative effects on the areas that it happens in. Many plants and animals are affected by this negative disaster which sickness the animals or some even die from it. Maybe if more time and money was spent working on having more efficient renewable energy sources than digging up a source of fuel that will eventually run out we would not have as much of a problem.

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.

Oil spill pollution, a severe environmental problem which arouses in a marine environment or in the water bodies, has grown into an alarming scale with the increase in oil production and transportation. Causes are either accidental or due to operational failure. Henceforth, it is almost impossible for marine life not to be a victim of this vulnerable zone. Our planet has the largest oil reserves, occasionally it cracks and rarely causes a major accident. However, human interference causes a devastating damage to marine and ecosystem.

Examination of this article will show what chemicals have been introduced into the gulf waters and the potential impact if left untreated. The disastrous effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil leak have caused a significant impact on our marine and mammal seafaring wildlife. Many private and governmental research institute studies were conducted immediately upon contamination and leakage of the oil flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Extensive studies were conducted over the course of the months before the capping of the oil well. To this day continued research studies have been conducted in the 6 years following the oil spill. Analyzing the impacts and effects of the oil spill, and the changes it has made to our environment and the ecosystem with in the gulf itself.

The oil and refined products are a mixture of various hydrocarbons and other compounds whose physical and chemical properties vary; during an oil spill, the composite determines the behavior and impact on the environmental elements such as physical, biological, ecosystem, and the economical impact. During this Case Study I will continue to discuss the characteristics of each affected ecosystem including organisms commonly found in the Deepwater Horizon Spill affected area, potential threats based on their relative location to the spill, and the economic impact of damages in these communities.

The Gulf oil spill happened on 20-April-2010 was the worst oil spill in U.S history. The BP pipe leak oil and gas on the ocean floor with approximately around 42 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Oil and water can’t mix together since oil density is lighter compare to water therefore oil float on the top of surface water. The oil floated on the surfcace and formed together to become the large oil slicks. These large slicks covered water surface which affect the animal live on surface water such as pelicant or other seabirds. In order to stop the slicks from damaging the coastal ecosystems and species, the engineer used dispersant chemical. However, the dispersant compound somewhat had effect on the life of species in the contaminated area especially the bottom floor. To understand what happened to the life of species on the bottom floor, a group of research lead by Helen K.White was conducting the investigation the deep sea-coral communities in the Gulf within 15 miles from wellhead as

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.

“The impacts of previous oil disasters show that wildlife in the gulf will continue to be affected by subsurface oil” The past oil spills are still contributing to the death of mammals in the area of the disaster. The NOAA says, “In total, we found the oil spill has likely harmed or killed approximately 82,000 birds of 102 species, approximately 6,185 sea turtles, and up to 25,900 marine animals including bottlenose dolphins, spinner dolphins melon-headed whales and sperm whales.” Plenty of animals die every day already from natural causes and overfishing, but oil is causing even more to die at an extreme rate. “The national Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it had found 32 dolphins in the bay under weight, anemic and showing signs of liver disease. nearly half had low levels of stress hormones that help with stress response, metabolism and immune functions” The disasters are harming the mammals that live in the area of the spill, not only poisoning them but affecting them in the long-term and eventually adding to the already high number of deaths “... NOAA says 714 dolphins and whales have been found stranded from the Florida panhandle to the Texas state like, with 95 percent of those mammals found dead” Dolphins and whales are being hit hard by oil disaster and they turn up dead even after the oil has been cleaned up. From oil

Marine oil spills have short and long term effects on marine life and habitats. The short term effects are well known and predictable so they can be dealt with. Long term effects are known as ‘sub-lethal.’ A short term effect is something that can be dealt with in a short period of time. In terms of sandy shorelines, this includes using modern and natural cleaning methods to clean the oily contamination from the sand. Long term affects, on the other hand, are the opposite and include the left over oil that might be too deep in the sediment. This oil can be ingested or absorbed in some way by organisms such as crabs and reptiles.

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.

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).

Every year there are thousands of oil spills that occur across the nation; both minor and major spillages. The oil from the spills typically arise in 3 areas: rivers, bays, and the ocean. Nearly all the accidents involving oil spills are a result of tankers, barge, pipelines, refineries, drilling rigs and storage facilities. When looking at the sources of the oil spills its estimated that oil tankers make up around 10 percent of the global marine oil pollution, natural resources is about 5 percent, tanker traffic including shipping operations, and other shipping perorations such as illegal discharges and tank cleaning is about 35 percent. 45 percent is roughly from industrial effluents and oil rigs, while 5 percent is from undefined sources (). All the oil from theses spills usually occur in freshwater or the ocean, floating on top of the surface. The oil when spilled spreads our rapidly and creates a layer called oil slick. While over time if the oil is left unattended it will spread out which results in a rainbow-like substance called sheen. When it comes to oil from oil spills in general there are various types, but most notable is the petroleum hydrocarbon (Crude oil). Thus, the petroleum hydrocarbon, when it is spilled into the environment there is a thick sludge that forms and damages surrounding environment but damages wildlife the most. When it comes to wildlife and oil spills there are many factors involved to determine the level of damage that has occurred, as