The Affect Of BP Oil Spills On The Environment

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.

The spectrums of oil spill issues are diverse and large. They range from environmental issue to economic, ecological, ethical, politics and policies. Among many other oil spills, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, occurred on April 20, 2010 was recorded as the greatest environmental disaster in our history (BP leak the world's worst accidental oil spill, 2010).

Oil is marked as the most used non-renewable natural resource throughout the planet. Innovations in the automobile technology has increased the demand for hydrocarbons as its used for the source of heat and light. Development in the petrochemical industry boosted the oil supply throughout the world. Today we have miles and miles of wired petroleum pipelines and tons of crude oil on the go. The quantity of oil transported over the sea has enormously increased in volume with tankers from a capacity of 100,000 to 500,000 tons resulting in increased possibilities of spillage by accident. In the event of an accident, oil pollution will be encountered in the marine environment or in inland water.

This disaster of the BP oil spill has caused many deaths: 64 mammals, 2,919 birds, and 489 sea turtles according to National Wildlife Federation and these numbers are going to continue to rise year after year till all the oil is cleaned up. Also, the Gulf is home to endangered species. Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are currently listed as endangered, and could go to threatened in the next couple years. Another example is the Bluefin Tuna which is labeled as endangered and could send them to extinction due to the massive oil spill. This is one dire effect that is hurting our ecosystem, and this same instance happened in Alaska with the Exxon Valdez oil spill. A great example of how gruesome the oil has taken on wildlife, look at Fig. B where a there is an oil-soaked pelican. I believe the world should change its main source of oil to a different less destructing fuel.

An estimated amount of 206 gallons were let loose in the water.This oil spill has made the records of being one of the largest oil spills that has ever occurred. It happened when an oil well approximately a mile below the surface.blew out. In addition, this caused an explosion on the BP Horizon rig that killed 11 people. Experts made many attempts to stop the oil flow but it took time to reach success. However, every minute passing by is a very crucial one. Within as little as one day 2.5 million gallons were released into the water. The well was capped on July15, 2010. Meaning that the oil leaked for a grand total of 85 days. Resulting in 572 miles of the Gulf Shore being covered in oil. Not to mention the hundreds of animals found and taken into care due to the oil spill. Of course long term effects won’t be able to be further approached until time passes and experts are able to have obtained enough data throughout the years. However, experts have concluded that the damage from this oil spill will not be completely over with until years to come. Still today clumps of oil are being found coming from the shore. The oil is not the only thing to worry about however. Chemicals still remain in the environment and therefore can still affect the nature and can result in a chemical reaction which may be harmful. If parts of the oil are not able to reach oxygen it can just be a big toxic reservoir damaging the environment waiting to cause trouble.The only way to remove things like this is mechanically which only further destroys the habitat. Al in all it is a lose lose

oil spill happened five years ago and nearly 5 barrels of oil was spilt into the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill was caused from an explosion through the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig about 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The main effect from this oil spill was the losses of the animals. Causing many to almost go extinct. As a result from the oil spill the earth has had—losses from pollution, the cost, and the damage of people.

BP has experienced several disaster events in their history that has damaged their reputation with the community. Most of these disasters have ended up costing the communities and the environments within them the most. BP is taking a stand against global warming to find alternate means of energy that will not be hurtful to the environment as well as maintaining a role in the clean-up of the spill areas (Thorne, 2010). With the fluidity of the Gulf of Mexico environment, we may never know the scope of the devastation caused by the spill. However, BP is doing what they can to clean up the environment affected by the spill in the Alaskan waters. During the winter months, BP sends a team to Alaska to continue the clean-up efforts and return

Throughout history, humans have had many adverse effects on the ocean. However, in the past century, a new threat to the ocean has arisen. Oils spills are one of the most dangerous human effects on the ocean, partly because they’re so difficult to reverse after they’ve happened, and because many of the chemicals that get released into the water are extremely toxic to a lot of creatures. Oil spills are usually caused by two ships colliding with each other, a ship colliding with another object, or as in the case of the BP oil spill, an explosion.

A tragic explosion on April 20th, 2010 changed the Gulf of Mexico and the area surrounding it completely. This was the disastrous explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The oil industry has been a large part of the United States’ history for decades and the company BP has been part of it since the start of oil production. According to the article “Standard Oil Company and Trust American Corporation”, John D. Rockefeller ran the Standard Oil Company from 1870- 1911 and controlled almost all of the United States’ oil production (Standard Oil Company 1). The Standard Oil company split into several companies in the early 1900s. The British Petroleum Company purchased some of the Standard Oil Company in Ohio and was later renamed “BP” (Standard Oil Company 12). BP leased the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in 2001. It was built in 2001 by Hyundai Heavy Industries and owned by the company Transocean (Blanchfield 6). 9 years later, the rig had an unfortunate incident that had a lasting impact.

Four years ago from today, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sunk, killing eleven people. Underwater cameras showed that the pipe was leaking oil and gas about 40 miles from the coast of Louisiana. This leak would eventually release about 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf before it would be capped 87 days later.

250000 birds died following the spill due to physical contact with the oil, and also pods of whales lost about 40% of their population, (NOAA, Effects of Oil Spills on Wildlife and Habitat: Alaska Region, 2004). Physical contact with oil regarding birds and mammals destroys the insulation value of fur and feathers, causing these animals to die from hyperthermia. This explains why so many birds and sea otters died from the spill, the spill occurred in a cold climate which worsens the effect of oil on animals, causing hypothermia to worsen as climate gets colder. In cold climates, an inch diameter of oil drop can be enough to kill a bird, and heavy coated birds in oil can cause drowning, (NOAA, Effects of Oil Spills on Wildlife and Habitat: Alaska Region, 2004). In addition, if these birds and mammals did not die from the variables stated above, these animals tried to clean themselves, which resulted in the ingestion and inhaling of oil which results in immediate death, (NOAA, Effects of Oil Spills on Wildlife and Habitat: Alaska Region, 2004). Not only does oil have immediate impacts on animals due to instant killing, but also long term effects include reproduction complications that can cause a drop in populations, (NOAA, Effects of Oil Spills on Wildlife and Habitat: Alaska Region, 2004). Although oil is still present in the environments where weathering occurs such as in sediments and coastal areas, marine and

The BP oil spill was one of the worst spills the US has seen. The BP oil spill dispersed millions of gallons of petroleum into the ocean as the oil rig exploded killing 11 workers. BP oil rig had various things malfunction due to BP not following proper protocol. Transocean employees were in charge of making sure all the gauges were correct. They also failed to report the failed negative pressure test that was ran instead they went along with the BP staff that was overseeing the project who stated everything was fine when it wasn’t. Halliburton urged BP to include “twenty one metal centralizing collars to stabilize the cement BP chose to use six instead.” BP was negligent and Halliburton did not stop them, they failed to put a cement seal around the well to close which in turn released gas into the well that caused the explosion. As a result the well didn’t shut down like it should’ve when the fire began even though attempts were made also the “5,000 foot pipe collapsed which leaked the oil into the ocean for 87 days”. The oil rig also burned for 2 days before sinking into the ocean. The BP oil spill has killed hundreds of animals some of them were endangered. The spill also caused problems with the ecosystem which caused fish

Everybody is affected by oil spills… including the person reading this. People as well as animals are either killed or seriously injured every time a spill occurs. The leading cause of oil spills is careless mistakes caused by people and equipment malfunctions. “As of 2013, 10,000 (oil spill) incidents are recorded (due to tankers) (Roser 6) As a result, freshwater oils spills pollute the environment and come with nothing but negative side effects.

When chemicals are involve, people think, especially the environmentalist that it is bad for the ocean but if the oil remains untreated it becomes a disaster. The BP oil spill which happened on April 2010, where about 200 million gallon of oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico, they used dispersants called Corexit 9500 and 9527. Reporters say that the dispersants are killing the ocean coral. However, on the journal there is a good news for the use of chemical to disperse oil spill. Eenennaam, Wei, Grolle, Foekema and Murk argued that dispersants create “marine snow”. They explained and define marine snow as plants and animals near the surface of the ocean die and decay, they fall toward the sea floor. The decaying material is referred to as “marine

How it affects animals. Oil spills are harmful to many fish. Oil spills destroys the insulating ability of fur bearing mammal,such as sea otters,and water repellency of a bird feathers,thus exposing these creatures to harsh elements.