The Oil Pollution Act: Federal Government

In 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, causing millions of barrels of crude oil to be leaked out into the Gulf of Mexico. The extensive oil spill created a lot of pollution and far-reaching effects on the tourism industry. The resultant damage to marine wildlife such as fish will continue to be felt for many years to come. Weeks after the event, and while it was still in progress, the Deep Water Horizon oil spill was being discussed as a disaster that will impact global economies, markets, and mining policies. The potential consequences included structural shifts in energy policy, insurance marketplaces and risk assessment, and financial liabilities to be incurred by BP. The law that affected the operation of BP’s business was the Clean Water Act, which regulates the discharge of pollutants in US’s waters (EPA, 2008). Following the oil spill, regulations have been put in place to regulate oil drilling operations. The Obama administration proposed new regulations on offshore oil and gas drilling. The regulation focused on oil and gas drilling companies to use stronger blowout Preventers that have the capability to close an offshore well in case a drilling breach occurred accidentally.

With the development of the act, laws and regulations addressing issues associated with the prevention, responds and payment of oil pollution were put in place. Such laws and regulations mandated new requirements for companies and their associated personnel involved in the shipment or extraction of oil, such as prevention and response plans, routine documentation and licensing renewal, and evidence of personnel’s competency and knowledge. The act also revised the staffing standards of all foreign shipment vessels, thereby requiring all foreign vessels to meet U.S standards to gain entry into U.S territory. Additionally, these prevention laws and regulations required new standards for shipment vessels and routine inspections. Due to the extreme

The Exxon Valdez oil spill which occurred in 1989, 11 to 38 million us gallon oil spill is one of environmental disaster which had polluted the water and disturbed the natural habitat (Hellawell, Trevor). This incident mainly resulted in amendment of section 311, which mainly has goals and objectives to report and document the oil spill incidents and these documented reports are used for cleanup of oil pollutants from water and to restore its natural properties.

The United States Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 which prevents any vessel that has caused an oil spill of more than 1 million US gallons in any marine area,

In 1936, The Federal Government cut spending with hopes the parts of national economy that was not under control by the government would step in and help with the economic issues, but the economy continued going downhill until WWII. For example the “Oil Crisis”, this caused prices to raise significantly. Instead of $3 a barrel it went to $12 a barrel.

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill occurred on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. This oil spill was the largest spill in history in front of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. This oil spill released about 4.9 million barrels of oil into the ocean. This spill not only wreck havoc on the marine life but also the economic players that depended on ocean such as fisherman, tourism, and offshore drilling located along the gulf coast. Along will the spill the oil rig which was named Deepwater Horizon also went up in flames. This proved that the issue went far beyond just an oil rig that blew a line. Since this oil spill had drastic impacts all along the coast, BP which was the most liable for this incident faced criminal charges based on what happened. BP which knew the risks of deep ocean drilling failed to take the necessary safety procedures to reduce the risks of such incident occurring, thus was the reasoning behind placing most of the fault on them and not the other companies. The lack of regulatory oversight led to the issues and cost-cutting procedures opened the rig up to possible malfunctions like the one that occurred. During the spill into the gulf, BP sealed the well with cement which seemed to stop a majority of the oil from escaping the well. BP also recognized that the well was “dead” which was proven wrong when scientists still could conclude was leaking minor amounts of oil into the ocean. This spill not only proved to be harmful to the environment but also

The EPA works hand in hand with each state to organize and plan varies types of federal environmental programs. Each state is given the authority to oversee the federal programs as along as they encompass laws and guidelines that are at least as strict as the federal laws that are in place. The EPA has to have constant contact with state officials in order to develop health, agricultural and environmental protocols for any studies that may need improvement to meet the necessary requirements for decreasing toxics or pollution. Even though the state has control over certain aspects of the Clean Air Act they still have to comply with federal laws that are in place regarding any drinking water, storm water, waste water or solid

BP oil spill is ranked as the largest environmental disaster in the world history. As the oil from BP spill washes ashore, people on Gulf Coast are suffering huge damages they have never met before. The U.S. government estimates that up to 60,000 barrels of oil a day are spewing out from the damaged BP drilling rig to Gulf of Mexico. It has ruined the shoreline, killed animal and sea life, threaten the ecosystem and harmed the tourism and fishing in Louisiana. After the spilling happened, US government and BP has been struggling for plugging the hole deep under the water which is known as Top-kill, but failed.  Right after the leak happened, the Obama administration has claimed that BP alone has to take the whole responsibility of the oil

Now we have to look at, the many organizations that responded to the oil spill and their roles in the recovery process. First, we should look at how the government responded to this particular disaster. According to Steffy (2011), after the spill the government issued new regulations, for shallow water-wells and issued fewer permits following the events. This makes sense and no-one would fault the government for taking such action in the aftermath of the disaster. The BP oil spill was a giant disaster and they decided to act quickly until they could make sure all issues were resolved and took a stance to make sure it didn’t happen again near their waters. By taking such actions the government is trying to mitigate any future disasters from oil drilling. The BP oil spill showed how old and outdated, some regulations probably were at the time, and that sometimes they need to be updated to meet current standards in order to provide better safety standards for everyone. This can also show how maybe there was too much oversight, in that the government was allowing these oil companies too much leeway in terms of drilling and not monitoring them to make sure everything is working properly. When you do something like this, you can run into some problems, so it is great to hear that after this disaster happened, the government stepped in and said

Oil spills have often occurred too many times in this world. Unfortunately, when this does happen, there is always losses of life. Many people are affected by it. There is always a price to pay. On March 24, 1989 the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spilt all its oil into the ocean.

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, located in the Gulf of Mexico exploded killing 11 workers and injuring 17. The oil rig sank a day-and-a-half later. The spill was referred to as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP oil spill, Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and BP oil disaster. It was first said that little oil had actually leaked into the ocean but a little over a month later the estimate was 12,000-19,000 barrels of crude oil being leaked per day. Many attempts were made to stop the leak but all failed until they capped the leak on July 15, 2010, and on September 19 the federal government declared the well “effectively dead.” In the three months that it took to finally put a stop the leak, 4.9 million barrels of oil were

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).

BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, is the third largest oil and gas producer in the world, producing almost 3.8 million barrels per day. BP was founded in 1908 by William Knox D’Arcy in London, United Kingdom. The company operates worldwide in several sectors of the oil and gas industry such as generating low carbon energy, moving oil and gas, and off and onshore oil and gas extraction (BP, 2014). However, the offshore Deepwater Horizon oil spill that happened on April 20th, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico was one of the greatest oil spills that took place in history. The disaster caused the loss of the lives of 11 workers, severely injuring 17 workers, and the aftermath had a great impact on the environment in the Gulf of Mexico.

On April 20, the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico led to the largest accidental release of oil into marine waters in history. As a result, a huge loss of money and life was caused and affected serious environmental damage to wild animals and water pollution. BP was accused of their irresponsibility that it took 87 days before the well was closed and sealed. BP’s shares

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).