Bp Oil Spill Case Study

Improved Essays
FACTORS
The BP oil spill directly affected the health of the environment in very harmful ways. In an account of the environmental losses regarding the BP oil spill, a famous writer for the Washington Post, Kevin Nance (2015), illustrates a reflection of the consequences in the wake of this disaster: “We remember the giant oil slick burning on the water, blackening the beaches, clogging the marshlands, choking and killing the fish and wildlife.” Many forms of wildlife suffered throughout this highly preventable incident, ruining fragile ecosystems permanently, despite the endless efforts of engineers and environmental specialists. Even 5 years after this spill, the consequences are still prevalent and largely noticeable.
When the spill occurred, it spread in wild amounts and at astonishing rates. Within the spread, it managed to stretch across more than 1,100 miles of coastline, at least 1,200 square miles of the deep ocean floor, and 68,000 square miles of surface water (NRDC, 2015). Among these expansive waters, many marine plants, coral, and animals were affected through one of nature’s most deadly weapons; bioaccumulation. In a January study published in Geophysical Research Papers, it was found that the plankton that served as food for early-life stages of fish and shrimp, contained high concentrations of toxic polyaromatic hydrocarbons linked to BP oil (Schleifstein, 2012). This population of plankton grew, and were later found in wide areas to the north and south of the BP well, including at the mouth of the Mississippi River (Schleifstein, 2012). From here, biomagnification began, larger predators began eating the plankton, and this lethal poison began moving up the food chain, poisoning and starving these fragile ecosystems to extinction. Internally, the animals of this epidemic were damaged, along with physically. Animals and plant life were commonly coated with this deadly substance, creating troubles with breathing, moving, and eating (Landau, 2011). According to the National Wildlife Federation (n.d.), birds coated in oil causes the “birds' feathers to mat and separate, causing the bird to lose its buoyancy and the ability to regulate body temperature. Contact with oil on their skin or face can cause skin and eye lesions.” Not only do individual health effects in animals arise, but so does ecosystem health. Throughout this disaster, the wetlands, an essential migratory stop-over for almost every bird traveling in the western hemisphere, were destroyed (AFP, 2010). Important vegetation and breeding waters were polluted with this spreading oil, ruining these roosting and nesting areas forever, widely impacting the reproduction rates of many life-forms. Along with impacting the environment, this deadly toxin, oil, has devastating effects on humans as well.
…show more content…
First off, oil is proven to be an allergen. In a recent acute study, it was found that the “Tar Balls”, round clumps of solidifying oil, washing on the shores of local beaches, contained Vibrio (Schleifstein, 2012). Vibrio is dreaded bacteria in which causes rare infections that can include life-threatening diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting. Also, it was reported by doctors that the workers who attempted to help with the BP oil spill cleanup process suffered from a variety of sub lethal effects, such as breathing problems, skin rashes, and nausea (Benoit, 2011). Not only is oil an allergen, but it is demonstrated that oil influenced multiple carcinogens. Several of the dispersed chemicals, including Corexit, attempting to eliminate oil from the ocean's waters was found to cause cancer on their own (Benoit, 2011). Over 2 million gallons of dispersants had been used in the Gulf by August (Landau, 2011). However, despite oils dirty effects to the environment’s health, it has benefited the health of millions, through the miraculous breakthrough of plastic. Plastic is a lightweight, low cost, and durable synthetic polymer, in which has been essential to the way we live our lives today (Gerard, …show more content…
Due to this disaster, over 205.8 million gallons of crude oil was spilled into the ocean, spreading across more than 1,100 miles of coastline, at least 1,200 square miles of the deep ocean floor, and 68,000 square miles of surface water, and affecting over 8,000 species. With this knowledge, we should move forward and ensure such a destructive event will never happen again, through learning more about the marine ecosystem and its inhabitants, along the machinery we are operating and its

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill was a tragic mishap on BP’s behalf, killing several rig workers and having many other outreaching effects. The amount of crude oil that was spilled into the Gulf of Mexico over the course of approximately three months was 4.9 million barrels of oil and to go along with that, 2 million gallons of chemical dispersants to the Gulf. A major group of crude oil, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) was discovered along the northern shorelines of the Gulf of Mexico. PAH effected several species of wildlife including Dolphins, the Tundra Peregrine Falcon, and shrimp. PAH or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, concentration levels in May 2010 were higher than in May 2011, a mere five times higher, which indicates…

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Crudas Disasrous”is an oil tanker which has run aground and is leaking at a rate of 15 tonnes of oil per day. The oil is heading south with a strong current heading towards the bottom of Stradbroke Island from just north of Amity point and within 72 hours it will have reached the southern side of the islands ecosystems. North Stradbroke Island is made up of 18 regional ecosystems including; mudflats, mangroves, rocky shores and tidal flats, which is also located in Morton Bay just off the coast of Brisbane in South East Queensland. Study Methods A series of study methods were conducted to experiment on the ‘health’ and ‘well being’ of the ecosystems, some of these included; An animal survey, which was conducted at the most frequently visited…

    • 1005 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Disaster Of Bligh Reef

    • 160 Words
    • 1 Pages

    The collision between the supertanker ship, Exxon Valdez and reef formation Bligh Reef breaks the ship’s hull, spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean, and washed up 1,900 kilometers along the coastline. The spilled oil killed hundreds of thousands of marine mammals, birds, orca whales and thousands of herring fish, extinct Pacific Herring and Pigeon Guillemots species. The oils also adhered thousands of coast rocks and polluting the entire area of Bligh Reef in decades. Simply said, the disaster ‘vanished’ almost of the entire ecosystem in Prince William Sounds at the moment and it spent decades to recover. The government reacted on this disaster by charging Exxon Mobil oil company to pay millions of dollars to compensate the…

    • 160 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chapter Nine: Unwholesome Waters The Deepwater Horizon spilled over four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. These oil companies learned they are far from being prepared for accidents such as this. Even though, this killed copious amounts of marine life, boats and other water vessels powered by fossil fuels kill more marine life each year with the chemical they leave in the water. Why not stop using oil?…

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On March 24, 1989, one of the worst recorded oil spills occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska (Seitel, 2011, p.100). A 987-foot tanker from Exxon Mobil Corp., the Exxon Valdez, spilled 260,000 barrels of oil after the intoxicated ship captain “ran aground on a reef 25 miles southwest of the port of Valdez” (Seitel, 2011, p.101). The oil spill damaged over 1,300 square miles of coast line and caused the death of various sea life, including over 4,000 Alaskan sea otters (Seitel, 2012, p.101). Exxon Mobil’s public relations approach to the crisis received criticism and the mistake affected the company nearly twenty years later.…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The article "Heavily Oiled Salt Marsh following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Ecological Comparisons of Shoreline Cleanup Treatments and Recovery" by Scott Zengel and others examined the effectiveness and ecological effects of different oiled marsh “cleanup” treatment methods used in the treatment test area as its stated purpose. They use the reality of unfortunate spill events to reflect on lessons from past experiences and gain more understanding in how to best approach handling the response. This use is the overlying importance of the article. Specifically, wetlands play a vital part of the eco-system in areas around Louisiana where the Deepwater Horizon operated. These areas are difficult to treat and have shown in the past to have…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    BP Oil Spill Vs Dust Bowl

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The BP or Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred on April 20, 2010 and came about due to natural gas blasting through a concrete core that was too weak to overcome the pressure of the gas. The natural gas then traveled to the rig’s riser to the platform of the rig where it was ignited. After killing 11 workers, the rig sank and oil began to travel into the gulf after the drilling mud no longer counteracted the pressure of the oil. Even though it has been five years since the BP Oil spill, there is still oil in the surrounding ecosystem even though it is not visible on the surface. A significant amount of oil is on the Gulf’s floor and the oil that traveled into wetlands and beaches is still present and will be present for many more years.…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Santa Barbara History

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages

    This resulted in 3 million gallons of oil that leaked 5 miles out into the Pacific Ocean. Lasting approximately a week, the oil blowout killed about 3,700 seabirds including marine animals such as dolphins, elephant seals, sea lions and many more. The Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969 is ranked the largest oil spill that ever occurred in the waters of California. Therefore, there have been many lasting impacts such as (Snyder), wildlife damage, natural beauty of the ocean, the tourism economy suffered, and fishing industries have been put out of business. However, we have thought of two effective solutions to get rid of the oil spill of 1969 at…

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Marsh Resilience

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The results showed that there is a significant amount of resilience by the salt marshes of the Gulf of Mexico to large amounts of oil, however, at high saturation levels, the land loss due to erosion is considerable and irreversible. I find this result frightening because as oil demand continues to increase the chances of disasters occurring in its collection or transport are expected. The effect that the Deepwater Horizon disaster had on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystems can be compared to the potential effect the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone Pipeline could have on terrestrial ecosystems should a disaster occur. Convincing research results could not only help rehabilitate negatively affected ecosystems, but it could potentially prevent the development and usage of technology that could have a large, irreversible effect on the world's…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Perrin's Argument Analysis

    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Gulf Oil Spill of 2010 is often called the worst oil spill in US history. On April twentieth 2010 BP oil rig exploded killing eleven people and causing a leakage of about 3.19 million barrels to pour into the gulf. The twenty-two mile long plume not only rested on the surface of the water, but also adhered together and fell to the ocean floor. This largely and negatively affected marine life. The number of average number of dolphin deaths per year went from sixty-three to one hundred and twenty-five in the months following the spill.…

    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The BP oil spill was a very tragic environmental disaster that occurred recently which resulted from poor engineering judgement. There were several ethical issues involved with the BP oil spill that made it such a terrible and devastating disaster. However, the disaster began with one single decision that should not have been made. The environmental ramifications that were caused by the spill are still seen along the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico. If ethical issues of the BP oil company were handled correctly and responsibly it is very likely the spill would never have occurred.…

    • 978 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Oil Spills and How They Affect The Environment Oil spills, no matter how small or large, effect the worlds environment by their destroying and poisoning any habitat they come in contact with, mainly the water though. These spills can be devastating because they disrupt what we know as the food chain. The food chain starts with producers who are ate by small animals which are ate by larger and larger animals until the top predator is reached, humans. Oddly enough, humans are the main reason the food chain is being destroyed. In our fight to reach economic prosperity we rarely take in consideration the environment, which is partially what life is based on.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Argument Essay: Saving Oceans Six years ago the Deepwater Horizon oil spill released “210 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico…killing 4,768 animals” (Jarvis). This Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused a lot of harm to our sea life and greatly damaged ecosystems. Oil floated to the surface and washed up on shorelines as it covered beaches for miles along the coastline. Organizations joined together to help begin the process of rescuing and rehabilitating animals that suffered from this tragedy.…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Oil spills, such as the devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill, can dump millions of gallons of crude oil into the ocean causing long term damage. The oil spreads out over the surface of the water, creating a deadly coating. The coating of oil kills off the aquatic life and pollutes the beaches when washed on shore. Seagulls, pelicans and other aquatic birds that spend a lot of time in water are affected the most. When oil sticks to the bird’s feathers, the oil causes the feathers to separate making it less water proof and exposing the bird’s sensitive skin to the environment.…

    • 820 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    People in the region often complain about health issues including breathing problems, skin lesions and many have loss access to food and clean water as a result of destruction of farm lands and aquatic ecosystem. The impact of oil spills in the region is best captured in a report issued by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in 1983 “We witnessed the slow poisoning of the waters of this country and the destruction of vegetation and agricultural land by oil spills which occur during petroleum operations, but since the inception of the oil industry in Nigeria, there has been no concerned and effective efforts on the part of the government, let alone the oil operators, to control environmental problems associated with the industry” (The Tides news ,…

    • 1565 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays