Question #3 Two acts passed by congress, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) were made to control the creation, distribution, and disposal of hazardous waste from cradle to grave. They hold people who have mishandled toxic substances accountable for the damage they have done there is a spill or leakage, both past and present. RCRA seeks to prevent spills before they happen by imposing strict regulations on the handling of hazardous wastes. CERCLA (or the Superfund) main goal is to clean up hazardous sites after a spill has occurred, and generate the money to do so.…
Since the machines needed constant oiling, the oil was all over the floor. When the fire spiked up from the eighth floor it hit the oil and the wildfire…
The Texas City disaster was an accident in April 16, 1947, in the Port of Texas City, it’s was the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history, and one of the largest non-nuclear explosions. Fire started on board the French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp her goods of roughly 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate ignated, with the initial blast and with chain-reaction of further fires and explosions in other ships and nearby oil-storage facilities killing at least 581 people, including all but one member of the Texas City fire department. The disaster cause the first ever class action lawsuit against the United States government, under the then-recently enacted Federal Tort Claims Act on behalf of 8,485 victims. Some of the deaths and damage in Texas City were due to the destruction and continuous burning of several chemical plants oil storage, and other facilities near the explosions.…
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.…
The fire raged until a huge storm put out the flames and filled the lake. Centuries before the oil gushers were at Sour Lake, the Native Americans used the tar and oil that bubbled up to the surface of…
A benefit versus cost analysis of the United States Coast Guard Oil Prevention Spill program, concluded that efforts to reduce oil spills pays off. Resources allocated to safer working conditions and optimal maintenance suggest that reduced environmental damages could total 3.5 million dollars saved, 1.5 million saved in cleanup costs and approximately 1 million dollars of oil saved. Various ways to prevent oil spillage are the assessment of the technology used in transport and drilling, preparation of response training, improved surveillance of operations, and increased awareness of the dangers of all types of spillage. The primary technique is the mechanical containment and recovery of oil to collect, contain and recover spillage. The primary…
North Jersey has been an epicenter of manufacturing, refining, and shipping since the Industrial Age. However, the region’s propensity towards those three fields has led to a vast number of environmental problems in northern cities. In a recent case spanning from 2004 to 2015, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) charged the Exxon Mobil Corporation with the contamination of soil and groundwater via oil spills. Although the state settled that Exxon would pay $225 million for its damages, environmental groups like the New Jersey Sierra Club still find the agreement as too lax. In order to create a better course of action, it is important to understand the case and the perspectives of some parties involved with the case.…
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.…
The storm impact caused the spill of over seven million gallons of oil into Gulf Coast waterways. Additionally, it flooded three Superfund81 sites in the New Orleans area, and destroyed or compromised numerous drinking water facilities and wastewater treatment plants along the Gulf Coast.82 The storm’s collective environmental damage, while not creating the “toxic soup” portrayed in the media, nonetheless did create a potentially hazardous environment for emergency responders and the general public.83 In response, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Coast Guard jointly led an interagency environmental assessment and recovery effort, cleaning up the seven million gallons of oil and resolving over 2,300 reported cases of…
Gasoline fires are very different to each other much like many incidents we respond to day to day. The scenario is in the town of Yonkers New York. The scenario contains an…
People were frantic trying to stop barrels oil that were gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, covering wildlife, and poisoning water in thick, unescapable oil. It took over 80 days to just stop the leak caused by an oil pipe explosion in 2010. Michael Klare, (2010) states the leak is “something that would not have occurred with proper corporate oversight” (p.1). Four years later, the government, organizations, and volunteers are still trying to clean up the millions of barrels that were dumped into the Gulf of Mexico. Oil is a source of energy that goes up in demand every day as the supply depletes.…
Texas City, Texas also known as toxic city is a booming industrial area surrounded by the most significant ports in the Galveston Bay for the shipping community, and is surrounded by oil refineries and chemical plants (Ferling, 1996, p.48). Additionally, it is a city all too familiar with industrial accidents. However, nothing will ever compare to the most devastating industrial accident the state of Texas and America has ever seen; the 1947 Texas City Explosion. An article entitled “Texas City Disaster” written by John Ferling, describes the events leading up to the explosion that impacted Texas City. In this article review I summarize the writer’s purpose for writing the article, identify contributing factors causing the disaster, explain…
Hunter “The US has the 10th largest oil reserve in the world”. “The US consumes more oil than any oil country 1.85 billion barrels per day”. Oil spills affect the environment and economy. The Gulf of Mexico has over a thousand oil rigs. The Deepwater Horizon is one of the biggest oil rigs on the Gulf of Mexico.…
Fire is a national problem that has a huge impact on people, property and the environment. According to the report “American burning published in 1973” annually more than 300,000 people are injured as a result of fire. Additionally, nearly 12,000 lives are claimed with the highest aggregate cost of $11billion in property loss, burn injury treatments and wasted resources. Since the release of America burning these numbers have decreased dramatically.…
The first oil spill in the country occurred in Araromi in Ondo State in 1908 (Ukoli, 2005). This was followed by Forcados spill in Delta state where an estimated 421,000 barrels of oil were release into the ocean in January 1980 destroying abount 836 acres of forest in the region (Ukoli, 2005, Adati, 2012). In February, 1995 another oil spill occur near Etiama Nembe releasing about 24,000 barrels of oil into fresh water swamp (Kadafa, 2012). ‘Shell Petroleum Development Company since 1989 has recorded an average of 221 spills per year in its operational area involving 7,350 barrels annually’ (Kadafa,…