Impact of Oil Spills on Environment Essay

Between April and July 2010, approximately 4.1 million barrels of oil from the British Petroleum’s rig Deepwater Horizon leaked into the Gulf of Mexico, wreaking havoc on the environment and disrupting human life along the shore. The New York Times article “Where Gulf Spill Might Place on the Roll of Disasters” questions President Obama’s description of this tragedy as “the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced.” Instead, it proposed contenders as devastating and varied as the…

Oil Drilling in Alaska Alaska has a reputation for having one of the most beautiful and bountiful ecosystems America has to offer. However, this time capsule of scenic beauty may be in danger. The Shell Oil Company has plans to drill for oil off the northern coast of Alaska in the Chukchi Sea. It is believed that one fourth of earth's undiscovered oil maybe found beneath its floor. However, drilling could potentially have a negative impact on the environment. The Chukchi Sea is home to an…

researching the production of oil, in regards to offshore drilling I have found that the oil rigs are creating a vast amount of negative externalities, which is leading to inefficiencies in the economy. Offshore drilling is greatly associated with the amount of risk and as technology advances it has allowed companies to operate in even deeper waters, which allows the major companies to explore further out into the ocean. Past oil spills, along with the assumption of future oil spills, it is hard…

Oil in or on the water is extremely hurtful to wildlife. For example, if an animal lands in an area with oil it may try to clean itself in the toxic petroleum. Doing this can cause an animal to ingest the oil and damage internal organs and the reproductive system. Even if the oil does not kill the animal instantly it can cause long term damage and result in deformed offspring. Immediate impacts of oil are it could get coated into birds' feathers such as cranes or seagulls which causes them to…

will give in this report is The Deepwater Horizon oil spill or also known as the BP Oil Spill. On April 20, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon oilrig exploded causing an the entire rig to sink. This in turn caused a collapse of the oil well. This collapse of the oilrig caused oil to gush from the ocean floor for 87 days. The total estimate of oil that was exerted from the ocean floor was 4.9 billion barrels. It was considered one of the biggest oil spills of all time. This was the cause of faulty…

was the largest spill in US waters until Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with approximately 11 million gallons of crude oil, but some environmentalist believe it could be upwards of around 38 million gallons of oil. The oil tanker ran aground after unfortunate circumstances of trying to avoid ice bergs. The tanker that was meant for Long Beach, California went aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska. This remote area became one of the biggest human caused natural disasters with oil covering roughly…

barrels of undiscovered oil in the arctic. (Irwin) Ever since Shell and other companies began to show interest in drilling oil, native communities and environmental groups such as Earthjustice, Alaska Wilderness League and Friends of Earth Climate Campaign have began to protest about the environmental implications that come with obtaining the oil. They claim that given that there are no proper spill recovery measures in place, oil drilling in the Arctic affects the environment/wildlife, animals…

Administration”). Gasoline is a type of crude oil pumped from deep underground. It is refined from fossil fuels, dead and decayed remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago, to gasoline by adding a multitude of additive chemicals such as ethanol. After the gasoline is refined, it is pumped into storage terminals so it can be loaded into trucks to be distributed. The production of gasoline has a negative economic and environmental impact on the United States and the world as a…

British Petroleum took a massive hit to public image, brand name, and to the overall prosperity of the company, following the oil spill that occurred on April 20, 2010. The spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico near the Mississippi River Delta, at the Deepwater Horizon Oil Facility (Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill). Since this horrific incident, which basically crippled the company, they have been employing numerous tactics to try to recover from it. There are two categories in which one can place…

liquids and gases are transported through a pipeline. Primarily, pipelines are used to move crude and refined petroleum including oil, natural gas, and bio-fuels. Pipelines also move beer, water, slurry and sewerage. Construction of oil pipelines has often been a subject of great concern to many people. key concerns are often related to environmental and economic impacts of the pipeline. One such pipeline that has generated much controversy is in North America (Avery 97). The proposed pipeline…