In a major incident the shortterm environmental impact can be severe, causing. On april 20, 2010, an explosion on the deepwater horizon macondo oil well drilling platform killed 11 workers, and started the largest marine oil spill in u. Oil well fires can be the result of human actions, such as accidents or arson, or natural events, such as lightning. The report is available only in electronic format from neris homepage fr415. Oil well fires are oil or gas wells that have caught on fire and burn. Most oils tend to spread horizontally into a smooth and slippery surface, called a slick, on top of the water. Impacts and management of oil spill pollution along the nigerian coastal areas peter c. Of floridas 790 miles of coastline, 177 miles received some degree of oiling. Effects of oil spills on marine and coastal wildlife 3 the route by which an animal is exposed to oil ingestion, absorption, or inhalation can also influence the rate and toxicity of the effects. By understanding the basic of the ecology of these forests and learning from past oil spills in mangroves, we can better plan for, protect, and respond to spills that may threaten them. Oil spills have many adverse effects on the environment. Most oil spill behaviour models include evaporation as a component ofthe process and output of the model. If a spill causes direct mortality to the food resources. Presents opposing viewpoints on such aspects of the oil spill as its effects on marine life and offshore drilling, and features topical model essays and writing exercises includes bibliographical references pages 117122 and index introduction.
May 10, 2010 the three causes of bps oil disaster just as with goldman sachs and the titanic, hubris, recklessness and arrogance made the gulf spill happen. Effects of oil spills on marine and coastal wildlife1 holly k. On april 20, 2010, the macondo well blew out, costing the lives of 11 men and beginning a catastrophe that sank the deepwater horizon drilling rig and spilled over 4 million barrels of crude oil into the gulf of mexico. One of the major fates of spilled petroleum oil in the coastal environment is its incorporation into the sediments alexander and webb, 1987. Deepwater horizon joint investigation team releases final. Crude oil spills in the environment, effects and some. Outer continental shelf ocs anderson, mayes, and labelle, 2012. Effects of oil spills on marine and coastal wildlife1 edis. Health effects of oil spills and implications for public.
Pdf while oil is a necessary risk in a complex society, recent and avoidable major oil. Oil spills by oil tankers number worldwide by quantity. A bird covered in oil from the bp deepwater horizon spill struggles to climb on to a boom in barataria bay in the gulf of mexico. The worst oil spill caused by offshore oil drilling happened in the mexican gulf. The importance of root cause analysis during incident. Onshore and offshore oil drilling are some of the worst ways oil can find its way to the sea. The national oil and hazardous substances pollution.
A release into the environment of heating oil includes any kind of spill or leak from your oil tank, oil delivery line or other part of your heating. Manual removal and raking of thick oil and heavily oiled vegetation from a marsh during the deepwater horizon oil spill. It also highlights ways scientists clean up both small and large oil spills. The oil pollution act and liability limits background in march 1989, the exxon valdez ran aground spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil into prince william sound. In september 2011, a definitive report was released by by a joint task force of the u. The national oil and hazardous substances pollution contingency plan 40 cfr part 300, referred to subsequently as the national contingency plan ncp, is the principal federal mechanism for operations pertaining to the identification, containment, and cleanup of releases of oil and hazardous substances in the coastal united states. Boems most recent oil spill analysis study estimates statistics for spill occurrence for a broad.
Animals with varied diets may have fairly limited contact with oil through the ingestion route, whereas lowmobility animals that need to breathe at the. To identify the health implications of oil spill on the residents. To determine the environmental impact of oil spill on land and water within the study area. The spill disrupted an entire regions economy, damaged fisheries and critical habitats, and brought vividly to light the risks of deepwater drilling for. United nations environment programme, global marine oil pollution. In an increasingly technological era, the united states has become more. Currently, many oil rigs are being drilled in seas. It addresses potential causes of marine oil pollution, including major spills and the socalled normal spillage that can cause serious damage to harbour ecosystems. If a defendant files a motion under rule 12b or 12c to a complaint or. The canyon located in the gulf of mexico was off the coast of louisiana which was part of the us exclusive economic zone.
The shortterm effects of oil spills on marine species and communities are well. Coast guard osc reports and pollution reports, file reports. Tier 3 centres a guide to oil spill compensation 38 introduction the ipieca oil spill preparedness and response report series summary brings together, for the first time, the complete ipieca oil. The true cost of the bp oil spill for people, communities, and the environment calculating economic and environmental damages from any oil spill, let alone a spill the size of bps deepwater horizon is a difficult job. In addition to the requirements of the merchant shipping oil pollution preparedness and response regulations 1998, there may be requirements for oil pollution emergency planning through either block specific licence conditions or general.
The deepwater horizon oil spill and the gulf of mexico. These regulations implement into uk law the oil spill planning requirements of the oprc convention. This spill impacted wildlife, habitats, fishing communities, and commerce along the large coastal areas of louisiana, mississippi, texas, alabama, and florida. Hazards related to offshore oil and gas operations as it has been dramatically demonstrated not only in the macondo accident but in a variety of cases, offshore oil rigs activities entail the hazard of a major accident with potentially severe. Also the physiochemical properties of the spilled oil are not much. More buoyant oil traveled up through about a mile of water column and formed large surface slicks. The environmental impact of oil spills has been extensively researched over the past 30 years and a considerable amount has been learnt about the nature and duration of such effects. One prevalent trend in the causes of oil spills is. An explosion on a bp oil rig in the gulf of mexico, which was drilling in underwater depths of more than one mile, kills eleven people and causes the largest oil spill in u. This document is wec285, one of a series of the department of wildlife ecology and conservation, ufifas extension. The first cause that leads to sea pollution is oil spill. United states district court eastern district of louisiana in re. Coastal wetland oiling from the dwh oil spill is a contributing factor for increased coastal wetland erosion due to the loss in vegetative cover along the nearshore environment dwh trustees 2016.
This statistic shows the number of oil spills by oil tankers according to the quantity of oil that was spilled from 1970 to 2019. Understanding oil spills and oil spill response pdf epa. Applied issues spatial and temporal impacts of a diesel. Similarly, the lempertkeeneseastrand oil spill prevention and response ospr act of 1991 established the oil spill response program in california and directed the administrator of ospr to develop a research program designed to examine the effects of oil and oil spill response technologies on the environment. Potential environmental impacts of oil spills in greenland. Oil spill problems and management in the niger delta. From fisherman to the president himself, almost everyone is being affected in some way. Bp deepwater horizon oil spill and its economic impact.
Satellite images showed the oil slick covering 25,000 square miles and impacting the shoreline from gulfport, mississippi. The behavior and effects of oil spills in aquatic environments. The detached eddy and looped current shows how the currents had spread the oil to the south east towards the coast of florida. Impacts and management of oil spill pollution along the. This additional information enables the users to break down the. Oil spill claim forms and guidance the texas general. The jit held seven sessions of public hearings, received.
Natural causes such as oil that seeps from the bottom of oceans which enters the marine environment. Changes in foraging locations may result from oil spills. While oil is a necessary risk in a complex society, recent and avoidable major oil releases have demonstrated that serious improvements in oil spill response are warranted to improve effectiveness. Stress responses shown by corals exposed to oil and oil fractions 30. Badejo abstract nigeria has a coastline of approximately 853km facing the atlantic ocean. Analysis of past accidents in offshore oil and gas operations page 8 2. To identify the presence of total petroleum hydrocarbon tph in the environment soil, water. Some of which have technical issues hence causing oil spillage. Download a pdf of interim report on causes of the deepwater horizon oil rig blowout and ways to prevent such events by the national academy of engineering and national research council for free. Despite the importance ofthe field, relatively little work has been conducted on the basic physics and chemistry ofoil spill evaporation fingas, 1995. Since 2000, there have been at least 21 railway spills and 734 pipeline spills of crude oil over 1,000 gallons. Causes and effects of oil spill on our environment earth. Pdf oil spill problems and management in the niger delta.
They can exist on a small scale, such as an oil field spill catching fire, or on a huge scale, as in geyserlike jets of flames from ignited high pressure wells. The oil spill prevention and response act of 1991 ospra established a coastal protection fund that can be used to reimburse those who have incurred response costs or suffered damages due to an oil spill. Factors which affect the ability of an oil spill to spread include surface tension, specific gravity, and viscosity. Serious oil train and pipeline spills are common oil trains and pipelines spill frequently, often with serious consequences. This document provides information for those who would like to make a claim against the fund for response costs and damages. This guide is intended to assist those who work in spill response and planning in regions where mangrove ecosystems are an important part of the coastline. Coralline algae and occasional encrusting or lowprofile corals domi. Since the tankers coming in and out of the vancouver port would carry heavy bitumen crude oil from the tar sands, the risks associated. Oil spills endanger public health, imperil drinking water, devastate natural resources, and disrupt the economy.
The rate at which an oil spill spreads will determine its effect on the environment. Oil spills may originate in natural or anthropogenic causes. Oil spill cleanup operations may cause more harm to a fragile coastal marsh environment than the oil itself. A traditional investigation may find the cause to be oil spilled on the floor with the remedy limited to cleaning up the spill and. It is not just those that are living along the gulf coast. Ipieca oil spill preparedness series and response 19902005. This paper addresses the environmental impact of oil spillage and degradation in the niger delta region of nigeria. Deepwater horizon joint investigation team releases final report. The framework can be used to clarify the complexity of oil spill impacts.
Oil spills can cause a wide range of impacts in the marine environment and are often portrayed by the media as environmental disasters with dire consequences predicted for the survival of marine flora and fauna. A scientific appraisal of typical oil spill effects reveals that, while damage occurs and can be profound at the level of individual organisms, populations are more. It also has a section telling kids how to help reduce the usage of oil, indirectly reducing the amount of oil spills. The evaporation of oil spills bureau of safety and. Applied issues spatial and temporal impacts of a diesel fuel spill on stream invertebrates david a.
Noaa and many partner organizations have conducted research to determine the full extent of the damage from the spilled oil on the gulf of mexico ecosystem and economy. The radiations destroy the cells in human body and causes cancer. As a result, our predictive capability is probably better for oil spills than for many other types of marine pollutant. As many as 90,000 response workers engaged in nearshore and offshore response activities in the gulf of mexico, working on approximately 6,500 marine vessels, including roughly 5,800 vessels of opportunity, a program in which bp contracted with vessel owners to assist in response efforts. To identify the major causes of oil spill within the study area. The devastation of the oil spill has affected a very wide range of people.
In august 1990, congress responded by passing the oil pollution act, which included the requirement that oil tankers operate with double hulls, the establishment of an oil pollution research and development program, and set. Advances in oil spill science since deepwater horizon. Oil drilling is one of the causes of the oil spill. Common symptoms associated with acute shortterm exposure to heating oil. The deepwater horizon oil spill and the gulf of mexico fishing industry congressional research service summary on april 20, 2010, the deepwater horizon oil drilling rig was destroyed by an explosion and fire, and the oil well began releasing oil into the gulf of mexico. Effects of oil spills on marine and coastal wildlife. To download a pdf file of this report, go to the us department of the interior, bureau of ocean. Oil and water emulsions cause oil to sink and disappear from the surface, giving the visual illusion that it is gone and the threat to the environment has ended. Bureau of ocean energy management, regulation and enforcement boemre and the u. The causes, consequences, solutions to the problem of oil spill incidents and remediation measures were articulated to ameliorate this problem and assist oil communities. Oil pollution emergency planning and reporting oil and. Quantities are measured in tonnes of crude oil with one tonne roughly equal to 308 us gallons, 256 imperial gallons, 7.
Planning and response considerations but where reef coral species can survive. The report assesses poten tial effects and potential mitigation and monitoring measures. This is a reversechronological list of oil spills that have occurred throughout the world and spills that are currently ongoing. Peckarsky department of entomology and field of ecology and evolutionary biology, cornell university, ithaca, new york, u. The causes of the bp oil spill in april of 2010 were revealed bit by bit. Interim report on causes of the deepwater horizon oil rig. Although heating oil is less toxic than other types of petroleum products, exposure to heating oil can cause some short or longterm health effects if the volume or concentration of heating oil is great enough. Oil discharge reporting requirements how to report oil discharges to the national response center and epa if a facility or vessel discharges oil to navigable waters or adjoining shorelines, waters of the contiguous zone, or in connection with activities under the outer continental shelf lands act or deepwater port act of. It is sad that the oil spill had to even happen in the first place. Deepwater horizon oil spill settlement fact sheet the deepwater horizon oil spill occurred on april 20, 2010 and caused significant impacts to floridas natural resources and economy. Crude oil is formed during long periods of time through natural processes involving organic matter from dead organisms. Homeland security to investigate the causes of the deepwater horizon explosion, loss of life, and resulting oil spill, and to make recommendations for safe operations of future oil and gas activities on the u. Find, read and cite all the research you need on researchgate. Gulf oil spill national oceanic and atmospheric administration.
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