The Effects of an Oil Spill

Oil is what helps keep the world going around, because of the huge roles it plays to help society function.  but when things take a turn for the worse and oil spill fro sunken ships or from leaking pipes at the bottom of the ocean, oil can be a nightmare.  It is almost impossible to clean up, and hurts or environment by killing the plants and trees, even the animals and birds.  There are still ways to help prevent spills from happening, or if they have already happened, to help clean up the spilled oil.

Why is oil so important?

            Oil is so important because we use it for just about everything in our day-to-day lives. We refine oil to be used as gas in cars and buses. Refined oil powers almost every form of transportation today. Oil is also used to power our entire worlds infrastructure through electricity, and being used in things like roads. Our houses wouldn't be livable due to the fact that oil is used to spread electricity to everywhere in the world. Oil is also used to make plastics and acrylics for our day to day toys and appliances. Oil is also used to make medicines, ink, pesticides, varnishes, and even fertilizers.(Design '04, [1]) Oil is a necessity to our daily lives, and with it being spilled more and more frequently, prices are going up higher for all these oil dependent products. So when an oil spill occurs, we have less oil for the oil products that are needed.

History of oil spills

             The largest known oil spill is still the recent 779 liter oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The pipe leading down into the earth broke at the very bottom of the shaft, just above the sea bottom. It spilled almost 80 liters of oil a day, and went on for about 100 days.(CW Media '11, [1]) BP, the company responsible for the spill tied method after method to try and clean up the spill from the source, to get the leak to stop leaking. Almost all of their attempts were ineffective, and the only one that finally worked was basically a machine that pumped concrete and tar into the pipe to try and close it up.(Gail the Actuary '10, [2]) All the other methods had worked before in smaller oil spill clean ups, but this leak was so deep and was leaking so much, that they had no way to stop it. The biggest oil spill before this one in the gulf of mexico was an oil rig in alaska that capsized and spilled out all of its billions of gallons of oil into the alaskan waters. This was absolutely devastating to the Alaskan environment and economy.(Gail the Actuary '10, [1])

What causes the oil to spill?

             Oil spills into rivers, bays, and the ocean are caused by accidents involving tankers, barges, pipelines, refineries, and storage facilities. Usually it all happens while the oil is being transported to the U.S. Other situations might involve the spillage of the oils straight from the rigs out in the ocean. Any type of faulty piping or human error can cause oil to spill from a broken pipe or leak from the source. On the boat that is transferring the oil, a multitude of glitches, wrong actions, or even an accident could cause the ship to leak, or sink and spill all the oil.(Gail the Actuary '10, [3]) The oil can even spill on the rigs where the oil is extracted from the crust of the earth. Pressure from the oil can build up and shoot the drill back up, or even cause pipes to burst. the pipes can also crack and explode at the bottom of the ocean, causing the leak to occur at the deepest part of the ocean. The farther down the pipe the oil leaks from, the harder it is to stop the oil from leaking due to the deeper water pressures.(Gail the Actuary '10,[4])

Who controls the spill?

             In the United States, depending on where the spill occurs, either the U.S. Coast Guard or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency takes charge of the spill response. They, in turn, often call on other agencies for help and information. in the past year, BP and the U.S. government have still been trying to pick up all the spilt oil from the gulf of mexico where oil came spilling into this part of the ocean almost one year ago. BP has been trying to find new inventive ways to clean up all the spilt oil, but there is still no easy way to pick all the oil, like many people would have hoped by now.(Gail the Actuary '10, [2]) Groups trying to protect the environment pitch in all the time to help clean up the oil from the shores of the coast of the gulf, where the oil hits the environment the most. Crews try to collect all the animals that have been affected by the oil spill, by becoming covered in the oil. These people donate their time to clean up and do something about the oil that the government and BP just plain miss.(Florida Philanthropic Network '10, [2])

             The goal of new federal regulations is to prevent oil spills from happening. People who cause oil spills now must pay severe penalties, and the regulations also call for safer vessel design in the hopes of avoiding future spills. Now, the tankers that transport the oil to it's destination are reinforced with double steel hulls.(Gail the Actuary '10, [3]) In the U.S., people who respond to oil spills must practice by conducting training drills, and people who manage vessels and facilities that store or transport oil must develop plans explaining how they would respond to a spill, so that they can respond effectively to a spill if they need to. There are many guidelines that the companies have to follow involving these procedures of responding to an oil spill.

What happens to the spilt oil?

            Oil floats on the water after it has spilled. Very heavy oil can sometimes sink in fresh water, but this happens very rarely. Oil usually spreads out rapidly across the water surface to form a thin layer that we call an oil slick. As the spreading process continues, the layer becomes a very thin layer called a sheen, which often can look like a rainbow from all perspectives. This sheen of oil can spread across hundreds of miles anywhere in the ocean.(Gail the Actuary '10, [5]) Billions of gallons of oil add to the constantly spreading area of oil every second of the pouring hole if it is at the bottom of the ocean. It is essential to start the cleanup of the oil before it spreads that far.

             Depending on the circumstances, oil spills can be more or less harmful to marine birds and mammals and fish and shellfish. You may have seen pictures of creatures covered in oil from the spill. Oil destroys the insulating ability of fur-bearing mammals, such as sea otters, and the water-repelling abilities of a bird's feathers, which exposes these creatures to the harsh elements. Many birds and animals also ingest oil when they try to clean themselves, which will poison them. Depending on just when and where a spill happens, from just a couple to hundreds of thousands of birds and mammals can be killed or injured. (Gail the Actuary '10, [5])

What happens to the environment?

             When oil comes into contact with nature, bad things begin to happen. Crude oil kills many plants that take in the oil, not to mention the animals and fish that are harmed in the spill. Oil spreading to the wildlife of coasts and swamps are disastrous to the life that is sustained there. when birds or any fur animals come into contact with crude oil, there undercoats and down feathers melt away and inhibit their abilities to stay warm and water proof. many of these creatures then die from hypothermia in the cold nights in the gulf. The crews that try to clean up the animals affected by the oil have a huge problem, it costs about $1,000 to clean just one bird, and $4,000 to clean up an otter, with all the equipment.(Viegas '10, [1]) This is why crews are greatly demoralized to star or help clean-up in the first place. Other sources of food such as oysters and crabs become tainted, unable to be eaten because they are poisoned with the oil. the government tests samples from each area affected by the spill to test for cleanliness in the food sources. There was much controversy over when seafood from a previously tainted area is safe to eat, and many are saying that some creatures are still tainted with the spilled oil. On the other hand, many are also saying that all the seafood from the affected areas are safe to eat, the big companies like BP, and the government all think it is safe to eat food from spill areas like the Gulf of Mexico, but many of the locals do not think any of the food sources are safe just yet. The government is pressured to have the areas cleaned so the local economy can get started again, which why these people are suspicious if the food is really clean. 

What can we do?

            Everyone was effected by the spill in the gulf. Shortages of clean food and water affect everyone around the U.S. even if they can still get these supplies eventually. It just makes it harder to have these goods in your possession. There are only a few national effects of a small oil spill in the gulf, but many local problems. Because oil products in the environment can cause harm, we need to prevent problems like this when we can. For example, by avoiding dumping oil or oily waste into the sewer or garbage, we avoid polluting the environment we live in. Sometimes, we can find ways to avoid using oil in the first place. Actions like riding a bicycle, walking, or taking the bus rather than taking a car to some of the places we need to go. Just these few actions that take only a couple extra minutes from our lives drastically reduce our dependancy on oil. When we use less oil, less needs to be transported, and there's a lower risk of future oil spills. We should understand that it is because we rely on oil that we run the risk of oil spills. That means that all of us share both the responsibility for creating the problem of oil spills and the responsibility for finding ways to solve the problem. there are ways we can help more, even if we do not have much power over the situation in the first place. Anyone can donate money to help a cause that cleans up the oil from the ocean, from beaches, even from animals. People can even volunteer their time at one of these rescue organizations, and clean up a bird or an otter. You can log onto the "Florida Philanthropic Network" website to get information on volunteer or help centers where you can donate your money or time. (Florida Philanthropic Network, '10 [1]) Another example of something anyone can do to pitch in to reduce the use of oil is to try not use products that are oil based, like some lotions and lipsticks. This would then stop the need for oil so we would lose less money from each spill, and oil in general, slowly lessening our oil dependencies from foreign oil, and eventually we could make the U.S. oil free.

Conclusion
             To conclude, there are many things that we can do to help clean up an oil spill with the help of others. once we have become informed about what to do after an oil spill, what happens during an oil spill, and what can be done to prevent one we can all help get rid of oil spills in the first place. We will help keep our environments clean and our food and water safe.