Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Oil Spills

What does offshore drilling mean? How does offshore drilling affect the environment? How does it cause oil spills? The answer of these questions is easy and simple. Offshore drilling is drilling for oil in the oceans and the seas, and it affects the environment by dumping a lot of toxic materials, and it causes oil spills in many ways, such as people's errors or spill done by accident. My research talks about oil spills, because oil spills are considered the most important thing that cause the pollution in the oceans, especially the Pacific, because it the biggest ocean in our planet and it has a lot of the oil sources.

Oil spills are very dangerous to the environment and humans. So when oil spreads rapidly and overflows in the water, we have to find what the solution to this problem is, and try to not do it again. According to Introduction and Background to the Oil Pollution Prevention Regulation, "Oil discharges can have a severe impact on human drinking water resources located in inland lakes and reservoirs. Spills also create the potential for explosion and fires which, in turn, may lead to more equipment failures, more spills, and endangerment to humans and wildlife".

I planned to write this research about the oil spills because it is the most important thing that threatens the oceans and seas. We have to know the reasons for oil spills and how they affect our lives before trying to find a solution to this problem.

My research paper talks about three things. First, the reasons for oil spills. Next, how oil spills affect in the humans and animals. Finally, the solution for oil spills.

First, offshore drilling affects the environment, and it causes oil spills in the oceans. Oil drilling has many effects on the environment and it causes a lot of environmental problems. Offshore drilling dumps a lot of toxic metals such as chromium and mercury in the oceans, and it pollutes the air as well; according to Committee Against Oil Exploration (n.d.), " Offshore drilling Pollutes the air as much as 7,000 cars driving 50 miles a day"(para. 7). Furthermore, the equipment in the offshore drilling is risky and it may break down or be damaged by any reason and that lead to spilled oil in the oceans, and that has happened; according to Culture Change (n.d.), "In 1998, a rupture in Torch Oil's pipeline spilled 21,000 gallons of oil, damaging a rich ocean fishing ground and killing wildlife in the delicate coastal ecosystem"(para. 8). In addition, oil drilling stations need some transportation, like helicopter and oil tankers, and these tankers, of course need some maintenance, like changing engine oil, and this will cause water pollution. According to Oil Pollution (n.d.), "Used engine oil can end up in waterways. An average oil change uses five quarts; one change can contaminate a million gallons of fresh water" (para. 3). Also, the oil tankers carrying oil could be damaged by natural disasters such as hurricanes, and that may lead to spills the oil in the oceans. Offshore oil industry has many bad effects and the governments who are concerned by oil spills should do something like avoid them.

Second, the oil spills have many effects on human life and animal life. The oil spills in the oceans affect humans, especially in the Pacific Ocean, because it big and there are many countries bordered by it, especially in Asia and Australia. According to FAQ (n.d.), "Volatile components (the strong smell that you feel from oil products is due to such gases that evaporate) of oil can burn eyes, burn skin, irritate or damage sensitive membranes in the nose, eyes and mouth. Hydrocarbons can trigger pneumonia if it enters the lungs. Benzene and other light hydrocarbon can damage red bloods cells, suppress immune systems, strain the liver, spleen and kidneys. Generally, refined products tend to be more toxic, but people who clean up shorelines from oil spills must protect themselves from inhaling these gases, also when it is a matter of crude oil. Some of the light fractions of oil, such as the aromatic components (e.g., benzene), are also known to cause cancer and are very toxic to humans"(para. 14). This means the oil spill, even if it spills in the oceans not on the land, has effects on our health. For example, if there are some people who live on an island and they can smell the volatile components that come from the oil, they will be threatened by these epidemics and illnesses. Moreover, the animals are also affected by the oil spill in the oceans. Most animals have olfaction and they also can be affected by the volatile components, and I talk here about the animals that live on the lands. The marine animals like dolphins, whales and fishes are threatened by oil spills more than wild animals because they live in the oceans. The oil spills can kill the animals by entry into the lungs of animals and poisoning by the oil or by being blinding it. According to Marine Life Facts (n.d.), "The oceans contain 99 percent of the living space on the planet"(para. 1). We have to protect the marine animals and keep the oceans clean. We should understand that we are part of the environment to protect from ourselves and help ourselves to survive in this planet.

Third, oil spills is not problem that we can not handle, and there are some solutions to it. The best solutions to the oil spills is to prevent them before they happen in the first place, and that is not impossible; according to Wilson, Staff, Biology (1995), "To prevent oil spills might include increasing the thickness of ships hulls, reducing the consumption and need for oil in our culture, or creating stricter standards or regulations for the transport of oil" (para. 2). On the other hand, the companies who are responsible for oil spills clean it up but first they have to know many things such as weather and amount of oil spilled, and after that, start to clean it up; according to Oil Spills (n.d.), "The workers can use skimmers. Skimmers are boats that can remove the oil off the water. Sorbents are sponges that can collect the oil. An airplane can fly over the water dropping chemicals into the ocean. The chemicals can break down the oil into the ocean" (para. 21) and there are other solutions which include burning, but this will cause air pollution. There are many kinds of equipment to clean up the oil spills after they happen but the best is to prevent oil spills before it happened.

My opponents say that offshore drilling is very safe because of the technology that offshore drilling stations use. However, this is simply wrong. In fact, the machines might explode or be disrupted by high pressure and temperature like what happened with cars, planes and ships. Moreover, the workers who work in the offshore drilling stations are not machines; they could make some mistakes and ruin the station. According to Donatoni (n.d.) "The truth is that accidents CAN happen, with the main cause being human error, not the technology that is used. These accidents include leaks, spills, blowouts, barge collisions, pipeline corrosion, and explosions" (para. 12). As a result, for these reasons drilling for oil in the oceans is not safe.

In conclusion, there are many problems that oceans face, especially the Pacific, because it the biggest ocean in our planet and we should find the solution to stop it or to find something else to depend on to make the energy. These problems are serious and we should take care of our environment before it gets worse and we cannot do anything about it. In this research I tried to explain how the pollution comes and affects in our lives; also I tried to find some solution to these problems. We have to work with one hand to save our planet and make a good life for our children and our grandchildren.

Reference:
FAQ. (n.d.). Global Marine Oil Pollution Information Gateway. Retrieved June 22, 2007 from http://oils.gpa.unep.org/facts/faqs.htm

Oil Spills. (n.d.). Retrieved June 22, 2007 from http://library.thinkquest.org /CR0215471/oil_spills.htm

Marine Life Facts. (n.d.). Ocean Planet. Retrieved June 22, 2007 from http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/education_marine_life_factsheet.html

Committee Against Oil Exploration. (1998). Culture Change. Retrieved June 22, 2007 from http://www.culturechange.org/caoe.html

Oil Pollution. (n.d.). Ocean Planet. Retrieved June 22, 2007 from http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/OCEAN_PLANET/HTML/peril_oil_pollution.html#CLEANUPS

Wilson, K. (n.d.). Earth Sciences. Retrieved June 22, 2007 from http://madsci.org/posts/archives/may96/818177470.Es.r.html

Donatoni, M. (n.d.). Offshore Drilling. Retrieved June 22, 2007 from http://cseserv.engr.scu.edu/StudentWebPages/MDonatoni/ ResearchPaper.htm

Introduction and Background to the Oil Pollution Prevention Regulation. (n.d.). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved June 22, 2007 from http://www.epa.gov/Region6/6sf/sfsites/oil/introbak.htm

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