Oil Spills and Its impacts

Oil Spills and Its impacts

Oil spills endangers animals as well as humans and are detrimental to the environment.

Causes

Oil spills usually occur during the transportation of oil across waterways such as oceans. Oil is commonly transported by barges, tankers, pipelines, and trucks, each of which has its own flaws that can lead to an oil accident. Tankers and barges can crash or run into unexpected land that causes a crack or hole which causes oil to escape. Likewise, pipelines which transport oil underground can develop leaks or cracks that allow oil to seep into the environment. Oil shipping trucks can also instigate an oil spill in the event of an accident. Some oil can escape while it is being moved from one vessel to another, a process called lightering. Uncontrollable factors such as hurricanes and other violent weather can cause tankers or barges to wreck or can damage offshore drilling facilities, incidents that can lead to oil spills. Oil spills can occur during other phases of production, such as when oil is being extracted from an oil well or being converted into other products at a refinery. Human mistakes as well as equipment failure are common causes of accidents in such situations. Sometimes oil is even spilled intentionally as an act of war or vandalism. Illegal dumping of oil is another deliberate act that causes environment degradation. Oil is an important commodity in World trade. Hence, oil spills also occurs when oil is being exported/imported during long international commutes.


Effects

Oil spills have affected many people and many industries. They affect both the economy and the environment.


Effect on marine life

Marine life is gravely affected by oil spills. Some birds die because they have ingested oil. However, more commonly the birds drown because they get stuck to the oil and are unable to get out of the water, starve because there's no food left for them because the fishes have been poisoned by the oil or lose too much body heat because of damage to their plumage by the oil. Fishes die of starvation because of loss of food or from being poisoned by the oil.

Some marine mammals and reptiles, such as dolphins, whales and turtles are very susceptible to oil spills because they have to be able to surface to breathe and the reptiles also need to leave the water to breed. The layer of oil makes surfacing difficult and causes the animals drown.

Vegetation in the water can be vulnerable to light crude or light refined oil spills if the oil reaches the root area of the plants. However, a thick coating of oil on the leaves does almost no damage if it occurs outside the growing season. Loss of vegetation can lead to more animal deaths as they lose sources of food. Living coral is also vulnerable to oil slicks. If the living coral dies, then the reef of coral can be destroyed by wave erosion. This means many fish and animals lose their homes.

The time taken for these damaged populations to recover depends on many factors and is highly variable.

Effects on local industries

Oil, tarballs, dead fish and birds all get washed up on the shores and the oil slick interferes with activities such as fishing, sailing and swimming. The local tourist industry suffers because tourists would not be enticed to visit a coastal area where they cannot engage in activities as listed above. Industries that rely on clean seawater for routine operations can also suffer because operations have to be stopped while the water is cleaned. The livelihood of communities that depend on coastal industry for survival thus can be seriously damaged. As such, oil spills has its economic implications as well.

Effects on fishing industries

The fishing industry suffers badly when an oil spill occurs. Firstly because the fish are often covered in oil, or have swallowed oil making them poisonous. Also a large number of fish die, decreasing the number of fish that could have possibly been caught. It is also difficult for boats to sail because the oil can damage them and the devices they use to catch the fish. Thus the livelihoods of fishermans are affected and this may result in them sinking into poverty. This would result in the fisherman and their famines being ensnared in a life of poverty. Their kids might as such be deprived of education, thus they do not have an opportunity to improve their lives. The impoverished fisherman may resort to petty crimes such as stealing. Therefore, oil spills may result in dire social consequences.


Ways to prevent oil spills

The whole world uses nearly three billion gallons of oil every day. We all use it to fuel our cars, trucks, and buses. Oil is also used in medicines, ink, paints, and to generate electricity. We can do our part to stop oil spills happening in the oceans. If we use less oil, then less will have to be transported, lowering the chances for oil spills to occur. We can use less oil by not using our cars instead we can walk or ride a bike. We also can use less oil by paving the roads with cement. That way we are not using oil.


Think about how many lights you have in your house. Also think about all the electronics like computers or televisions. All of these things use electricity. If we all were to turn off lights, computers, or televisions when not in use, we wouldn’t be using as mush oil to create the electricity throughout the house.


Letty Seah

10A05

1 comment:

Aslindah said...

Oil spills do endanger not only the environment but also the economy of the place it happens in. It upsets the fragile balance between mankind and nature and causes all sorts of irreversible damage such as stated in the post. Take for example the recent oil spill in the gulf of Mexico. British Petroleum(BP), the company in charge of the oil rig has been held liable by the US authorities for the spill. The spill has not only damaged the wildlife in the region of the spill, it has also damaged the livelihood of the residents living in the area. Reports have also shown that wave currents could carry the oil all the way down to the beaches of Florida. Due to the humongous amounts of oil spilling out of the collapsed rig, BP's efforts to stem the leak have proved futile. Even till now, the full damage of the spill is estimated and the full extent of it remains to be assessed. Closer to home, Singapore also experienced an oil spill off the Changi coast when an oil tanker collided with a large vessel. This caused some 2,500 tonnes of crude oil to spill into our waters leading to concerns about damage to the island's wildlife and to some, about their livelihood as they are fish farmers in the vicinity. Thankfully, the spill was cleared up quickly as the authorities worked quickly to clear up the spill. Of course in retrospect we cannot compare the two spills as they differ, one's source is an oil well while the other is a carrier of a specified amount of oil. However, it can be agreed upon that oil spills are detrimental, not just to mankind but to Mother Earth herself.