The Environmental Consequences of Offshore Drilling - Assignment Example

The Environmental Consequences of Offshore Drilling Introduction Offshore drilling is usually referred to the act of mining underground resources of earth slouching beneath sea-floor close to the shoreline. Normally, the term “offshore drilling” is used to express the process of oil extraction off the continental coasts although; the term can also be applied to drilling in lakes and inland seas. The initial offshore drilling was conducted at the 19th century ending in Baku at the “Bibi-Eibat” field and in the year 1896 at “Summerland field” on the Californian Coast. Oil & gas production in the sea is the most difficult and more than for land-based fitting and much of the improvement in the offshore petroleum sector revolves around overcoming these challenges. This includes a significant necessity of “Manned facilities have to to be kept above sea-level.” This can be only achieved with vast constructions with their foundations on the sea bed, like “the Troll” – A platform stationed on a depth of 300 meter. With height of 472 meter, it can be acknowledged as the biggest man-made movable construction. Type of other platforms including floating types only anchored to the sea-floor. These floating platforms trim down the construction costs but the additional security measures are required as well as apparatus for nulling out heave due to strong waves. In both of oil ridges, the ocean adds numerous hundred meters to the liquefied column in the drill string increasing “bottom hole pressure” as well as escalating the required amount of energy to lift sand and cuttings for oil-sand separation on the platform. as of modern times the emphasis of oil companies is to conduct maximum production subsea for instance amenities to split sand from oil and re-inject sand prior to pumping up to the platform. In this process there are no installations visible above the sea-level. Subsea installations enhance the goal of the petroleum industry of exploiting natural resources at gradually deep waters that have been inaccessible in the past. It also evades several challenges related to sea ice as in the Barents Sea. Types of offshore drilling Offshore manned facilities present logistics and human resources challenges An offshore oil ridge can also be defined more or less as a small world with support utilities like cafeteria, resting quarters and administration located offshore. In the North Sea, the employees are transported on the platform by helicopter for a 2-week shift. This in turn means higher air pollution. Materials and wastes are transported by the means of ship and it is required to be delicately maneuvered due to the inadequate floor area on the platform. As of today, huge attempt exerts into moving the recruited personnel’s onshore. Offshore and Its Significance The continental boundaries, the geographic area adjacent to and deceitful seaward of a coastline have become gradually more significant to the natural gas & oil industry over the precedent century. The continental boundaries comprises of three portions: 1) The continental shelf consisting low water depths hardly ever deeper than 200 meters i.e. 656 feet only and expands towards seaward from the seashore to the distance assorting from the 20 km i.e. 12.3 statute miles to an extent of 400 km i.e. 249 statute miles. 2) The continental incline where the sea-bed slumps off to the rock bottom of up to 5 km i.e. 3.1 statute miles, and 3) The continental ascend which plunges very shallowly seaward from the foundation of the continental incline and is in part poised of down-washed sediments dumped at the slope bottom. (Figure 1) Figure 1: Continental Shelf and Slope Source: Energy Information Administration. Environmental Issues There are an assortment of environmental hazards that are allied with offshore natural gas & oil discovery and production. Amongst them several things like wastage discharges or leaks of toxic materials into the sea causing damage to the marine life and helping poachers in the rapid extinction of several rare species whether on purpose or unintentionally harm to the coastal habitation due to the mass construction & functions of fabricating infrastructure and impacts on the fiscal base of coastal populations. The spilled oil goes through and breaks up the metabolism structure of the bird’s plumage diminishing the insulating capability making the birds susceptible to the temperature fluctuations and weakening their floating abilities. It also harms bird’s flying capability making it complicated or unfeasible to escape from predators. In attempt to clean themselves birds usually swallow oil that causing kidney damage, liver malfunction, and digestive tract irritation. This restricted foraging capability rapidly cause lack of fluids and metabolic discrepancies. The majority of birds exaggerated by an oil spill pass away unless there is human involvement in saving them. Marine mammals exposed to oil spills are exaggerated in analogous ways as seabirds. The Oil coats the fur of “Sea otters and seals”, reducing their insulation capabilities leading them to frequent fluctuations in body temperature and hypothermia. Intake of the oil results in “dehydration and impaired digestion.” In United States only offshore drilling rigs and faulty pipelines spilled approximately 1.9 million gallons of precious oil in the U.S. waters. There are a hefty total of 224 reported accidents of oil leakage during 1990-1999, average of roughly 500 gallons/day. Offshore drilling also results in a major amount of air pollution. As per the study by NOAA {National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration} it is revealed that every offshore drilling platform spawns just about 215,000 pounds of air pollutants each year. A standard discovery oil or natural gas well releases around 52 tons of dangerous nitrogen oxides, 15 tons of carbon monoxide, 5 tons of sulfur dioxide, and 7 tons of volatile organic hydrocarbons in the earths atmosphere contributing their part in the global warming, smog and acid rains. The offshore drilling actions also release massive amounts of toxic wastage into the sea water. As per the revelations by the National Academy of Sciences {NAS}, a single oil well generates about 1500 – 2000 tons of toxic material which is further discharged into the sea water. Rubble comprises of drill cuttings, which are rocks grounded into pieces by the drill bit and sludge carried up to the platform throughout the drilling process. This sludge consists of toxic metals like “lead, cadmium and mercury.” Other noxious wastes like “benzene, arsenic, zinc and other known carcinogens and radioactive materials” are regularly unconstrained in the “produced water.” During the 1960s, the United States of America witnessed an escalation in environmental consciousness which set the juncture for the development of much environmental legislation, policies and supervisory orders that have exaggerated natural gas and oil actions on “Federal offshore” areas. All natural gas and oil activities are required to undergo all the way through a huge number of environmental reviews by Federal, State in addition with local agencies. Federal agencies performs a responsibility in regulating and synchronizing U.S. environmental laws comprises of “the DOI, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).” To safeguard the US waters, some of the environmental acts were introduced by the government for the regulation of the companies. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 –The National Environmental Policy Act was legislated by the American congress in the year 1969 to judge the environmental shocks of any projected events in addition with logical alternatives to those actions with the aid of expert tools like Environmental Assessments, Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) and Categorical Exclusion Reviews. An EIS is geared up for each lease sale held by the MMS. Clean Air Act –All air pollutants emerging from the industrial activities are initially synchronized at the Federal level by the Clean Air Act {CAA} enacted by the US Congress in the year 1970. Anticipated and present natural gas and oil facilities are required to plan and design as part of their developmental plans and reporting events and comprehensive harmful chemicals release data to prove in conformity with the CAA. Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 – The Coastal Zone Management Act was enacted in the year 1972 foundational on the professed necessitate to conserve, guard, develop and reinstate or improve the U.S. coastal area resources. This Act promotes coastal States to design an individual Coastal Zone Management Plan for the US coasts and entails State review of Federal actions that concern utilization of land and water in the monitored coastal areas. The uniformity clause of this Act grants the power to States to appose any Federal action that they judge are not reliable with the permitted Coastal Zone Management Plan. As per the NOAA in 2003 34 out of 35 coastal States and U.S. territories were contributing in the agenda and as of current situation almost 99% of the U.S. shoreline was covered by these approved plans. Clean Water Act of 1977 – This act was enacted with intention to control the water polluting units to aid the sea environment heal. The Clean Water Act 1977(CWA1977) is the prime law prevailing the release of pollutants into all U.S. waters. The EPA necessitates that a “National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit” is necessary to be acquired prior to any discharge of pollutants. Conclusion As of current situation, humans enjoys the pros and cons of the technology and the know-how to progress ahead of the dependence on polluting oil and gas drilling by using hygienic, secure and inexpensive renewable energy sources like windmills etc. As a substitute of relying eternally on unpredictable sources of oil and gas, there is a requirement to adapt superior technology to trim down the energy demand today and far-off into the future. There is also a need to identify all the resources like offshore drilling which creates hazardous situations for the environment and need to substitute them. To cope up with the escalating energy needs of US, it is not right to destroy the atmosphere. Bibliography J. J. Azar, G. Robello Samuel. Drilling Engineering. PennWell Books, 2007. Donald F. Boesch, Nancy N. Rabalais. Long-term Environmental Effects of Offshore Oil and Gas Development. Taylor & Francis, 1987. Hossein Esmaeili, University of Virginia. The legal regime of offshore oil rigs in international law. Ashgate, 2001. Kennedy, John L. Fundamentals of Drilling--technology and Economics: Technology and Economics. PennWell, 1983. Peter H. Gleick, Heather Cooley, David Katz, Emily Lee, Jason Morrison. The Worlds Water 2006-2007: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources. Island Press, 2006. http://www.epa.gov. Read More