The Gulf War Oil Spill - Essay Example

The Gulf War Oil Spill Economics and Policy Issues The Gulf War oil spill was an ecological terrorism by Iraq and had severe impacts on aquatic life. The 1991 Gulf War oil spill raised several questions in regard to the environment, energy and economics. According to Owen and Pickering (2006), the Gulf oil spill left a devastating environmental impact, which might take a long time to account for as integral part of Gulf War cost. Oil spills generally bring with them economic effects and are lessons for the implementation of both global and country level energy policy. How can the evaluation of the economic devastation of oil spills be done? Whereas various economic costs are comparatively not that difficult to approximate, for instance the lost profits within the commercial fishing industry, however various costs like the lost aesthetic and ecological values are complex to quantify. The policies on oil spills decree that environmental renovation be carried out as reparation for the losses and damages. It is important to consider preliminary data in regard to the potential economic costs of the Gulf War oil spill, observing that the ecological destructions to wildlife and habitats are probably to be greater as compared to the market-based costs like the lost profits of both tourism and fishing. The Gulf War oil spill evokes the thought on economic valuation of risk. A careful though is given to the development o policies amidst oil spill risk and the relevance of standard risk analysis established as the right methodology for economic risk appraisal. This discussion has significant inferences for other disputes where disastrous risk is at issue, for instance nuclear power and global climate change. Economics postulates that the efficient prices for both goods and services ought to reflect all social benefits and costs but not merely the market interaction of demand and supply. Apparently the economic impact of the spill was a negative inclination due to the losses that were incurred in the process. Very many oil spills occur yearly within the marine surroundings. The degree of these spills is comparatively minor, not exceeding 100 gallons, and has insignificant damages to the economy. Larger oil spills such as the Gulf War oil spill of 1991, result in significant destruction to both the environment and economy. The Gulf War oil spill adversely impacted on aquatic plants and organisms, including fish (Saenger, 1994), thus significantly leading to a fall in fish supply and a corresponding decline in revenue. Further, polluted beaches were increasingly unattractive for tourism purpose leading to a massive decline in revenue from tourism (Owen & Pickering, 2006). Agencies of the government, which act on best interest of the public, are entrusted to attain reparation from liable parties for the economic damages that take place due to the oil spill. It is important to consider how economists define economic values of natural resources before starting to contemplate how economic damages ought to be estimated from such an enormous oil spill (Brauer, 2009).The spill brought about reduction in the supply of oil, thus subsequent hike in prices both within and outside the Gulf region. The Gulf War oil spill led to oil price increase in 1991 (Bridge & Le, 2013). There was reduced total national output as a result of the massive losses incurred during the spill. There was a subsequent negative economic speculation in regard to oil prices and this was not any good indicator for economic stability. The economic damages from various oil spills have been approximated on the basis of lost use values, for example beach recreation or commercial fishing. Nevertheless, the Gulf War oil spill had significant environmental and economic impacts (Subramanian, 2012). An economic appraisal of the non-use losses meant that these damages included the majority of the losses that arose from the spill, established on a provisional evaluation study. Policy makers and scientist need to combine force to develop damage assessment techniques that acknowledge marine environment together with its resource as societal capital (Abu-Zinada, 2008).Through the method of HEA- habitat equivalency analysis, agents acting on the best interests of the public can determine the degree of compensatory restoration that comprehensively recompenses the public for the provisional losses of the oil spill. The fundamental code is that refurbishment schemes ought to deliver ecological services over that period that substitute for the lost ecological services which accumulate till the damaged zone recuperates its standard state. It is then important to approximate the compensatory reinstatement that would cater for sufficient compensation for this damage. Public Health Threatened by the Gulf Oil Spill The oil spill in the gulf as a result of the war is huge disasters top the environment, seabirds, fish and shallow water creatures like the crayfish, shrimp, and oysters (National Research Council (U.S.), (2001; Brauer, 2009). Approximately 30 thousand seabirds were killed because of the Gulf War oil spill (Freedman, 1995). According to Fingas (2015), the Gulf War oil spill led to the death of numerous organisms, including the dugong. Human beings form part of the ecology that the slick of oil subjects to significant health issues. In the past, the inhabitants of the areas adjacent to the gulf have raised concerns of the stenches emerging from the area of spillage. They have further proposed that the odor brings them nausea, burning eyes, and headaches. According to Owen and Pickering (2006), the Gulf war oil spill was a catastrophe was more hazardous to human beings than the ecology. Oil spillage affects fish, especially because of gasoline, which is a toxic component that suffocates fish by blocking their gills. Human beings were in turn affected by the oil spill by poisoning aquatic ecosystem, thus lowering fish consumption as well as the reproduction of fish. The department that is responsible for the health of the state has ordered for oil contamination test of the water systems neighboring the gulf. Within the last several decades the environment has been forced to guzzle up billion of oil gallons as a result of major oil spills. The Gulf war oil spill, being the world’s biggest oil spill in history, had a far-reaching ecological destruction (Poonian, 2003). Oil is a blend of chemicals, which are apparently complex in nature. It contains compounds of hydra carbon, several of them causing cancer. Others have the capacity to damage the skin, the lungs as well as the reproductive system. Traces of arsenic, lead and mercury are also sometimes found in crude oil (Fingas, 2015). There exists numerous ways an oil spill is hazardous to the health of human. As the oil is burned, smoke or evaporation can be produced thus people nearby are able to breathe in organic compounds which are volatile. Vapors of oil are causative agents of breathing difficulties, throat and eye irritation, nausea, dizziness and headaches. Individuals who breathe in enormous volumes of fumes are at greater risk of hydrocarbon pneumonia, a type of chemical poisoning. According to Dr. Marcel Casavant who is the chief of pharmacology and Toxicology in Columbus, Ohio at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital, many chemicals are contained in the smokes and vapor of burning oil. Many of these chemicals are poisons that are potentially deadly and various are nuisance irritants. Nevertheless, the so called nuisance irritants possess the capacity to trigger breathing complications in asthmatic individuals or other people ailing from emphysema and other lung infections (Nemr, 2006).The smokes emanating from burning oil contains soot- solid specks fixed in tar, hydrogen sulfide acidic aerosols, the PAHs -polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile organics, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxides as well as carbon dioxides. Particulate substance turns out to be tremendously detrimental to the lungs. Once taken through the lungs through inhalation, such matter are able of damaging the heart thus causing various severe health complications, comprising premature death in individuals suffering from lung or heart disease. Weakened immune system, allergic reactions and respiratory ailments can also be as a result of the volatile organic compounds. Consequently, they are associated detrimental impacts on the liver as well as the gastrointestinal tract consistent with the thoughts of one senior scientist at the NRDC- Natural Resource Defense Council, De. Gina Solomon who is also a subordinate clinical professor at the University of California, various impulsive compounds have been associated with low birth weights, pre mature births and miscarriages. The oil spill has the capacity of indirectly damaging human health. This is a possibility through assimilation into the food chain. Very small animals and plants known as planktons can be contaminated by the oil floating on the water. Small fish consumes planktons, bigger fish eat the little fish, human and animals feed on the big fish and other foods from the sea thus eventually all takes in oil. The encyclopedia of water supports this by stating that the sensitive coastal and marine organic substrate is poisoned by the oil waste poisons consequently interfering with the food chain on which sea creatures and fish are dependent. It further states that the oil waste also poisons wildlife other than sea creatures and fish, comprising birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals living near the ocean (Nemr, 2006). Dr. Solomon writes that the risk of getting cancer increases as individuals consume several of the oil components contaminating these sources of food. It is also a possibility to get complications such as neurological risks or elevated cancer as a consequence of being exposed to heavy metals due to the fact that oil can persist for a very long period of time and be accumulated in the food chain. However some scientists like LuAnn White, who is a professor of environmental health and toxicology at Tulane University situated in New Orleans, Louisiana, argues that this more of an ecological affair rather than a health problem of the humankind. However the communities that produce oil have raised concerns in regard to the health effects associated to environmental contaminants applied in production. For example, some inhabitants in Alabama and specifically the Conecuh County have experienced health effects like miscarriages, open sores and headaches strongly believed to be linked to water and air pollution. References Abu-Zinada, A. H. (2008). Protecting the Gulfs marine ecosystems from pollution. Basel: Birkhauser. Retrieved on April 3, 2015 from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=8vMzKsGikTkC&pg=PA253&dq=assessing+the+impacts+of+1991+gulf+war+oil+spill&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0TUeVeijFcfVapPwgvgL&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=assessing%20the%20impacts%20of%201991%20gulf%20war%20oil%20spill&f=false Bridge, G., & Le, B. P. (2013). Oil. Malden, MA: Polity Press. Retrieved on April 3, 2015 from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=SZ60AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108&dq=How+the+gulf+war+oil+spill+of+1991+affected+oil+supply&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pCkeVazxK4zzat7sgLgI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=How%20the%20gulf%20war%20oil%20spill%20of%201991%20affected%20oil%20supply&f=false Brauer, J. (2009). War and nature: The environmental consequences of war in a globalized world. Lanham: AltaMira Press. Retrieved on April 3, 2015 from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=-WVhuj9U6rEC&pg=PA108&dq=How+the+gulf+war+oil+spill+of+1991+affected+oil+supply&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pCkeVazxK4zzat7sgLgI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=How%20the%20gulf%20war%20oil%20spill%20of%201991%20affected%20oil%20supply&f=false Fingas, M. F. (2015). Handbook of oil spill science and technology. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved on April 3, 2015 from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=ddu5BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA465&dq=the+gulf+war+oil+spill+and+its+impacts&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HSAeVZ2oFJDPaI-WgeAC&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=the%20gulf%20war%20oil%20spill%20and%20its%20impacts&f=false Freedman, B. (1995). Environmental ecology: The ecological effects of pollution, disturbance, and other stresses. San Diego: Academic Press. Retrieved on April 3, 2015 from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=gD14h8SKdeoC&pg=PA400&dq=gulf+war+oil+spill+1991&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wUIeVaCaH8qBaYDVgaAI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=gulf%20war%20oil%20spill%201991&f=false National Research Council (U.S.). (2001). Oil in the seas III: Inputs, fates, and effects. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press. Retrieved on April 3, 2015 from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=9bHZm_9ZtgkC&pg=PA135&dq=How+the+gulf+war+oil+spill+of+1991+affected+oil+supply&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pCkeVazxK4zzat7sgLgI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=How%20the%20gulf%20war%20oil%20spill%20of%201991%20affected%20oil%20supply&f=false Nemr, A. . (2006). Petroleum contamination in warm and cold marine environments. New York: Novinka Books. Retrieved on April 3, 2015 from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=2zhiKTFly6IC&pg=PA64&dq=Petroleum+contamination+in+warm+and+cold+marine+environments.&hl=en&sa=X&ei=zkEeVcT6MoqtafiIgbgL&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Petroleum%20contamination%20in%20warm%20and%20cold%20marine%20environments.&f=false Owen, L.A. & Pickering, K.T. (2006). An Introduction to Global Environmental Issues. New York, NY: Routledge. Retrieved on April 3, 2015 from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=xUmEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA209&dq=effects+of+the+Gulf+War+Oil+Spill+of+1991&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KawdVbGXO4LdaI2QgegL&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=effects%20of%20the%20Gulf%20War%20Oil%20Spill%20of%201991&f=false Poonian, C. (2003). The effects of the 1991 Gulf War on the marine and coastal environment of the Arabian Gulf: Impact, recovery and future prospects. Management, 44. Retrieved on April 3, 2015 from http://www.c-3.org.uk/Multimedia/Reports/Gulf%20war_Poonian.pdf Saenger, P. (1994). Cleaning up the Arabian Gulf: Aftermath of an oil spill. Search, 25, 19-22. Retrieved on April 3, 2015 from http://epubs.scu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1687&context=esm_pubs Subramanian, V. (2012). Coastal environments: Focus on Asian regions. Dordrecht: Springer. Retrieved on April 3, 2015 from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=SjE-vIwHMFkC&pg=PA39&dq=gulf+war+oil+spill+1991&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wUIeVaCaH8qBaYDVgaAI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=gulf%20war%20oil%20spill%201991&f=false Read More