The BP Oil Spillage Accident - Report Example

INTRODUCTION The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the largest marine oil accident in the history of oil industry. The oil spill stemmed from the sea floor due to a drilling explosion in the oil rig and at an average, 53,000 barrels of oil was leaking per day just before the leak was capped.  The accident took place on April 20, 2010, killing 11 employees and injuring 17 other people on boardi. The leak was capped 3 months later on July 15, and by that time, over 4.9 million barrels of crude oil had already been spilled in the Gulf of Mexico. The well has been declared dead by the federal government. ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE The worst ever oil spill has caused an extensive amount of damage to the marine life and the wild habitat of the area including the tourism industry. Marine experts have reported huge underwater plumes of oil which is yet to surface. BP has been held accused for this spill and is also accountable for cleaning up the damage.  Issues like petroleum toxicity, oxygen depletion and chemical dispersant are the main causes of damage, which have until now threatened 8 national parks in the vicinity, along with risking the life of more than 500 species, which include the highly endangered turtle species as wellii.  With more than 35,000 birds belonging to nearby national parks / refuge and more than 8400 species of various sea life animals’ species are under risk due to the oil spill. Until November 2nd 2010, nearly 6900 dead animals were collected; out of which 6000 were birds and rest were sea creatures. Dolphins were seen as acting “drunk” and blowing out oil as spotted by reporters. It is expected that 90% of the commercially important sea life has been damaged due to the oil contamination, natural gases dissolving beneath the sea levels would pose a suffocating environment threats to the sea life. Moreover, the extent of damage that has been caused to the sea floor is yet to be surveyed and studiediii. The use of dispersant has caused the oil to break up into small droplets and enter the food chain. Small droplets of oil were spotted under the shells of an undersized blue crab in late July. Also, marine experts confirmed “orange blobs” under the shells of all the crab larvae in the 350 miles region of the Grand Isle stretching till Floridaiv. The European Space Agency collected significant data which showed that approximately 20 % of immature blue fin tuna were killed by the oil spillage in the region’s mating area for sea animals. Series of toxicologists and chemists have confirmed the presence of petroleum by products, including crude oils, dispersants and other hydrocarbons in sea food like crab, fish and shrimpsv.  This will be a serious health hazards to people who rely on sea food for their food and living. Oregon University researchers found the presence of carcinogens and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons more than 40 times higher previous to the spillage in the waters n the Gulf of Mexico. Researchers also added that the availability of these and other biochemical compounds in the water will lead to the addition of addition of these toxic chemicals in the food chain through organisms and it is beyond their capacity to assess and evaluate the types of biochemicals and their effects on human and environmental health. The toxic chemicals like PAH, if found above levels (levels were 40 times higher) can easily kill sea animals and can be a cause of cancer in the long term. The environmental effects of the oil spill are very severe and are yet to be actually measured. PREVENTION MEASURES Governmental directives – Amid the growing concern to prevent such disastrous accidents in future, the United Stated Government has recently made it compulsory for Oil drilling companies, to follow a set of new requirements that are aimed specifically at avoiding blowouts of offshore oil and gas reserves. Within these new guidelines, companies are supposed to submit the reserve capacity, potential for blowouts, preventive measures in case of spillage, and steps to avoid any spillage activityvi. These details will also include a detailed drilling proposal, approximate flow rate, total volume, and estimated life spans of the well. Also, the oil companies seeking drilling permission are under strict vigil and their drilling operations are to be controlled and monitored by the government through regular checks. New drilling permits will be given only when the applicant companies have given satisfactory persuasive papers and strategies (which include the potential risks and safety requirements and precautions) as per laid down by the government. Also the United States government has imposed a six month extended ban on new deep water drilling in order to limit oil drilling in the area and allow the Presidential commission to investigate the current damages caused due to the BP oil spill disaster. The above steps have been taken by the United States government in order to apply a consistent vigilant approach for new drilling activities while maintaining safety and risk considerations for the human health and the environment in future. Oil removal strategies in the BP oil spillage accident – There are three main strategies employed by the government and BP, address the environmental concerns due to the oil spillage are: Containing the oil on the water surface only, Dilute the oil density, use dispersive and removal from watervii.  A major part of the oil that has been drilled off the Louisiana coast is of a lighter crude density, while the oil that was leaked through the well was of a much heavier blend and contained harmful chemicals like asphalt. BP has been making use of underwater operating vehicles, over 750 workers, airplanes and 34 ship vessels in the oil cleaning up task. With the participation from the US army and US coast guard, on a massive scale, more than 10,000 personals have been employed until nowviii.   The oil containment drive included setting up of long containment booms which were aimed to enclose and restrict the oil from reaching to a marsh mangrove or other sensitive areas nearbyix. The booms that have been deployed are more than 250 kms in length and 50 inches deep. However the efficiency of the booms have been under doubt since booms work best in silent waters. But due to rapid offshore currents, booms are ineffective to an extent. Also setting up sand barriers have been useful in curtailing oil to some extent and not spreading in the vast expanse of the near by areas. Chemical dispersant like Corexit EC9500A and Corexit EC9527A have been sprayed in the sea bed and injected at the sub sea source of the leakagex. Dispersant are basically used to help the microbes digest the oil easily by breaking them into smaller droplets. Some risks to oxygen levels and environmental health have been identified related to the use of dispersant. REFERENCES 1. Whitney, Michael (2010-06-23). Two Workers Dead in BP Oil Disaster Recovery Effort FireDogLake.com. Retrieved 2010-07-03. 2. Emergency Response: Responding to Oil Spills". Office of Response and Restoration. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 2007-06-20. 3. Dispersant Monitoring and Assessment Directive – Addendum". Environmental Protection Agency. 2010-05-20. http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/dispersants/directive-addendum2.pdf. Retrieved 210-05-20 4. Mark Guarino (2010-05-15). "In Gulf oil spill, how helpful – or damaging – are dispersants?". Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0515/In-Gulf-oil-spill-how-helpful-or-damaging-are-dispersants. 5. Pezeshki, S. R., Hester, M. W., Lin, Q. & Nyman, J. A. (2000). The effects of oil spill clean-up on dominant US Gulf coast marsh macrophytes: a review. Environmental Pollution. 108: 129-139. 6. Ed Lavandera, CNN (3 June 2010). "Dispersants flow into Gulf in science experiment". CNN.com. http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/02/gulf.oil.dispersants/index.html?hpt=T1. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 7. Whitehouse.gov (2010-05-22). "Weekly Address: President Obama Establishes Bipartisan National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling". Press release. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/weekly-address-president-obama-establishes-bipartisan-national-commission-bp-deepwa. Retrieved 2010-06-01. 8. Gundlach, E.R. and M.O. Hayes (1978). Vulnerability of Coastal Environments to Oil Spill Impacts. Marine Technology Society. 12 (4): 18-27. 9. Adcroft, A., R. Hallberg, J. P. Dunne, B. L. Samuels, J. A. Galt, C. H. Barker, and D. Payton (2010), Simulations of underwater plumes of dissolved oil in the Gulf of Mexico, Geophys. Res. Lett., doi:10.1029/2010GL044689, in press. 10. "Massive stretches of weathered oil spotted in Gulf of Mexico". The Times-Picayune. Nola.com. 23 October 2010. http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/10/massive_stretches_of_weathered.html. Retrieved 23 October 2010 Read More