Oil Spill Accidents

Since the boom of the technological revolution, many negative environmental contributors have been found such as oil spill accidents. As long As the oil’s is value still precious, the oil trade overseas will continue. However, oil spill accident examples, causes, effects and solutions will be discussed in this report in order to cover this issue thoroughly.

The accidents range from minority to extremely dangerous. For the oil spill accidents the range can be measured regarding to the number of gallons or barrels which have been spilt in the sea. The accidents happen commonly in certain parts of the world such as the Gulf of Mexico, the northeastern U.S., the Mediterranean Sea, the Persian Gulf, the North Sea and Korea(FAQ: Oil Spills in History). While the Gulf of Mexico has the highest number of accidents with 267 spills, Korea has the lowest number of accidents with 32 spills (FAQ: Oil Spills in History). The worst oil spill accident happened on the 26th of January 1991 in the Persian Gulf during Iraq-Kuwait War, when around 240 million gallons of oil were spilt (Oil Spill History). Another example of dangerous accidents is what happened on 19th of July 1979, when 2.2 million barrels of crude were spilt after a collision in Trinidad & Tobago (Oil Spill History).

Oil spill has several causes and effects. People’s fault, apparatus smashing, weather calamities such as storms may help to cause an oil spill accident (Oil Spills). All these causes have a wide effect, especially for the sea creatures. For instance, sea birds are at risk of getting poisoned if they try to rinse the oil that covers their body and bans them from flying (Oil Spills). As well, sea otters may die in low temperature if the oil coats their air bubbles, which contribute them in staying alive at the cold weather (Oil Spills). In addition, killer whales can be affected by two ways. Eating small fish which are covered with oil may poison them. Also, jamming the blowhole with oil can disallow the whales from breathing well (Oil Spills).

(Skimmers)

In order to get rid of this problem, several solutions can be done. The solutions are in two phases. The first phase is to increase the worker’s awareness as well as to check the safety equipment (Shah). The onset stage is very important because it reduces the possibility of accidents. However, if the accidents occur and the oil is spilt in the sea, the oil has to be cleaned by using the second stage of solutions. Adding some chemicals to the sea, setting a boom that gathers the oil off the water, and using skimmers to remove the oil are some solutions (Oil Spills). Additionally, burning the spilled oil with fireproof booms is a solution, but not optimal due to its air pollution releases (Oil Spills).

In conclusion, oil spill accidents are a vital issue. They have harmful effects environmentally. If we don’t try to solve it, the problem will become worse. I hope that soon, this issue will be debated widely and many rules will appear in order to decrease the problem’s effects, if not to finish it. We need to protect our environment from accidental oil spills.

Bibliography:

"FAQ: Oil Spills in History." NOAA's Ocean Service Office of Response and Restoration. 23 May 2009 http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/topic_subtopic_entry.php?RECORD_KEY%28entry_subtopic_topic%29=entry_id,subtopic_id,topic_id&entry_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=325&subtopic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=2&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1.

"Oil Spills." Oracle ThinkQuest Library. 18 May 2009 http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/oil_spills.htm.

"Oil Spill History." The Mariner Group. 18 May 2009 http://www.marinergroup.com/oil-spill-history.htm.

Shah, Anwar. "Environment protection in seaports." Economic Review. 38. 11 (Nov 2007): 34(2). Student Resource Center - Gold. Gale. Higher Colleges of Technology. 18 May. 2009 http://0-find.galegroup.com.library.hct.ac.ae/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=SRC-1&docId=A185951473&source=gale&srcprod=SRCG&userGroupName=971hctnet&version=1.0.