Oil Spills
Oil is a product used by everyone, but sometimes oil is a problem. An oil
spill
is a leakage from an oceangoing tanker, pipelines, or other oil
sources. Oil
spills occur very frequently, and cause enormous ecological
harm. About eight
million barrels of oil are spilled each year. Tankers
usually carry about
five-hundred million barrels of oil. Many oil spills,
large in land or ocean
coverage, have had major impacts on the earth and it’s
inhabitants. Many
animals are die and some are injured in some way. Many
plants and animals are
endangered, or are now extinct. The largest oil spill
to occur was when the
Exxon Valdez went aground and covered 4,800 square
miles in Prince William
Sound, Alaska. This spill killed 35,000 sea
birds, 10,000 otters, and at least
nine whales. The spill left pools of oil
up to three feet on some beaches. In
December of 1989, an Iranian tanker
leaked 70,000 tons, about 19 million gallons
of oil off of the coast of
Morocco. In January 1990 a broken Exxon pipeline
leaked 567,000 gallons into
the New York harbor. In June of 1990, another
260,000 gallons were
spilled in New York Harbor. A tanker carrying 38 million
gallons of oil
caught on fire, and leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This was
a very
serious threat to local shrimp nurseries and wildlife refuges.
In
February of 1990, 300,000 gallons leaked from a damaged tanker off
Southern
California, fouling miles of shoreline. In the Niger River
delta, in Nigeria,
Shell pipelines have repeatedly burst. In 1970 oil
spilled across 8 square km,
which remained contaminated for over 20 years.
According to the U.S. Coast
guard, the incident rate post is only 0.5 spills
per year. In fact, there have
been no large spills over 5,000 barrels from
tankers in the US since 1991. The
US Coast Guard data shows that the
amount of oil spilled by tankers has
decreased dramatically. Worldwide
pollution from tanker spills is a relatively
minor source of marine
pollution. It only represents a small fraction of the oil
released to the
environment, when it is being compared to industrial waste,
non-tanker
shipping, and oil seepage from natural resources. Ships are but one
part of
an overall safety system that includes charting, aids to navigation,
the
condition of channels, and the resources that the Coast guard can bring
to
ensure standards are being met. The United States suffers from
measurable
neglect in portions of it’s marine infrastructure. The Refuse Act,
which was
first enacted in 1899, makes it a crime to allow refuse to enter
navigable
waters. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, makes it a crime to kill
certain birds.
These laws were not intended to apply to an oil spill, but
prosecutors use them
to intimidate and punish individuals without an obvious
connection to a spill.
The single most positive improvement that Congress
can make to the legal regime,
is to amend the Refuse Act and the Migratory
Bird Treaty Act, to make them
inapplicable to oil spills covered in the Clean
Water Act. Oil Spill Wildlife
Management (OSWM), in business since 1989,
is a wildlife consulting firm. OSWM
offers it’s clients an alternative to the
wildlife dilemma. Donjon
Environmental Marine Services is a synergistic
organization created to provide
the maritime industry with responsive, and
cost-effective answers to meet the
requirements of The Oil Pollution Act of
1990. Garner Environmental Services
provides a 24 hour emergency response for
any type of pollution incidents.
Garner Environmental Services
specializes in the management of disposal of waste
streams, and maintains a
fleet if equipment and drivers to transport these waste
streams from
industries on the Gulf Coast. Clean Venture Inc. is a leading
contractor in
handling waste, and hazardous oil materials. Since, it’s
establishment, Clean
Venture Inc., has responded to more than five thousand oil
and hazardous
material spills and has performed over ten thousand projects,
ranging in size
from 1,000 to 3,000,000 dollars. How can we prevent oil spills?
The US
oil and natural gas industry, supplies more than 65 percent of
America’s
energy. "By nearly every measure, the volume of spills in US
waters has been
on a steady downward trend since 1973," states Captain James
D. Spitzer,
the chief of the US Coast Guard’s Office of Investigations. Most
spills that
occur are usually small, based on data from the US Coast Guard. In
1997,
more than three-fourths of the spills in US waters were under ten gallons
of
oil, which is less than a car’s fuel tank can hold. From the year of
1989,
the year of the Exxon Valdez accident, the amount of oil spilled in US
waters
has declined from fourteen million gallons to 1.1 million gallons
spilled in
1997. Every part of the modern petroleum industry has
contributed to the
progress being made. Exploration and production facilities
use advanced
materials and techniques, with plenty of back up safety systems.
Pipelines use
computers, electromagnetic instruments, and ultrasonic devices
to detect weak
spots, so they can be repaired before it is to late and a leak
develops. Marine
terminals and vessels are being made differently. Tankers
are being built with
double hulls. Storage tanks are constructed of special
materials to withstand
corrosion. People play important roles in prevention,
by signing petitions,
striking companies, and some boycott, which isn’t
successful because oil is an
everyday use. Everyone can become a part of the
conservation and prevention of
oil
spills.