Offshore Oil Drilling

Doesn’t everyone love swimming in the ocean and seeing all the pretty sea life? Some people do, and when people are offshore drilling they can cause a lot of problems if something goes wrong. The biggest concern by environmentalist is not a spill, but the pollution of the air and water, damage to the ocean bottom and debris that washes ashore from day-to-day operations of oil and gas rigs. Oil Drilling can lead to jobs being endangered, animals dying, and damaging the eco system. So many animals are dying because of the oil in the water. Proofread to- Government wildlife experts have found just in Alaska that the BP oil spill has threatened more than 400 species including 34,000 birds, 656 sea turtles and 12 dolphins, and this count was taken the first couple days of the spill. The oil is still on a continuous flow. During this lifetime, we will not know the amount of damage and problems caused by the continuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was a massive ongoing oil spill and oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico that started on April 20, 2010. The spill followed a blowout that caused an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, which then sank off the coast of Louisiana (Barclay). Tragically, eleven rig workers were missing and presumed dead; Thousands of barrels of oil per day had been gushing from a seabed well since the drilling rig exploded (Barclay). (Todd M. Schoenberger, Managing Editor, Taipan's Tipping Point Alert). Many were found without visible signs of oil exposure, and further tests are necessary to determine if oil was a culprit, said Dr. Michael Ziccardi, a professor at the University of California at Davis who heads the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. Whenever oil is recovered from the ocean, other chemicals and toxic substances come up too; things like mercury, lead and arsenic that are often released back into the ocean. If all these chemicals are in the ocean, no one should be near that water because it can danger us greatly. So many jobs are being lost or cut off because of the oil spill; it’s making business market go down for a lot because they cannot get the supplies they need that come from the ocean. Oil drilling is damaging the eco system in many ways by killing plants, reefs, and so much more. Offshore oil drilling is killing off so much of our sea life. Spills pose direct mortality dangers to birds through oiling and poisoning by ingestion as animals try to clean themselves and as toxins build up in fish-eating birds. In addition, over 200,000 birds die annually in collisions with oil and gas platforms. Construction of new pipelines will damage sensitive coastal habitats and marshes. The marine ecosystem is a highly complex environment and natural fluctuations in species abundance and distribution are a feature of the normal way it functions. These fluctuations can be large and difficult to relate to particular causes, as well as difficult to measure adequately. Against this background it is inevitably difficult to establish the precise extent and likely duration of environmental damage caused by an oil spill and to distinguish such impacts from changes brought about by a variety of other factors, both natural (e. g. climatic or hydrographic changes) and man-made (e. . commercial fishing or other industrial pollution). Despite the scientific evidence that is available to the contrary, there is frequently a basic presumption that damage must have been caused by an oil spill, and terms such as "injury", "harm", "loss" and "impairment" are used without reference to any defined meaning or reliable evidence of a causal link. Surveys have been done on marine mammals during oil and gas exploration that can cause temporary or permanent hearing loss, induce behavioral changes, and even physically injure marine mammals such as whales, seals and dolphins. Construction noise from new facilities and pipelines is also likely to interfere with foraging and communication behaviors of birds and mammals. Risk of collisions with vessels and exposure to pollutants will also increase. Exposure to petroleum causes tissue damage in the eyes, mouth, skin and lungs of marine mammals. Because they are at the top of the food chain, many marine mammals will be exposed to the dangers of bioaccumulation of organic pollutants and metals. Expansion of offshore drilling activities would further threaten imperiled species like the manatee. Sea Turtles often nest on beaches. Collisions and noise disruptions are all potential threats to sea turtles. Hatchlings are also particularly susceptible to oiling because they spend much of their time near the water surface, where spilled oil or tar accumulates. (Boesch, DF and N. N. Rabalais (eds. ) 2010. ) Do to the oil spill U. S. wildlife experts are preparing to collect tens of thousands of endangered sea turtle eggs and move them hundreds of miles away in an unprecedented bid to protect them from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Offshore oil drilling causes many changes to our climate change. It thickens the ocean and that makes it even harder for sea life animals to live in, and also for people to swim in. Also, when there is an oil spill fishermen cannot sail through it because of the possibility of the crude oil catching fire. The U. S. needs to look for ways to decrease petroleum consumption, not for ways to increase it. Offshore oil production involves environmental risks, most notably oil spills from oil tankers or pipelines transporting oil from the platform to onshore facilities, and from leaks and accidents on the platform. Produced water is also generated, which is excess water from well drilling or production and includes varying amounts of oil, drilling fluid or other chemicals used in, or resulting from, oil production. According to the organization Culture Change, a Gulf of Mexico rig dumps about 90,000 tons of drilling fluid and metal cuttings over its lifetime, with its wells also contributing with heavy metals (Wikipedia). Drilling infrastructure permanently alters ocean floor habitats. Drill rig footprints, undersea pipelines, dredging ship channels, and dumped drill cuttings-- the rock material dug out of the oil or gas well-- are often contaminated with drilling fluid used to lubricate and regulate the pressure in drilling operations. The fluid contains petroleum products and heavy metals. An oil spill can be defined as an accidental or deliberate dumping of oil or petroleum products into the ocean and its coastal waters, bays, and harbors, or onto land, or into rivers or lakes (Holum 1977). Between one and ten million metric tons (one metric ton is 1000 kilograms) of oil are put into the oceans every year. The oil is released, most often, in small yet consistent doses from tankers, industry, or on shore waste disposal (Boesh, Hersher, et al. 1974). Tanker spills cost the United States more than one hundred million dollars every year. Spill frequency increases proportionally with tonnage carried, in a linear manner. Non-tanker spills also increase linearly and account for thirty percent of all spills. The Atlantic area near Europe averages eight spills a year, the American area seven, and the Pacific two. Spills of more than ten thousand metric tons account for about two and a half percent of total spills, and spills above fifty thousand metric tons occur on average once a year. The average spill size is around seven thousand metric tons (Smets 1982). If left alone, oil spills will eventually break up naturally. The natural degradation is influenced by temperature, wind, wave action, the thickness of the oil, the degree of dispersion, and the oil's tendency to form emulsions with water (Smith 1968). There are eight primary processes in the natural degradation of oil. The first step is spreading and motion. This step can be broken down into three smaller steps: gravity, viscous forces, and surface tension. Gravity initially spreads the oil into an even layer across the surface. Viscous forces then take over and account for even more spreading. The oil is finally spread into a monomolecular slick by the surface tension of the water. The second step of natural degradation is evaporation. The amount of evaporation that occurs is dependent on how far the oil slick has spread. Strewn on the ocean floor, contaminated sediments can be carried by currents over a mile from the rig, sharply reducing populations of small bottom dwelling creatures that are important to the rest of the food chain and biomagnifying toxic contaminants in fish we eat. Even with safety protocols in place, leaks and spills are inevitable— each year U. S. drilling operations send an average of 880,000 gallons of oil into the ocean. Then there are the unanticipated catastrophes. In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed 113 of the oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and damaged 457 pipelines. Hurricane damage caused at least 124 different spills, totaling over 17,700 barrels (743,000 gallons) of petroleum products. Boesch, DF and N. N. Rabalais (eds. ). 1990. Oil is toxic to the plants and microscopic animals that form the basis of the marine food chain. It also poisons birds, mammals and fish. Those not killed outright can suffer a slow death from debilitating illness and injury (Coastal Economies. ) Even a medium sized spill can be a major economic disaster in coastal areas dependent on tourism or fishing as a major economic driver. Hundreds of housands of existing jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity depend on clean coasts and healthy coastal waters. Routine air and water pollution from offshore rigs, coupled with industrialization in sensitive areas, can quickly undermine local economies. A 2004 inventory of air pollution in the Gulf of Mexico found that OCS oil and gas activities account for the overwhelming majority of air pollutants: 89% of carbon monoxide, 77% of NOx emissions, 72% of volatile organic compounds emissions, 69% of particulate matter emissions, and 66% of sulfur dioxide. Ships, drilling equipment and even rigs are used and relocated all around the world (Wikipedia). Animals that colonize a rig surface in one area essentially get a “free ride” to a new habitat, where they can easily become invasive. The brown mussel (a marine species with impacts similar to zebra mussels), several species of jellyfish, barnacles and other nuisance organisms can be spread by drilling equipment. The oil spill covers a surface area of at least 2,500 square miles (6,500 km2) according to estimates reported on May 3, 2010 by Reuters, and about 5,000 barrels of oil a day (NOAA's estimate) continue to flow into the ocean. On May 13 BP reported that the cost of the oil spill alone had reached $450 million, and the price tag for the spill was rising by at least $10 million a day. Due to this massive oil spill, one can fear problems, such as petroleum toxicity and oxygen depletion, that will result in an environmental disaster whether it reaches Gulf coast or not, damaging the Gulf of Mexico fishing industry, tourism industry, and habitat of hundreds of animal and bird species. The effects of offshore drilling can be disastrous. The world is bleeding, by some accounts, at the rate of more than 70,000 barrels a day (Bransfield, J. Brian- Healing the hole in the Gulf- and in our hearts). There are over 5600 offshore oil and gas platforms in the United States and over 27,000 miles of pipelines in the areas of the Gulf of Mexico already open to drilling. These major industrial facilities have tremendous impacts on the ocean floor, water and air quality, and fragile marine ecosystems. The distribution of oil spilled on the sea surface occurs under the influence of gravitation forces. It is controlled by oil viscosity and the surface tension of water. Only ten minutes after a spill of 1 ton of oil, the oil can disperse over a radius of 50 m, forming a slick 10-mm thick. The slick gets thinner (less than 1 mm) as oil continues to spread, covering an area of up to 12 km2 [Ramade, 1978]. An oil slick usually drifts in the same direction as the wind. While the slick thins, especially after the critical thickness of about 0. 1 mm, it disintegrates into separate fragments that spread over larger and more distant areas. Storms and active turbulence speed up the dispersion of the slick and its fragments. A considerable part of oil disperses in the water as fine droplets that can be transported over large distances away from the place of the spill. The economic impacts are directly or indirectly related to the environmental impacts of oil spills. But, the economic impacts of oil spills are not much talked about as the environmental impacts are. Gasoline prices in the United States for citizens at some point in our recent history have been up to almost five dollars per gallon. The change in gas prices may bring about a change in the risks people are willing to take both on the stock market and in their day-to-day spending. Still, there are people who claim that the current oil prices are not yet close to impacting the United States’ economy, while there are those who promise there will eventually be noticeable strain. President Obama has called the spill “a potentially unprecedented environmental disaster. ” And some scientists have suggested that the oil might hitch a ride on the loop current in the gulf, bringing havoc to the Atlantic Coast. Yet the Deepwater Horizon blowout is not unprecedented, nor is it yet among the worst oil accidents in history. And its ultimate impact will depend on a long list of interlinked variables, including the weather, ocean currents, and the properties of the oil involved and the success or failure of the frantic efforts to stanch the flow and remediate its effects. As one expert put it, this is the first inning of a nine-inning game. No one knows the final score. The ruptured well, currently pouring an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the gulf, could flow for years and still not begin to approach the 36 billion gallons of oil spilled by retreating Iraqi forces when they left Kuwait in 1991. It is not yet close to the magnitude of the Ixtoc I blowout in the Bay of Campeche in Mexico in 1979, which spilled an estimated 140 million gallons of crude before the gusher could be stopped, and it will have to get much worse before it approaches the impact of the Exxon Valdez accident of 1989, which contaminated 1,300 miles of largely untouched shoreline and killed tens of thousands of seabirds, otters and seals along with 250 eagles and 22 killer whales. No one, not even the oil industry’s most fervent apologists, is making light of this accident. The contaminated area of the gulf continues to spread, and oil has been found in some of the fragile marshes at the tip of Louisiana. Offshore oil Drilling can lead to oil spills and this leads to jobs being endangered, animals dying, and damaging the eco system. Oil spills can spread for 1,000’s of miles which damage not only local species, but species native to other places. As offshore oil drilling continues around the world, there is the possibility of another oil spill. A oil spill could happen at any moment and could impact as many as thousands of people inland, but can also impact fish, birds, mammals, trees, seaweed, coral, etc. Offshore oil drilling can be dangerous to everyone and everything. We need to stop killing off the species in the water or we will have more instinct animals. References Bransfield, J. Brian. (2010, July 11). Healing the hole in the Gulf- and in our hearts. Our Sunday Visitor, Vol. 99 Issue 11, 14-15. Retrieved July 30, 2010 from https://web. ebscohost. com. kaplan. Boesch, DF and N. N. Rabalais (eds. ). 1990. Long Term Environmental Effects of Offshore Oil and Gas Development. Routledge, 718 Minerals Management Service 2006. Outer Continental Shelf Oil ; Gas Leasing Program: 2007-2012. Draft Environmental Impact Statement https://www. ms. gov/5-year/2007-2012_DEIS. htm Minerals Management Service. 2006. MMS Updates Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Damage. Release: #3486 Minerals Management Service. Pipeline Damage Assessment from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Technical Report No. 448 14183. National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Ocean Studies Board and Marine Board. National Academies Press. Olsgard, F. and J. S. Gray. 1995. A comprehensive analysis of the effects of offshore oil and gas exploration and production on the benthic communities of the Norwegian continental shelf. Marine Ecology Progress Series 122: 277-306. Pulsipher, A. G. , O. O. Iledare, D. V. Mesyanzhinov, A. Dupont, and Q. L. Zhu. 2001. Forecasting the number of offshore platforms on the Gulf of Mexico OCS to the year 2023. Prepared by the Center for Energy Studies, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La. OCS Study MMS 2001-013. U. S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, New Orleans, LA 66 pp. Wilson, D. L. , J. N. Fanjoy, and R. S. Billings. 2004. Gulfwide Emission Inventory Study for the Regional Haze and Ozone Modeling Efforts: Final Report. OCS Study 2004-072. Prepared for Minerals Management Service, New Orleans, LA. Morrisville, NC: ERG, Inc.

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