Oil Spills Threaten Our Environment
Yenna Ko
February 20th, 2022
February 20th, 2022
Six months ago, giant blots of oil lurked the usual blue California ocean and bodies of animal carcasses washed up on the black-spotted, grainy sand. On top of that, a total of five other oil spills have occurred in Africa, Asia, and North America. Oil spills are one of the most disastrous catastrophes that are currently occuring in our environment, and more attention should be diverted to such an urgent and dangerous issue.
Diving further into the past year’s oil leaks, one of the major leaks occurred just three months ago. According to a New York Times article reported by Neil Vigdor and Melina Delkic, there has been a major oil spill in California on October 2nd, 2021. The main cause of this major oil spill was a 17.5-meter long pipeline failure that was connected to an offshore oil platform called “Elly.” Because this incident occurred only three miles off the coast of Newport Beach, the oil spill spread onto the shore. It was reported that at least 126,000 gallons of oil were spilled out into the ocean. This is the equivalent of about three thousand barrels of crude oil being dumped into the sea. Due to this oil leak, dead fish and birds were washed up to the shore, creating complaints about the foul odors wafting through the air. The oil leak also damaged the “25-acre ecological reserve that was home to dozens of species of birds” (Vigdor & Delkic). Mayor Kim Carr of Huntington Beach describes this incident as “one of the most devastating situations our community’s dealt with in decades.” As such, the intensity of the harmful effects oil leaks can bring to the whole ecosystem is highlighted within the recent environmental episodes.
Numerous academic sources illustrate the underlying reasons behind oil leaks. Accidents involving “tankers, barges, pipelines, drilling rigs, storage facilities, and recreational boats” are some of the most prominent causes of frequent leaks. Oil leak sources that are equipment-based occur mostly due to the equipment breaking down from transferring oil too often. Another reason why oil transferring equipment contributes to such leaks is because of natural disasters that consist of high winds. Because such events lead up to oil leakage, portions of oil end up in bodies of water. A majority of oil that floats towards the ocean’s freshwater and saltwater comes from rivers and lakes. The leaked oils progressively get thinner and eventually become part of the body of water, which promptly proliferates throughout the water, causing the damage done by oil leaks to increase in considerable degree.
The deleterious effects of oil leaks aren’t only limited to one category. Oil leaks, living up to their reputation, bring harmful effects to a wide variety of categories. Oil leaks are especially harmful to wildlife. Marine animals are at high risk of being coated in the leaked oil, which in turn affects the animal’s ability to move, maintain homeostasis, and eat. Furthermore, for mammals that rely on their fur to thermoregulate, oil can destroy the ability to insulate. For instance, over 500,000 species of birds perish due to oil leaks worldwide annually. This demonstrates how lethal oil leaks are to organisms that live in the proximity of the leak. In addition to harming wildlife in marine ecosystems, oil leaks can lead to a deterioration of human health as well. Oil leaks are extremely dangerous to humans exposed to such spills. Humans could be affected with “respiratory damage, liver damage, decreased immunity, increased cancer risk, reproductive damage and higher levels of some toxics'' (Webb). This highlights how oil leaks can harm not only the marine ecosystem but also us humans as well.
Oil leaks, no matter how trivial they seem, are an extremely urgent issue that requires our undivided attention to alleviate their devastating effects. Caused by machine-based accidents, human errors, and natural disasters, oil leaks are extremely rapid at proliferating, which can further exacerbate the harmful effects it brings along, such as causing the deaths of many marine animals, and weakening the health of those exposed to these harmful leaks. In order to further prevent oil spills, companies are currently intently making sure to tighten bolts on machines, install oil trays, and adopt leak detecting technologies. As more attention is diverted towards oil spill prevention techniques, oil leaks can gradually be prevented.
Sources
nytimes.com/2021/10/03/us/pipeline-broken-oil-pacific-ocean.html
noaa.gov/explainers/oil-spills-major-marine-ecosystem-threat
riskaware.co.uk/insight/oil-spill-impact-on-marine-environment
ornithology.com/birds-and-oil-spills
epareachit.org/oil-gas-companies-implementing-spill-prevention-measures
response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/tips-preventing-small-vessel-oil-spills.html
Diving further into the past year’s oil leaks, one of the major leaks occurred just three months ago. According to a New York Times article reported by Neil Vigdor and Melina Delkic, there has been a major oil spill in California on October 2nd, 2021. The main cause of this major oil spill was a 17.5-meter long pipeline failure that was connected to an offshore oil platform called “Elly.” Because this incident occurred only three miles off the coast of Newport Beach, the oil spill spread onto the shore. It was reported that at least 126,000 gallons of oil were spilled out into the ocean. This is the equivalent of about three thousand barrels of crude oil being dumped into the sea. Due to this oil leak, dead fish and birds were washed up to the shore, creating complaints about the foul odors wafting through the air. The oil leak also damaged the “25-acre ecological reserve that was home to dozens of species of birds” (Vigdor & Delkic). Mayor Kim Carr of Huntington Beach describes this incident as “one of the most devastating situations our community’s dealt with in decades.” As such, the intensity of the harmful effects oil leaks can bring to the whole ecosystem is highlighted within the recent environmental episodes.
Numerous academic sources illustrate the underlying reasons behind oil leaks. Accidents involving “tankers, barges, pipelines, drilling rigs, storage facilities, and recreational boats” are some of the most prominent causes of frequent leaks. Oil leak sources that are equipment-based occur mostly due to the equipment breaking down from transferring oil too often. Another reason why oil transferring equipment contributes to such leaks is because of natural disasters that consist of high winds. Because such events lead up to oil leakage, portions of oil end up in bodies of water. A majority of oil that floats towards the ocean’s freshwater and saltwater comes from rivers and lakes. The leaked oils progressively get thinner and eventually become part of the body of water, which promptly proliferates throughout the water, causing the damage done by oil leaks to increase in considerable degree.
The deleterious effects of oil leaks aren’t only limited to one category. Oil leaks, living up to their reputation, bring harmful effects to a wide variety of categories. Oil leaks are especially harmful to wildlife. Marine animals are at high risk of being coated in the leaked oil, which in turn affects the animal’s ability to move, maintain homeostasis, and eat. Furthermore, for mammals that rely on their fur to thermoregulate, oil can destroy the ability to insulate. For instance, over 500,000 species of birds perish due to oil leaks worldwide annually. This demonstrates how lethal oil leaks are to organisms that live in the proximity of the leak. In addition to harming wildlife in marine ecosystems, oil leaks can lead to a deterioration of human health as well. Oil leaks are extremely dangerous to humans exposed to such spills. Humans could be affected with “respiratory damage, liver damage, decreased immunity, increased cancer risk, reproductive damage and higher levels of some toxics'' (Webb). This highlights how oil leaks can harm not only the marine ecosystem but also us humans as well.
Oil leaks, no matter how trivial they seem, are an extremely urgent issue that requires our undivided attention to alleviate their devastating effects. Caused by machine-based accidents, human errors, and natural disasters, oil leaks are extremely rapid at proliferating, which can further exacerbate the harmful effects it brings along, such as causing the deaths of many marine animals, and weakening the health of those exposed to these harmful leaks. In order to further prevent oil spills, companies are currently intently making sure to tighten bolts on machines, install oil trays, and adopt leak detecting technologies. As more attention is diverted towards oil spill prevention techniques, oil leaks can gradually be prevented.
Sources
nytimes.com/2021/10/03/us/pipeline-broken-oil-pacific-ocean.html
noaa.gov/explainers/oil-spills-major-marine-ecosystem-threat
riskaware.co.uk/insight/oil-spill-impact-on-marine-environment
ornithology.com/birds-and-oil-spills
epareachit.org/oil-gas-companies-implementing-spill-prevention-measures
response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/tips-preventing-small-vessel-oil-spills.html
