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Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Essay

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The deadliest marine oil spill in history happened in 2010 on the 10th of April when an explosion caused the Deepwater Horizon oil rig to sink and about 4,900,000 barrels of oil to leak into the gulf. The spill happened when a public comment period on President Obama’s administration plan to add ten new offshore leases in the Gulf of Mexico. Studies that were done on the BP disaster showed that the spill affected the corals in the deep, dolphins, whales, tuna, and whale sharks. Scott Eustis, a coastal wetlands specialist with Gulf Restoration Network thinks that the environmental impact is being underestimated and that only three of the seven available skimmer vessels were even deployed to vacuum the oil off the surface. A skimmer vessel is a device that separates …show more content…

The reason the public doesn’t hear about the frequent spills is because it gets less media attention, less environment impact assessment and most critically, fewer funds to clean up the spill. Oil that is leaked into the Gulf is very toxic to the mammals that take breaths above the surface but instead of air there are breathing in oil that may cause fatal pneumonia-like health issues. Many of the oil rigs located on the coast of the Gulf aren’t even operational. The abandoned wells contain not so small amounts of oil in the pipes that could leak or sit in the path of future hurricanes. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE) is a government agency that approved a flawed plan by Shell Oil. They wanted to drill in the same exact place that BP drilled where high water pressures are a huge risk of another Oil spill. Additionally, the company is going to use the same equipment and technology as the one that failed at BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling site that could cause a spill six times greater than the BP

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1 The Deepwater Horizon was a drilling rig, which had been rented by British Petroleum (BP), in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig exploded on April 20th, 2010, pouring nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the sea over a three months’ span. This environmental crisis endangered marine wildlife, as well as workers that were injured during the explosion. Of 126 people, 28 workers in total were hurt, leaving 11 that were fatally injured, while the other 17 were severely injured (Crandall, Parnell, & Spillan, 2013).

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728 Words | 3 Pages

An example of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill affecting the ecosystem is do to the pollution of the water, the death of fish, and the plants that died from the oil. The reason of the the oil spill is do to the pipe that was cut that contained the oil. Statistics show that the oil spill harmed and or killed approximately 82,000 birds of 102 species, 6,165 sea turtles, and up to 25,900 marine mammals, including bottlenose dolphins, spinner dolphins, melon-headed whales and sperm whales. An incident that lead to the ecosystem collapsing was do to the oil rig having to cut the pipe that pumped the oil, which caused the oil to seep into the sand and the roots of the plants. A fact that shows that the ecosystem was affected is the death of all the animals.

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949 Words | 4 Pages

Offshore Drilling Every year, in the United States alone, 565 million barrels or oil are extracted as a result of offshore drilling; totaling a startling amount of roughly 1.5 million barrels a day. Consequently, these threatening practices are negatively impacting marine mammals, sea birds, sea turtles, and fish. Although drilling offshore provides access to expensive resources such as oil, it heavily contributes to the extinction and endangerment of animals, and the disruption of marine ecosystems, thus these practices should be prohibited and viewed as unethical. To begin, new techniques of horizontal drilling allow for even greater amounts of oil to be extracted from a single well, producing problems in infrastructure on land.

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482 Words | 2 Pages

The Oil Spill has stressed the earth and society of individuals in light of the fact that the Oil fix that executed 1,978 flying creatures, 463 ocean turtles and 59 marine warm blooded animals. Individuals couldn 't angle or eat ocean depths. “We are fighting the oil at every front” (qtd. Black James, chief operation commander at the center). Moreover, the sun made the oil turned into a bad dream to the earth in light of the fact that the sun blazed the Oil on the ocean.

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602 Words | 3 Pages

The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill also known as the BP Oil Spill has damaged the Environment to an extent that is not imaginable. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill took place in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010 and has been described as the worst environmental disaster in the United States as it released about 2 million gallons of crude oil which killed and injured thousands of sea turtles and marine mammals. Bird’s feathers were coated in oil causing birds to lose their ability to float in water and their ability to maintain body temperature, mammals could have consumed oil, which causes ulcers and internal bleeding, sea turtles were drenched in oil, and dead and dying sea corals were discovered seven miles from the Deepwater Horizon well.

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598 Words | 3 Pages

The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in 1989 when the vessel struck on the reef in the Prince William Sound of Alaska. The reason contributed in the tanker grounding, the vessel was navigating outside the shipping lane in a purpose of avoiding the ice. Then, the seafarer could not maneuver the ship properly due to fatigue while the captain provided poor navigation as well. As a consequence, the tanker spilled an approximate of 11 million gallons of crude oil and most of it moved toward the southwest starting from Prince William Sound, Alaska. Moreover, the spilled oil had many reactions, some evaporated, some sank, some broke down by bacteria and digested by the sea life, and some moved towards the beaches in the Alaskan shore.

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855 Words | 4 Pages

Also known as the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, the BP Oil Disaster, the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, or the Macondo Blowout. BP was mostly at fault, but Transocean, the rig operator, and Halliburton, the contractor, had some culpability as well. This oil spill was the worst in US history and could be seen from space. The United States Government estimated that it was approximately 4.9 million barrels (210 million gallons) that poured into the ocean. To this day, researchers and scientists are gathering data to try and understand the oil spill and the impact it’s had on the Gulf coast, it’s communities and marine life.

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938 Words | 4 Pages

The worst environmental disaster in the US history took place on April, 20, 2010 when the Deep-water Horizon oil drilling rig was destroyed, and all the oil was released into the Gulf of Mexico, killing and injuring the workers. Countless liters of crude oil discharged into the Gulf of Mexico, and this affected the waters and surrounding lands, marshes and beaches. Also, many fish and wildlife were damaged, and it had a negative impact on many of the residents and communities in the Gulf region. Oil spill clean-up operations are rarely capable of recovering or treating more than a small portion of the oil spilled. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has negatively impacted the people and environment, and those who were responsible for it have not been punished enough.

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(10) Oil exploration threatens marine wildlife massively in regards to seismic testing, a massive detriment to whales and dolphins. (10) Ponds, pits, and lagoons can contain wastewater, organic chemicals, hydrocarbons, and other substances that compromise the safety of our water. Off the coast of Santa Barbara, California approximately 10,000 gallons of oil are poured into the ocean every single day. (Pros) There are currently ninety six thousand active oil and gas wells on public lands.

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Diagnosing The Conflict of The Gulf Oil Spill The Gulf of Mexico was considered the worst oil spill in the united states. According to ocean portal, on april 20th an explosion and sinking of the deep-water horizon caused 11 people to die. An underwater camera exposed the BP pipe that was leaking oil and gas on the ocean floor.

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991 Words | 4 Pages

1. Introduction In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil platform spit nearly five million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, making it the largest oil spill in history. The 1989 oil spill surpassed Exxon Valdez's oil spill in 1989 as the largest oil spill ever seen in US-controlled waters and the Ixtoc I oil spill of 1979 as the largest oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. On April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon, an ultra-deepwater offshore rig, exploded in the Gulf of Mexico about 41 miles off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 riggers and injuring 17 others.

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Extracting oil and gas resources from underwater locations may benefit the economy, but the dilemma of abuse on the environment will cause natural resources to become nonexistent, and must be stopped in the United States. Drilling along the coast has produced numerous environmental risks. Drilling and transportation accidents are primary sources of environmental risks. The drilling accidents can be separated into two groups; intense hydrocarbon gushing, and routine spills during operation.

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485 Words | 2 Pages

Offshore drilling is a topic surrounded by controversy. While oil is, arguably, one of the most important recourses in the modern world, acquiring it is a risky procedure: oil drilling. Over the years, oil drilling has resulted in oil leaking into, and contaminating ocean water. In addition, the pursuit of oil has deterred companies from transitioning to cleaner, renewable resources. With this information, it is conclusive that offshore oil drilling is bad, and should not be practiced anymore.

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1156 Words | 5 Pages

Introduction The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill took place in 2010 and is known to be the largest marine oil spill in history (Pallardy, 2018). The spill was caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010. The Transocean and BP company owned Oil rig was located 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana (Pallardy, 2010). It is thought to of leaked 60,000 barrels per day to make a total of 4,900,000 barrels altogether. Of that 4,900,000 barrels, only 800,000 could be taken out of the water.

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1074 Words | 5 Pages

The spill also led to the death of dolphins as well as other marine life. Prevention measures could have been taken to prevent the oil spill before it

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