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How Does California Oil Spill Affect Our Environment?

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Californian has been affected by water pollution with many large over spills in recent history. On May 19, 2015, a crude oil pipeline spilled into the ocean at Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara County. The spill resulted in 4.2 million gallons of crude oil spilling into the ocean and nearby shores. This disaster has been a catalyst for the modern environmental movement (California Coastal Commission). Oil spills are environmental disasters that harm animals, fish, and ruins habitats. In oil spills, the oil is “discharged either accidentally or intentionally, and it floats on the surface of water bodies as a discrete mass and is carried by the wind, currents and tides.” (OECD) Oil spills can be partially controlled by chemical, biological, …show more content…

Oil spill effect our environment, ecosystems, animals, and humans. Environmental effects are that animals are endangered by oil spills. For example, birds that dive into the ocean are then unable to fly because of their wings being covered in oil. Also, once birds, fish, or other marine mammals ingest the oil, it is poisonous to them and kills them. Oil has a thick consistency and chokes them. Animals are affected as oil is toxic when ingested, marine mammals can suffer from hypothermia, fish can have genetic abnormalities and reproductive problems., and birds will lose their ability to float or die. Also, oil spills are a waste of our natural resources. California, especially Santa Barbara county has a lot of oil to drill underneath. As Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director for the Center for Biological Diversity stated, “Oil spills are part of the ugly cost of fossil fuel development, made even worse by aging domestic infrastructure.” The area is home to offshore oil rigs, and small amounts of tar from natural seepage regularly show up on beaches. In 1969, several hundred thousand gallons spilled from a blowout on an oil platform and thousands of seabirds and many marine mammals were killed (Fox News, 2015). Economically, oil spills waste our crude oil supply. Having less of a supply decreasing our exports so we end up importing oil which leads to rising c gas prices as well as inflation. Cleaning up the harm caused by oil …show more content…

There are ecofriendly options such as using wind power, solar power, hydroelectricity, natural gas, and much more. Using oil is not a necessity. Recommendations to prevent oil spills are to have preparedness and prevention methods, to avoid oil spills in the first place. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states their priority is to prevent, prepare for, and respond to oil spills that occur in and around inland waters of the U.S. The EPA is the governmental agency responsible for addressing oil spills in inland waters while the U.S. Coast Guard addresses oil spills in coastal and deep waters. I would personally would recommend for those working with drilling oil to have continuous training to prevent hazards from happening. I personally think prevention should be started by having proper equipment and regularly checking if the equipment works properly. Many spills have happened from equipment not being monitored. I think mechanical and chemical containment are smart and the best

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