Research Document- Oil Spills

Stewart, Anne (2009) World Oil Pollution: Causes, Prevention and Clean- Up. Retrieved from: http://oceanlink.island.net/oceanmatters/oil%20pollution.html

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (2008) What’s the Story on Oil Spills? Retrieved from: http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/kids/spills.html

·      US uses 700 million gallons of oil/day

·      Exxon Valdez oil spill was largest in US… but only 2% of what US uses in a day.

·      Spills are caused by people making mistakes, equipment failure, natural disasters, sabotage/ acts of violence

·      Oil usually floats on the surface and is a danger to marine birds and mammals.  The oil can be ingested and coat their feathers.

·      Spill response: Booms (floating barriers) skimmers (sucks up oil from surface) Sorbents (giant sponges), Chemical dispersants, burning off

·      USCG and EPA reasonable for clean ups

NOAA (2010) Oil Spills Retrieved from: http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/oceanography-book/oilspills.htm

·       Oil spills are most often common at: continental shelf, groundings/drilling, runoff, transportation,

·       No two spills are the same

·       Translated to different clean up plans for each

·       Location, oil type, weather are key factors

·       Most common clean up:

o   1. Leave the oil alone so that it breaks down by natural means.
2. Contain the spill with booms and collect it from the water surface using skimmer equipment.
3. Use dispersants to break up the oil and speed its natural biodegradation.
4. Introduce biological agents to the spill to hasten biodegradation.

·       Animals suffer from toxic chemicals in oil

·       Oil damages coastal habitats

·       Can ruin fishing markets

NOAA (2011) Office of Response and restoration- Coastal Issues Retrieved from: http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/audience_catalog.php?RECORD_KEY%28audience_chosen%29=audience_id&audience_id%28audience_chosen%29=2

·       1989 Exxon Valdez Spill

·       Many lessons learned

·       quick response is critical

·       US made stricter laws regulating tankers

·       Lead to laws mandating double hull an all new tankers

Daniel, Tharani, Kathy (2010) Accidents and Operations Retrieved from: http://library.thinkquest.org/C004218/OilCauses.htm

·      There are two main causes of spills: accidents and operations.

·      Accidents: 1/5 have an oil loss of over 700 tones.

·      Types of accidents:

·       collisions: a common accident with 475 occurring

·       hull failures: these accidents have occurred the most, with 671 hull failures

·       fires and explosions: this is the most uncommon type of accident, only occurring 154 times

·       Groundings: a common accident with 518 occurring, and the greatest number of oil losses over 700 tones

·                Operations: Most oil losses occur when ships are carrying out routine operations at ports or oil terminals, but the majority of such spills are small, with 93% of them producing a spillage of less than 7 tones.

·                Types of operations spills:

• loading/discharging: commonest cause of oil spillages (either during routine operations or resulting from accidents), with 3070 occurring
• bunkering: the least common operational oil loss with only 566 occurring