This document discusses oil spills, including how much oil is used in the United States and worldwide, what causes oil spills, their effects on marine life, and methods for cleaning them up. It also summarizes the three largest oil spills in history and regulations put in place after the Exxon Valdez spill. The author expresses concern about humanity's impact on the environment from oil spills and dependency on oil.

1. The
Concerned
Civilian
Miami, Florida
December 8, 2015
$1.25
✫Special Edition: Oil
spills✫
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Oil Spills

2. Author: Quinn Glassey
How much oil do we use?
Nearly all crude oil imported into the United
States is directly refined into petroleum
products, including
gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, and jet fuel.
Because of this, crude oil is directly
consumed less frequentlythan
refined oils. Liquids produced from natural gas
processing are also consumed as petroleum
products. Renewable biofuels, such as ethanol and
biodiesel, can be used as a substitute for or an
additive to refined petroleum products.
An ocean oil rig
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3. mage credit: http://world-
fuel.me/HTML/button_09_selected_html/button_09_selected.ht
m
According to the U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA), in 2014, the United States
consumed a total of 6.97 billion barrels of
petroleum products, an average of about 19.11
million barrels per day. The entire World uses
approximately 85 million barrels a day; that is
about 3,570,000,000 gallons of oil.
Image credit: http://misfitsarchitecture.com/tag/oil-rigs/
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What is an oil spill?
An oil spill is a form of pollution. Due to human
activity,
liquid petroleum hydrocarbon is released into the
environment. The term is usually applied to marine
oil spills,
where oil is released into the ocean or coastal
waters, but
spills may also occur on land.

4. Effects of oil spills on marine life
Ingestion: By ingesting oil or byproducts of oil
spills,
gastrointestinalirritation problems can arise in marine
life. These include ulcers, bleeding, diarrhea,
and digestive complications. These issues oftenlead to
the inability of the animals to digest and
absorb foods,
obviously leading to lack of nutrients and starvation.
Ingestion can occur at multiple levels of
the food chain.
Herbivores, such as sea turtles, end up consuming
vegetation that has been coated with oil
particles.
Carnivores, such as shorebirds that feed on clams,
mussels, or worms consume organisms that have
been
exposed to oil sediments washed onto the shoreline.
Even if they do not directly ingest oil, these
carnivorous
animals consume herbivores that have eaten
chemical laden oil. Specifically, Baleen whales
have a system of
filtering teeth; thickoil can clog their filtersystem,
which oftenleadsto starvation and death. Oil
spills cause
immediate marine life illness and deaths.
However, in the larger scale, oil spills
affect the entire maritime food
chain by killing off top predators and their prey.
Absorption: Oil and dispersants seeps into marine
organisms’ skin. This can cause liver and kidney
damage,
which leadsto anemia, suppressed immune system,

5. induce reproductive failure, blindness, and
possibly death.
Exposure to oil may irritate, burn, or cause
infections to the skin of somespecies. Pregnant
animals that absorb
thesechemicals can have seriously damaged and disabled
offspring. Fish and sea turtle embryos may grow
more slowly than normal, leading to lower
hatching rates and developmental impairments.
Inhalation: Effects from inhalation are most common in
marine species that require air (such as
dolphins,
manatees, sea turtles, whales, and otters). The marine
mammals breathe in vaporized chemicals released by
oil
that floats on the ocean surface. The possible
consequences of oil inhalation include: respiratory
inflammation,
pneumonia, irritation, suffocation, and emphysema.
Image credit:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_
oil.html
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Top 3 largest oil spills in history
1. Arabian Gulf/Kuwait

6. When: Jan. 19, 1991
Where: Persian Gulf, Kuwait
Amount: 380-520 million gallons
The Gulf War oil spill was not an accident; the oil
was spilled deliberately during wartime. During
the Gulf War,
Iraqi forces attempted to prevent American soldiers
from landing and cutting American oil supplies by
opening
valves at an offshore oil terminal and dumping oil
from tankers. The oil resulted in a 4-inch
thickoil slick that
spread across 4,000 square miles in the
Persian Gulf.
2. Gulf oil spill
When: April 22, 2010
Where: Gulf of Mexico
Amount: An estimated 206 million gallons
The Gulf oil spill is officially the largest accidental
spill in world history. It began when an
oil well a mile below
the surface of the Gulf blew out, causing an
explosion on BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig that
killed 11 people. BP
made several unsuccessful attempts to plug the
well, but oil flowed — possibly at a rate as
high as 2.5 million
gallons a day — until the well was capped on
July 15, 2010. Oil gushed from the broken
well for more than 85
days, oiled572 miles of Gulf shoreline, and killed
hundreds of birdsand marine life. The long-term
effects of the
oil and the 1.82 million gallons of dispersant used on
this fragile ecosystemremain unknown, but experts

7. say
they could devastate the Gulf coastfor years to
come.
3. Ixtoc1 Oil Spill
When: June 3, 1979
Where: Bay of Campecheoff Ciudad del Carmen,
Mexico
Amount: 140 million gallons
This spill was caused by an offshore oil well. Pemex,
a state-owned Mexican petroleum company was
drilling an
oil well when a blowout occurred. The oil caught
on fire and the drilling rig collapsed; thus, oil
began gushing
out of the well into the Gulf of Mexico. Before
workers were finally able to cap the well, oil
poured out at a rate
of 10,000 to 30,000 barrels a day for almost
an entire year.
Image credit: http://visual.ly/worst-oil-spills-
history

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How are oil spills cleaned up?
Oil spills are generally cleaned up by one, or
multiple, different methods. These methods
include:
1. Dispersants: Chemical dispersants are used to speed
up the biodegradation process; to do this,
dispersants break down the oil into little
droplets, which makes it easier for the oil
and water to mix. The
oil is then absorbed into the aquatic system. This
process can not be uses for all oil spills,
dependingon
the location. Because the chemicals and drops of oil
can be more easily absorbed, dispersants should
not be used where it can affect marine
organisms.
2. Booms: These are floating oil barriers, oftenmade
of
plastic or metal, that isolates the oil and slows
the
spreading process. On the surface, skimmers suck or
scoop the oil into containment tanks on the
shore or on
nearby boats. Booms are oftenhard to use because
they
cannot be used under conditions of high winds
and
inclement weather.

9. Example of an oil boom
3. Naturally: When all otherpossibilities will pollute
or harmthe environment, it is oftenleft to
naturally
clean itself. The sun, wind, currents and waves
can disperse and evaporate most oils.
4. Biodegradation: This method happens when
bacteria and othermicro-organisms break down
the oil
into harmless substances, such as fatty acidsand carbon
dioxide. To speed up the process, clean-up
crews can add fertilizing nutrients like nitrogen and
phosphorous, which encourage the growth of
micro-
organisms.
5. Burning: Usually in remote areasit is
possible to burn off spilled oil. Burning can
eliminate largevolumes
of oil quickly and effectively. On the otherhand,
this process burns off plantlife, leaves water
residue,
and creates smog. All of which make this
method problematic and
raises the question of whether the consequences
are worth it. In
somecases, the contained area has to be flooded in
order to save
the vegetation below by raising the burning
oil. Because burning oil

10. may spread rapidly in water, special fire-resistant
booms must be
used to contain the burning.
Example of oil burning
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Stopping oil spills?
How can we prevent oil spills? What is being
done to stop
thesehazardous marine spills?
Before we can make strides to prevent or
implement acts
to stop oil spills, it is first necessary to
recognize how oil
spills happen. They can be caused by:
• People making mistakes or reckless endangerment.
• Equipment malfunction.
• Natural disasters such as hurricanes.
• Intentional acts by terrorist groups, waged wars on

11. countries, vandalism, or illegal dumpers.
After the Exxon Valdez spill on March 24,
1989, the Oil
Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) was implemented. This
spill dumped over 11 million gallons of crude
oil into Prince
William Sound, Alaska. While not on the list of
the largest oil spills, the event was
shocking and called for action.
OPA addresses issues dealing with the prevention,
response, and fiscal responsibilities regarding marine
oil
pollution in the United States; it simplified and
reinforcedthe ability to prevent and respond to
disastrous oil
spills. Due to an implemented oil tax, a trust
fund is financed and is available to clean up
spills when the
responsible partyis incapable or unwilling to do
so. The OPA requires oil storage facilities and
vessels to submit
to the Federal government plans detailing how
they will respond to largereleases.
Although oil spills are still prevalent and wreak
havoc on marine environments, the act has
helped prevent spills
and assisted in the Gulf spill in 2010.
Prevention on actual oil rigging sites is an
obvious and necessary way to assist in

12. avoiding spills. These steps
include:
• Planning facilities that are more reliable, safe and
efficient.
• Having maintenance and inspectionchecks on a
regular basis.
• Using leak detection devices.
• Scheduling regular inspections.
• Choosing means of transportation that limit the
risk of accidents.
It is also necessary to recognize that every person
can make a difference with their dailychoices
and actions.
Implementing a ‘greener’ lifestyle can assist in oil
spill prevention. Here’s what we can do:
• Reduce use of fossil fuels: Cut energy
consumption easily by choosing public
transportation and turning
off electricity. Everybody can reduce their energy
expenditures by choosing energy efficient heating
and
cooling devices, energy efficient lighting, and driving
a fuel efficient vehicle.
• Installing solar, wind, or geothermal to
generate green energy. These sources require
less to no
amounts of oil.
• Politically support clean energy instead of oil

13. by joining an organization that fights for
renewable energy
to reduce our dependency on oil. These
include: Sierra Club, Center for American
Progress, and 350.org.
Also, vote for those who believe in energy
conservation.
Image from the Exxon Valdez oil spill
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Personal statement regarding oil spills
We as a human race have yet again deemed
the earthas ‘ours’. Our selfishness has caused
and will continue to
cause marine life pollution, suffering, and destruction.
It seems that after every major oil spill,people
suddenly become
aware of the obvious oil issueour earthfaces.
However, after time
passes and new current events become relevant,
we seemto forget
about the entire subject. People do not seemto
be in a rush to
figure out energy alternatives to oil. Humanity
focuses more on
societal issues such as religion, politics, and wealth

14. rather than our
direct impacts on innocent organisms.
Thanks to the marketing from companies like Dawn,
oil spills’
impacts on sea life has been constantlyprevalent in
consumers lives. By purchasing Dawn,
we consumers can
take an easy small step towards helping marine
life affected by our reckless actions. However,
we need to do
more than just buy dish soap. Each human on this
earthneeds to take actions talked about
above (such as:
installing green energy, using ‘green’ cars or
driving less, exercisingour political voice, and
cutting down fossil
fuels).
Unfortunately, people tend to only focus on the
‘cute’ or ‘sad’images of oil spills; it is
necessary to recognize
that not just adorable otters, ducklings, and
dolphins are affected by thesespills. Plankton
suffocate and die;
chemicals are absorbed into fishes’ skins, causing
them to burn
alive; shrimp get trapped in thickoil and can
not swim out of it or
access food. These issues are bigger than
just what we see on the
surface. Entire ecosystems are disrupted; whole
food chains can
be unsettled with the deaths of theseanimals.

15. Oil spills
need to stop.
New sources
of fuel and
energy need
to be innovated and current ones need to be used
more
frequently. As a ‘concerned civilian’, I am
worried about
our impacts on marine environments due to our
excessive
use of oil. Humans need to start taking
responsibility for
their actions and in return give back to the earth
we share
with so many organisms.
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http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/oilspill/crudeoil.html
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1084335_how-much-oil-
does-america-use-check-out-this-infographic
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_sum_snd_d_nus_mbbl_m_cur.

16. htm
http://slipr.com/2009/10/02/how-much-oil-does-the-world-use-
in-a-day/
http://www.amsa.gov.au/environment/maritime-environmental-
emergencies/national-plan/general-
information/oiled-wildlife/marine-life/index.asp
http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/12/geography-in-
the-news-oil-spills/
http://www.livescience.com/6363-top-10-worst-oil-spills.html
http://www.cnbc.com/2010/06/09/17-Ways-To-Clean-Up-The-
Gulf-Oil-Spill.html
http://www.uscg.mil/npfc/About_NPFC/opa.asp
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content/uploads/2012/08/Earth-from-space-NASA.jpg
Image 2: http://mpora.com/articles/environmentally-friendly-
surfer - Gz51zIopJT2AkAlG.97
Image 3:
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s-find-oil-spill-deadzones
Image 4: http://www.oobject.com/category/oil-spill-cleanup-
technologies/

17. Image 5: http://www.cepsorbents.com/booms
Image 6: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/10/gulf-oil-
spill/bourne-text
Image 7:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2011/oct/12/n
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Image 8:
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01.xml
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resources/stories/dawn-dishwashing-liquid-being-
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Image 10:http://www.kidzworld.com/article/24170-oil-spills-
sad-but-true
Image 11: https://skh-careers-
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