GULF OF MEXICO OIL SPILL

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Gulf of Mexico oil spill

Introduction

Oil is a product used by everyone, but sometimes oil is a problem. An oil spill is a leakage from an oceangoing tanker, pipelines, or other oil sources. Oil spills occur very frequently, and cause enormous ecological harm. About eight million barrels of oil are spilled each year. Tankers usually carry about five-hundred million barrels of oil. Many oil spills, large in land or ocean coverage, have had major impacts on the earth and its inhabitants. Many animals are die and some are injured in some way. Many plants and animals are endangered, or are now extinct.

Thesis Statement

Gulf of Mexico oil spill's effects on deepwater environment may be hard to evaluate.

Discussion

A tanker carrying 38 million gallons of oil caught on fire, and leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This was a very serious threat to local shrimp nurseries and wildlife refuges. In February of 1990, 300,000 gallons leaked from a damaged tanker off Southern California, fouling miles of shoreline.

The growing spill also threatened to churn political waters as lawmakers weigh what buffer zones to establish between rigs and shorelines in the wake of President Obama's decision to open up new regions to offshore drilling. It could also alter details of a climate bill that three leading senators were trying to restart after postponing plans for a rollout that would have featured leading oil company executives (www.nytimes.com).

The Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean and leased to BP, caught fire April 20 after an explosion and sank. Eleven oil rig workers are missing and presumed dead. The rig, with a platform bigger than a football field and insured for $560 million, was one of the most modern and was drilling in 5,000 feet of water.

Remotely operated vehicles located two places where oil was leaking from the well pipe, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The Coast Guard said there was an area 42 miles by 80 miles with a rainbow sheen of emulsified crude located less than 40 miles offshore. An oil rig 10 miles away from the Deepwater Horizon was evacuated as a precaution.

Environmentalists noted that although the sunken rig's distance from shore gives oil companies more time to keep the spill from reaching U.S. coastlines, it also means that the water is deeper, making it harder to get the spill under control. "It's good because it gives you the chance to intercept it before it reaches the coast, but it is harder to cap a well the deeper the water you're drilling in," said Aitan Manuel, an expert on offshore drilling at the Sierra Club. "It's presenting a lot of challenges to the companies (www.huffingtonpost.com)."

Some lawmakers called for an inquiry into safety regulation. "This may be the worst disaster in recent years, but it's certainly not an isolated incident," Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), all foes of expanded offshore drilling, wrote to the heads of the Energy and Commerce ...