Transformation project

Arabella Cairone
English 8
Ms. Alldredge
23-5-17


Oil Spills:

How to Prevent a Catastrophe




There have been 40 large oil spills in the past 17 years, 103 oil spills since 2000. (Wikipedia) On average, 1.3 million gallons of petroleum are spilled into U.S. waters each year, that number could and would easily double with a large oil spill. (Live) With the amount of oil spilled into the ocean each year, why are our tools not perfected? There are many new pieces of technology that has been developed but not used like carbon sponges and magnetic soap. This tech may be better than the skimmers and chemical distributors that are being used now. Is there a more efficient way to clean up oil spills? Is there new technology that can do that?

From 1971 to 2000 there have been more than 250,000 oil spills in U.S. waters and approximately 1.7 billion gallons of oil spilled from tankers since 1970. (UPI). Deepwater Horizon was the largest marine oil spill in U.S. history. Eight national parks were threatened, and multiple marine species living in the Gulf of Mexico were at risk. (Natural) They found damage to corals seven miles from the well, almost 200 dolphins died and “disturbing numbers” of fish were also found dead. (Wikipedia) After the fact because of the chemicals used in clean up shrimp were found born without eyes, crabs born without claws and some even said it looked like the spikes on their shells had been burned off.The crude oil that came from the well contained approximately 40 percent methane which is a lot compared to the 5 percent in typical oil deposits. The methane could suffocate marine life and create dead zones. A surge of natural gas busted through the newly cemented concrete core on Deepwater Horizon. (Britannica) A similar thing happened on a BP-owned rig before. (Britannica) The severity of the explosion caused long term effects.

The Deepwater Horizon disaster still has lasting effects 7 years later. (TBO) The oil that spilled has gone under the sand and comes back up when the water is rough. The oil coated root of trees called mangrove trees, the problem with this is that the roots of these trees were holding together a few different islands. When the mangrove trees died, the roots could no longer hold together the islands, so the corroded away. Many brown pelicans laid their eggs there and when the chicks are born they imprinted on the island. They will go back to lay their eggs, but when the islands are completely gone, they will have nowhere to lay their eggs. The dolphins continue to die, although the BP senior vice president Geoff Morrell says “The signs are good for a healthy Gulf.” (NPR) Even after 7 years the Gulf shows no sign of being back to it’s healthy state. Maybe this can be fully blamed on BP or maybe it can me blamed on the poor clean up tools.

Oil spills are typically cleaned up in 3 ways. Skimmers, burning, and chemical dispersants. Each one has it’s own pros and cons. Skimmers can’t be used on rough seas and sometimes, don’t work when windy. (Office) Rough seas mostly rules out burning since it involves calm conditions and brooms to collect and hold the oil in one place. Wind also rules out burning because it can cause the fire to get out of hand and can become dangerous. The chemical dispersants are more harmful than the crude oil itself and can cause rapid, widespread death and birth defects in the marine life. Out of the 3, skimmers are the only ones that can be used near the shore, but are the least effective. There are many new technologies that may work better than the tools being used now.

One way the next oil spill can be cleaned up with is carbon sponges. A carbon sponge is made from pure carbon nanotubes with a little amount of boron. (IOP) The sponge has the ability to absorb 100 times its weight in oil. (IOP) An upside to these sponges is that the oil can be saved and retrieved for future use, or it can be burned off. This may not work on really rough seas but it will work on a windy day. The second new thing that can be used is magnetic soap. The soap is iron rich and basically absorbs all the oil which then allows the soap to be “vacuumed” up with a magnet. Although this hasn’t been tested on a an area larger than a sink. Each of these methods have their own problems. (Popular) The magnetic soap’s problem is, one, you would need to put the soap into the water which may cause further damage to the environment and you would have to section off where you want to put the soap which is potentially problematic because of how fast oil can spread. With the carbon sponge the water would also need to be sectioned off, which as said is problematic due to the speed of which the oil will spread. Although both have problems they can both clean up and ensure more oil is removed from the water than skimming, burning, and chemical dispersants. The carbon sponges are also reusable and can save most of the spilled oil which can save a lot of money. If money is invested into using this new and better technology maybe these spills won’t be such a problem.

Oil spills are one of the most common disasters, but the only ones that are talked about are the big ones such as Deepwater Horizon, Lakeview Gusher, and Gulf War oil spill. Why are these the only ones talked about when there are so many? And why is there still so much oil floating in the ocean that was left to allow animals to die? Without the proper tools we will never be able to clean the oil from the ocean. If we work together and come up with better solutions, we will be able to move one step closer and closer to a cleaner, healthier world. On the 28th of January 2017 there was an oil spill in Chennai, India there was 60 tonnes of oil spilled and the cleanup still isn’t finished after 91 days, (Wikipedia) which most likely means oil has seeped into the ground and won’t be able to be cleaned up. This is why we need better tools, this is why we need to invest the money into the tools that will help fix our oceans. 1.3 million gallons spilled into the ocean every single year (Wikipedia) and we still can’t clean it all.





Cites used:

Bowermaster, Jon. "6 New Ways to Clean Up America's Next Catastrophic Oil Spill."TakePart. Takepart, 19 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 May 2017.

Network, MI News, E.T.KOROMA Says, Jeleba S.O. Says, and Liana Says. "10 Methods for Oil Spill Cleanup at Sea." Marine Insight. Marine Environment, 16 May 2017. Web. 24 May 2017.

Griffin, Drew, and Curt Devine. "5 Years after the Gulf Oil Spill: What We Do (and Don't) Know." CNN. Cable News Network, 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 24 May 2017.

"Oil Spill." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 May 2017. Web. 02 June 2017.

Thompson, Andrea. "FAQ: The Science and History of Oil Spills." LiveScience. Purch, 23 Apr. 2010. Web. 02 June 2017.

"U.S. Oil Spills Quadrupled since 2000." UPI. UPI, 08 June 2010. Web. 02 June 2017.

Than, Ker. "Pictures: 8 National Parks Threatened by Oil Spill." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 14 July 2016. Web. 02 June 2017.

"Environmental Impact of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 May 2017. Web. 02 June 2017.

Pallardy, Richard. "Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill of 2010." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 31 Mar. 2017. Web. 02 June 2017.

Dawson | Times Staff Writer, Anastasia. "7 Years Later, USF Charting Long-term Effects of BP Oil Spill." TBO. Tbo, 19 Apr. 2017. Web. 02 June 2017.

Elliott, Debbie. "5 Years After BP Oil Spill, Effects Linger And Recovery Is Slow." NPR. NPR, 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 02 June 2017.

"How Do Oil Spills out at Sea Typically Get Cleaned Up?" How Do Oil Spills out at Sea Typically Get Cleaned Up? Office of Response and Restoration, 2 June 2017. Web. 02 June 2017.

Jamal, M. Shahrizan, and Mei Zhang. "Carbon Nanotube Based Hybrid Nanocarbon Foam." IOPscience. IOP, 1 Mar. 2017. Web. 2 June 2017.

Boyle, Rebecca. "New Magnetic Soap Could Clean Oil Spills With No Suds Left Behind." Popular Science. Popular Science, 25 Jan. 2012. Web. 02 June 2017.