Oils spills have been an issue for a long time. They have destroyed the biodiversity of sea and offshore wild life and our reliance of foreign oil is not making this issue any bettter.
How is it Obtained?
Oil can be obtained by drilling, or fracking, the earth's surface and extracting it. This can be done on and off land.
How Do They Occur?
An oil spill occurs when the ocean floor is being fracked, or a well leaks and the oils get relaeased into the water. The oil is less dense than the water so it floats to the top and makes it so it becomes hard for light and oxygen to come in . So plants, sea life, and offshore animals start dying of suffocation due to the lack of those essential things. It also mattes fur and feathers and it makes it hard for birds to float and sustain a normal body temperature (16). Spills also happens when a cargo tank filled with oil gets puncutred or falls off the boat and into the water and breaks.
The other thing about underwater oil drilling is that when the oil is releases, so is methane gas. It travels up with the oil, some of it dissolving into the water, and the rest gets relased into the air. Pertroleum hydrocarbons from the oil then sinks back down to the ocean floor and creates an oil plume while the rest of it evaporates into the air.
The most recent oil spill was the BP oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico. About 4.9 million barrels (200 gallons) of oil leaked out of its well and intot the water. The 22-mile plume that it created on the sea floor damaged deep sea coral and much of its other biodiversity.
The Issues By: c. Nelson
"The quicker we get about the business of reducing our reliance
on oil the better."
- Condoleezza Rice