Environmental Degradation 2010 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill  Picture Source: NASA Goddard / Rob Gutro. http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/oilspill/20100517_spill.html
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What is the rot cause? Where is it Happening? Why is this occuring? On April 20th, 2010 an explosion and fire on a BP oil drilling rig about 50 miles off the Louisana coast in the Gulf of Mexico left 20 working missing presumed dead. 2 Days following the explosion and fire the BP oil rig sank into the Gulf of Mexico. Reporters from the New York Times say, "oil is leaking at the rate of 5,000 barrels a day, not 1,000 as had been estimated" (Roberston, Kaufman 1). The 5000 foot long pipe that connects the rig to the wellhead is now seperated from the sunken oil rig and meandering on the ocean floor. There is a leak at the the end of the rig and a leak in a kink near the wellhead. This oil spill is on track to be the worst oil spill in history. Reports by The Huffington Post says, "This oil spill is on track to become the worst oil spill in history, surpassing the damage done by the Exxon Valdez tanker that spilled 11 million gallons of oil into the ecologically sensitive Prince William Sound in 1989. Unlike the Exxon Valdez tragedy, in which a tanker held a finite capacity of oil, BP's rig is tapped into an underwater oil well and could pump more oil into the ocean indefinitely until the leak is plugged." (The Huffington Post, 1) Text and picture Sources: (Text and picture used in same) The Huffington Post, Cain Burdeau and Brett Martel. www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/28/oil-spill-gulf-of-mexico-_0_n_554852.html The Huffington Post, no author http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/louisiana-oil-spill-2010_n_558287.html Nola.com, Sheila Grissett, The Times-Picayune http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/gulf_of_mexico_oil_spill_dispe.html The New York Times, Cambell Roberston and Leslie kaufman http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/us/29spill.html Msnbc.com, Michael Kunzelman and Mike Baker http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37241470/ns/business-oil_and_energy/
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What is being of can be done to handle this environemtnal problem? On Monday May 24th, 2010 the oil reached the coast of Louisana. Many solution have been presented and attempted to stop or plug this oil leak. Nothing has worked, the coast guard has ideas to ignite the oil to reduce its mass. At this time no sure solution has been attempted, it seems that nobody know exactly what to do. The decision to stop pumping in oil dispersant chemicals has been made. Bp has been using two dispersants to break the oil into billions of particles to desolve the oil faster (Grissett, 1). A report on May 7th, 2010 said, "As of Friday morning, some 250,000 gallons of the chemical Corexit 9500 had been dropped onto the water's surface from aircraft. And a second dispersant, Corexit EC9527A, was also being piped down to the source of the spill." (Grissett, 1)This process has been stopped until more knowledge is gathered about the impact of the oil dispersants. This has pleased many professors and scientists. According to Msnbc.com over 10,000 ideas from inventors have come up to stop this the oil leak. But In which Bp is only looking at a possible 700 of those ideas and the oil company has not used any of those being studied or looked at. (Kunzelman, Baker 1) Bp has been doing testing on igniting the oil on fire, which were successull. The US Coast Guard has agreed that a controlled fire will be the most effective solution to keep the oil off the surface of the water. When the oil is burnt it becomes harder and clumps together allowing it easier to gather with nets and skimmers. (Burdeau, Martel, 1)
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What did I learn from completing this assignment and how was it impacted me? I did not realize the magnitude of this oil spill. This difference in this oil spill and the Exxon Valdez is like spilling water out of 5 gallon jug or having a major leak in pipe in the walls of your home. The 5 gallon spill can be gathered and cleaned. The leak in the wall requires the wall to be ripped out, the hole in the pipe to be repaired or replaced, then you must do mold and moisture control and finally put everything back together. They have not even figured out a way to stop the leak. The square milage this oil spill covers cover is equal to covering the all of Salt Lake and Utah counties and most of Summit, Davis, and Toole counties in oil. It was reported that a personel in helicopters could see 4 whales swimming threw the oil. They didn't know what the affect would be on the whales. This has impacted me greatly, it is extremely important to get this fixed and the environment recovered. Bp, the government and scientist do not know what impacts the leak and dispersants will have on the environment and marine food chain. I am really glad I did my assignment on this current event. I did not know the impact a oil spill or in this case an oil leak could have on so many different aspects of the world. If this problem is not fixed or atleast contained come hurricane season this problem could be a problem to inland and sea. |
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