Crude operatons oil and the environment
Crude operatons - oil and the environmentCrude Operations:
Oil and the Environment
The environmental impacts of offshore oil drilling greatly outweigh the economic benefits provided. Although it has been a continuous activity for more than a decade, One can not help but wonder why offshore drilling continues when considering the pollution caused, how it eliminates the supply of natural resources, murders innocent sea creatures, and actually damages the national economy. There are, however, solutions to this problem. Before solutions can be presented, it is important to discuss the various problems.
First, offshore oil drilling results in both sea and land based pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, claims that "with offshore drilling comes substantial routine pollution in the forms of oil and gas." By routine, the EPA means "a near constant flow from oil rigs and derricks" (Sisskin). Nothing is ever done about the pollution, and until something is done about the oil being put into the sea, our oceans are at risk. So just how much oil is put in the oceans? According to a study conducted by the World Research Institute, "�between 3 and 6 million tons of oil are discharged into the oceans every year" (Gorman 48). To put this in perspective, that is approximately 4 football stadiums filled to the top with oil. That is just every year�and this has been going on for more than a decade. In total, 45 million tons of oil in the past ten years that have been put into the oceans. There are several ways that oil ends up in the oceans. One method is through drilling accidents and another is through spillage from tankers and other transports. In 1990 alone, 1/8 of the total oil discharged "�occurred daily in the New York - New Jersey Harbor" (American Oceans Campaign). And this is only an eighth of the total oil spilled. Take a moment and just think about how much oil was spilled�that one eighth of 6 million tons is 750,000 tons of oil in just the New York - New Jersey Harbor alone. These large concentrations of oil often devastate marine life, and can lead to extinction of species that inhabit that area. Christos Papoutsis, the energy commissioner of the European Commission stated that when dealing with oil, "sea disposal is neither a realistic, nor a desirable option�" (Cutter). And he is right. The current effects of dumping raw oil into the ocean have severe impacts on the marine life, and the surrounding environment. Companies that dump raw oil into the oceans for whatever reason simply lack the foresight to accurately see the results of the actions. And the pollution from offshore drilling does not stop with marine pollution. In conjunction with marine pollution offshore drilling also creates air pollution....
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