Usually, the oil spills occurring in a water environment e. However, if an aquatic oil spill is substantial enough such as in the case of Exxon Valdez spill or the April BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico from offshore drilling then the effects on marine life, birds, humans and ecosystems including marshes and wetlands, as well as shorelines or gulf coasts could be serious.
In order to understand the type and magnitude of oil spill effects, we need to first understand the fate and transport of spilled oil. The general fate and transport of spilled oil dictates its environmental effects and mainly involves:. The oil resulted from oil spills is transported throughout the environment in various forms, and has various characteristics that influence its effects over the environmental elements.
Some of the main characteristics of the oil are briefly presented in the table below:. The effects of oil spills are not limited to the environment.
There are immediate effects on humans, fish, animals, birds and wildlife in general, mainly due to:. Environmental Effects of Oil Spill When an oil spill occurs, many elements of the environment may be affected. The general fate and transport of spilled oil dictates its environmental effects and mainly involves: the ability of oil to accumulate on top of water bodies forming oil slicks or non-aqueous phase liquids which are generally more resistant to degradation and natural attenuation than the dissolved compounds.
Spilled oil poses serious threats to fresh water and marine environments, affecting surface resources and a wide range of subsurface species that are linked in a complex food chain that includes human food resources. The actions of winds, waves, and currents called weathering causes spilled oil to break down and become distributed throughout the water. Oil toxicity is reduced as the oil weathers.
An oil spill that reaches a shore quickly will be more toxic to the shore life than if the slick has been weathering at sea for several days before stranding.
The greatest toxic damage is caused by spills of lighter oil such as diesel, particularly when confined in a small area. Because of their origins, fossil fuels have a high carbon content.
Once extracted, oil is transported to refineries via supertanker, train, truck, or pipeline to be transformed into usable fuels such as gasoline, propane, kerosene, and jet fuel—as well as products such as plastics and paint. Petroleum products supply about 37 percent of U. However, oil use has increased modestly for the past four years, as relatively low gasoline prices have fueled a rise in vehicle miles traveled and renewed interest in SUVs and light trucks.
Still, U. Continued strengthening of clean car and fuel economy standards remains critical for reducing oil consumption. On the production side, the United States has experienced a decadelong upswing.
Production growth is due in large part to improvements in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, technologies that have created a boom in U. While horizontal drilling enables producers to drill down and outward—thus reaching more oil or gas from a single well—hydraulic fracturing also known as fracking is designed to extract oil or natural gas from unyielding rock, including shale and other formations. Fracking involves blasting huge quantities of water mixed with chemicals and sand deep into a well, at pressures high enough to fracture rock and enable the oil or gas to escape.
This controversial method of extraction creates a host of environmental and health problems, including air and water pollution. Coal is a solid, carbon-heavy rock that comes in four main varieties differentiated largely by carbon content: lignite, sub-bituminous, bituminous, and anthracite.
Nearly all of the coal burned in the United States is sub-bituminous or bituminous. Found in abundance in states including Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, these coal types are middle of the pack in terms of carbon content and the heat energy they can produce.
Regardless of variety, however, all coal is dirty. Coal is extracted via two methods: Underground mining uses heavy machinery to cut coal from deep underground deposits, while surface mining also known as strip mining removes entire layers of soil and rock to access coal deposits below. Strip mining accounts for about two-thirds of coal sourced in the United States. Although both forms of mining are detrimental to the environment, strip mining is particularly destructive , uprooting and polluting entire ecosystems.
Coal and the power plants that burn it account for less than a third of U. Cleaner, cheaper alternatives—including natural gas, renewables like solar and wind, and energy-efficient technologies—make coal far less economically attractive.
Future demand for coal is expected to remain flat or to fall as market forces propel alternative energy sources forward. Conventional natural gas is located in porous and permeable rock beds or mixed into oil reservoirs and can be accessed via standard drilling.
Unconventional natural gas is essentially any form of gas that is too difficult or expensive to extract via regular drilling, requiring a special stimulation technique, such as fracking. The original plan was to place the wells near a predominantly white school but the location changed after angry parents pushed back. Climate change is happening here and now. The year was one of the warmest on record, wildfire season in the West is longer and hurricanes are more dangerous.
These extreme weather events are directly linked to fossil fuels that release heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. While we are all impacted, Black, Brown, Indigenous and working-class communities are feeling the heat—quite literally. Due to unjust housing policies and practices, these communities often live in treeless, concrete neighborhoods that are more susceptible to extreme weather events. These groups also have a harder time accessing natural landscapes that can help mitigate climate impacts.
With better management, public lands can be a part of the solution instead of the problem. We can have less fossil fuel extraction on these lands and more responsible renewable energy.
Infrastructure built for oil and gas extraction can leave behind radical impacts on wildlands. The construction of roads, facilities and drilling sites requires the use of heavy equipment and can destroy big chunks of pristine wilderness. The damage is often irreversible. On public lands, over 12 million acres are being used to produce fossil fuels—the equivalent of six Yellowstone National Parks.
These developments typically remove large amounts of rangelands and vegetation that is used by wildlife and people. Even if oil and gas companies eventually abandon these sites, it can take centuries before they fully recover. A full recovery would require human intervention and a bundle of resources. Mason Cummings, The Wilderness Society. Hunters, anglers, hikers, birders and vacationing families go into the wilderness to experience nature in all its beauty.
Oil tanks, power poles, noisy compressors and busy roads are not what they expect to see. The unsightly effects of oil and gas can ultimately hurt local communities that depend on tourism for a living.
0コメント