THE GULF OIL SPILL

Exxon Valdez

• March 24, 1989• 10.8 gallons• 1100 miles of Alaskan coast• Valdez was carrying 53

million gallons• Impact on environment

Nowruz Oil Field Spill

• February 10- Semptember 18 1983

• Persian Gulf, Iran• 80 million gallons

Kolva River

• September 8, 1994• Kolva River, Russia

• Pipeline • 84 million gallons

Atlantic Empress

• July 19, 1979• Off of Trinidad and

Tobago

• 90 million gallons

Ixtoc 1

• June 3, 1979- March 23, 1980

• Bay of Campeche, Mexico• 140 million gallons

1st Gulf War

• January 19, 1991• Persian Gulf, Kuwait• 380-520 million gallons

Deep Water Horizon

• April 20 – July 15, 2010• Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana • 205.8 million gallons• Effectively dead September

19, 2010

The Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill

Currents, Oil Movement, and the Gulf Dead Zone

Dead Zone

• Area of water near the mouth of the Mississippi with D.O. concentration of < 2 ppm

• Variable in size, can cover 6,000-7,000 sq. mi.• Begins at Mississippi delta, extends westward

to Texas

http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/deadzone/

Dead Zone

http://ecowatch.ncddc.noaa.gov/hypoxia/products

Dead Zone

http://ecowatch.ncddc.noaa.gov/hypoxia/products

Dead Zone

http://ecowatch.ncddc.noaa.gov/hypoxia/products

Dead Zone

http://ecowatch.ncddc.noaa.gov/hypoxia/products

Dead Zone

http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/deadzone/http://www.mygeoinfo.com/2010/05/13/map-of-location-of-the-bp-oil-spill-and-deepwater-horizon/

Dead Zone

• Found worldwide, Gulf’s is one of the largest• Hypoxic conditions occur because of runoff

from farms in waters of the Mississippi-- promotes algal growth

• Leads to depletion of dissolved oxygen in water

• Linked to fish kills in Gulf

http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/deadzone/

If Containment Fails….

• Formation of the Gulf Stream

• Entrance: Yucatan Strait • Produces ‘Loop Current’• Exits: Florida Strait

forming the Gulf Stream • With the Gulf: Loop

generates eddies

Containment Failure: the Global Scale

• “Conveyor Belt”• Oil possibly limiting Gulf

from receiving hot water from E. currents

• Lowers ability to warm N. hemisphere

• Eventually stop all currents???

Thus far….

• Zone temperature changes

• Domino effect of continental climate change

Gulf oil spill’s affect on water quality and wildlife

Water quality: Dissolved Oxygen

• Low dissolved oxygen (DO2) levels have been detected in contaminated areas

• DO2 depression have been observed more than 80 km from the well head

• DO2 depression likely due to increased biochemical oxygen demand to metabolize oil hydrocarbons

• DO2 levels have not approached hypoxic levels• DO2 depression does not seem to be worsening

due to mixing of high and low DO2 waters

Water quality: Chemical levels

• Above normal oil and chemical levels have been observed in waters and sediments many miles from well head

• No samples exceeded the EPA’s human health or dispersants benchmarks

• About 1% of samples exceeded aquatic life benchmark

Effects on Wildlife

Effects on Wildlife: Birds

• Seabirds can dive into oil slicks thinking they are calm water

• Oil makes birds unable to regulate body temperature

• Leads to hyperthermia

Marine Mammals

• Whales and dolphins can come up to breath in oil slicks

• Can cause respiratory problems or suffocation

• Dolphins have been known to follow clean up ships into slicks

Fish/Crustaceans/Mollusks

• Adult fish, shrimp, crabs, and oysters metabolize oil hydrocarbons (at different rates)

• Real threat is to shore line nursery areas

• Contamination can lead to death of future generations

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/28/us/20100428-spill-map.html

Food Concerns

• Many people are suspicious of seafood from the Gulf

• Tests show there is little hazard from oil in seafood

• Animals metabolize hydrocarbons and remove them from their systems

Hesco unitsSeven hours to build1500 sandbag

equivalent

Absorbent & Containment Booms

Oil Skimming boatsdon’t pick up 100% oilcan harm environment themselves

• http://news.discovery.com/tech/how-do-oil-skimmers-work.html• http://earthquakes-today.info/2010/08/oil-spill-clean-up-methods-saving-gulf-coast-beaches/• http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/07/giant_oil_skimmer_a_whale_deem.html

CLEANING UP THE GULF

OIL DISPERSANTS

Dispersant Use

• Breaks up oil before it reaches the beaches and marshes on land

• 1.8 million gallons were used on the surface and at source of oil leakage – more than has ever been used by the US before

• Dispersing the oil causes many marine animals to be subject to oil that would not have been without using dispersants, which have unknown effects

How Dispersant Works

o Sprayed on surface of water, breaks oil down into tiny suspended droplets, over time broken down by oil-eating bacteria, sunlight, and wave action and dispersed throughout the ocean or sinks to the bottom

o Toxic to marine animals that live/spawn/reproduce there, trades one ecosystem for another

Dispersal of Dispersants

• Most sprayed from airplanes, however in this specific instance was injected at the well’s leaking riser a mile below the surface, effects of which had previously never been tested

• No idea how oil, dispersants, and bacteria will react under such high pressure, low temps and O2, and no light

• If oil not degraded by bacteria, could linger for decades on bottom of ocean floor or carried to deep sea coral reefs

Estimated Cost of Cleanup

• Former BP CEO Tony Hayward initially stated that BP would take full economic responsibility for all of those affected.

• On June 16, after meeting with President Obama, BP executives agreed to create a $20 billion spill response fund

• Attorney Kenneth Feinberg is in charge of this escrow account.

• By November, BP said it had sent $1.7 billion in checks.

• Estimates state that about $6 billion of the fund will be paid out in claims, including government aims and cleanup costs. Feinberg plans to return the remaining $14 billion to BP once all the settlements are paid out by August 2013.[

Companies Negatively Impacted

Companies Negatively Impacted

• Fishing in Louisiana alone supplies roughly 40% of US seafood.

• Approximately 36% of Gulf federal waters were closed off during the clean-up processes.

• The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is estimated to cost the industry $2.4 billion.

• Fishing in Louisiana alone supplies roughly 40% of US seafood.

• Approximately 36% of Gulf federal waters were closed off during the clean-up processes.

• The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is estimated to cost the industry $2.4 billion.

• Tourism in Florida is another industry that has been largely affected.

• The region’s tourism industry is expected to be impacted for an additional 2.5 years and suffer a total loss of $22.7 billion.

• Tourism in Florida is another industry that has been largely affected.

• The region’s tourism industry is expected to be impacted for an additional 2.5 years and suffer a total loss of $22.7 billion.

Companies Positively Impacted

Companies Positively Impacted

• Clean Harbors, a company dedicated to coastal restoration, was employed to help in clean-up efforts.

• They saw an increase in market shares of at least 12%.

• Clean Harbors, a company dedicated to coastal restoration, was employed to help in clean-up efforts.

• They saw an increase in market shares of at least 12%.

• Nalco Holdings has benefited greatly from the oil spill.

• Production of Corexit has caused shares to increase dramatically, even as much as 6% in one day.

• Nalco Holdings has benefited greatly from the oil spill.

• Production of Corexit has caused shares to increase dramatically, even as much as 6% in one day.

Price Jumps/Supply and Demand

• There are 195 seafood processors across the Gulf Coast employing more than 9,000 workers and generating more than $1 billion in revenue a year.

• Seafood supply is down because fishermen who normally bring in the crabs, shrimp and fish have been employed with BP cleaning up the spill or have not been able to return to their fisheries because of the oil.

Price Jumps/Supply and Demand

• At the same time, demand is down because their longtime customers, such as restaurants and grocery chains, have turned to other sources or are skittish to buy Gulf seafood.

• This is a classic supply chain problem that is caused by tainted resources and a tainted reputation of where the product is coming from.

• http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2010-10-08-oilspill08_ST_N.htm

Discussion Questions

• Should we continue to use oil dispersants as standard protocol for cleaning up oil spills considering what we now know and still don’t know about their effects on other ecosystems?

• Disregarding the dilution effects of the oceans, what is the potential distance that oil dispersants can be distributed? How?

• Should we continue deep-sea fishing in the Gulf even with the oil contaminating the water?

• Do you think it is right to allow companies to profit from the oil spill clean up especially when some of those companies were also involved in the failures that led to the spill?

• Where should the finical aid come from? What majority should come from the government, BP, or tax payers. In the end how is the local economy and consumer affected?

• Based off of the information that we have presented and that which you previously possessed, do you believe that the United States and the other Gulf Coast Nations should allow future offshore oil drilling?