The Impact of Oil Spills on Our Eco-System - Assignment Example

The impact of oil spills on our eco-system Describe how this incident/accident occurred. BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico: The BP oil spill is one of the most environmentally fatal incidents which occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, causing wide scale damage, in the process. The incident occurred on April 20, 2010 after an explosion on the BP owned and licensed, Transocean Drilling rig, Deepwater Horizon, sent millions of gallons of oil gushing towards the Gulf of Mexico; claiming over 11 lives in the process (The Guardian, 2010). The blowout preventer which was expected to alert and prevent the release of oil into the natural environment, failed to activate thus causing disastrous environmental consequences (BBC News, 2012). Furthermore, according to reports, the miss management at BP and its inability to control or prevent the damage is held accountable as one of the key reasons of this huge environmental disaster. The report presented by the Oil Spill commission, stated BP had relatively little knowledge regarding the geology of the site in question, which is perhaps the main underlying cause of the disaster. Apart from that there were several other factors such as oversight and the inability of the management to ensure effective implementation of proper safeguards to prevent such an event from happening. The report also stated that over and above the failure to predict the unfortunate event, BP also failed to implement adequate safety and control measures to prevent the damage (Oil Spill Commission Report, 2011). 2. Describe the risk factors associated with this incident/accident. Apart from the loss of lives of the workers and employees working on the rig, the oil spill has lead to several ecological, social, financial as well as environmental consequences. One of the greatest risks of underwater drilling projects is the fact that deepwater drilling is extremely risky, especially if proper measures are not implemented to prevent the aftermath, as is evident from this incident. Due to oil deposits formed in and around the earths surface, intense heat and pressure is generated, and in the absence of proper control measures to contain the blowout, events such as these are likely to occur. According to a report by CBS (Chemical Safety Board), BP was aware of the significant safety issues, well before the explosion occurred but still implemented cost cuts of about 25 per cent during the years 1998 and 2000. This measure on the part of the management led to a significant negative impact on the maintenance and infrastructure expenditures at the refinery (Regester and Larkin, 2008). Also the design of the cement used to seal the bottom of the well was flawed and ought to have been repaired promptly to avoid the dangerous consequences. The management failed to analyze the problem with the seal, and incorrectly validated the test result by approving it, despite the apparent fault. The workers hired on site, failed to foresee the looming disaster, and alert the concerned management regarding the same, which resulted in the blowout (BBC, 2011). 5. What were the short-term effects of this incident/accident on the surrounding environment? Any disaster of this magnitude and scale is likely to result in threatening consequences which reach beyond the routine issues faced by organizations in their day to day operations. The short term effects of the BP Oil spill are listed below: Source: BBC News (2011) - Impact on the marine life: The oil spill underwater affects the marine environment causing damage to the aquatic life. The site of the oil spill is home to a wide variety of rich and diverse marine life including cold-water corals, fish, etc. Furthermore it is also reported that the endangered sperm whales frequent this water bed in search of giant squid and other prey. The oil spill destroyed the natural habitat of these species and affected their life cycles in the process. Since the marine species are highly interdependent, the food web is completely destroyed. - The environment: As many as 60,000 sea birds are believed to have died due to the negative impact on the environment (BBC, 2010). 6. What were the long-term effects of this incident/accident on the surrounding environment? The BP oil spill is touted to be the worst environmental disaster ever. The magnitude of the accident is far worse as compared to other natural disasters such as earth quakes or hurricanes since the damage continues to threaten the environment, years after the said event. The situation is akin to an epidemic where the damage caused continues to multiply in magnitude over the years. The marine life is among the hardest hit by the disaster. According to research, the immediate after effects of the Oil spill which includes the deaths of marine species severely disrupted the food web. The wetlands which were contaminated due to the spill have adversely affected the spawning grounds for the Loggerhead turtles, thus threatening the existence and survival of the species. Furthermore, the oil spill has also raised serious concerns regarding the oxygen levels in the oceans, thus further threatening to damage the aquatic species (Read, 2011). 7. What were the measures taken to decrease the consequences associated with this incident/accident. The oil spill spread rapidly around the disaster area, and according to reports reached up to an estimated 10 square miles within days of the unfortunate accident. Immediately a day after the calamity struck, the officials launched a major clean-up operation to contain the spill and prevent it from spreading to the neighboring areas, and particularly to prevent it from spreading landwards. Various boats were deployed to skim the oil from the surface and efforts were made to prevent the spill from reaching the shore, by teams led by the U.S. Coast guards (The Guardian, 2010). However, BP on the other hand, shifted the blame by denying, acknowledging or taking any responsibility for the damage caused. The officials at BP According to the Chief Executive at BP, Tony Hayward, the responsibility of the entire incident was on the various companies that were involved such as Transoceans rig since it was their systems and equipment which failed. Also the company that was in charge of cementing, Halliburton, was blamed for the incident (The Guardian, 2010). References: Read, C., (2011). BP and the Macondo Spill: The complete story. Palgrave Macmillan Publishers, pp. 176-178 Regetster, M., Larkin, J., (2008). Risk issues and crisis management in public relations: A casebook of best practice. Kogan Page Publishers, pp. 85-86 BBC (2012). Mapped: eco impact of the BP oil spill [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special_reports/oil_disaster/ [Accessed: April 25, 2012] BBC (2011). US Oil spill: Bad management led to BP disaster [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12124830 [Accessed: April 25, 2012] BBC News (2011). BP Oil spill: The environmental impact one year on [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13123036 [Accessed: April 25, 2012 BBC (2010). Gulf oil leak: Biggest ever, but how bad? [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10851837 [Accessed: April 25, 2012] Oil Spill Commission (2011). National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling [Online] Available at: http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/sites/default/files/documents/FinalReportPartII.pdf [Accessed: April 24, 2012] The Guardian (2010). Deepwater horizon clean-up workers fight to prevent disaster [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/23/deepwater-horizon-oil-rig-gulf [Accessed: April 25, 2012] Read More