Our country is mostly ran on the usage of fossil fuels.

To no surprise, we have been able to find a

plethora of uses for it, and incorporating several variations of it into our everyday lives. Because

of our dependency on oil, there are the obvious hazards that come with that, but in the methods

of excavation. One example being oil spills. Oil spills itself are already a threat to both the

people that reside by the coast and the environment. Other than the oil contaminating the sea, the

methods that are used to remedy the problem are unacceptable. The methods that are currently

being used is essentially using hazardous substances to clean up other hazardous substances.

The first aspect of the problem I decided to explore was the current cleaning methods.

The current cleaning methods include:

- Dispersant

- In Situ Burning

Dispersants:

A chemical compound that when mixed with the oil, the natural wave action mixes the chemical

with the oil. The chemical then coats each oil particle de slicking it from the ocean surface and

causing it to sink. It doesn’t take away the amount of oil that was spilled, it essentially hides the

problem by having it sink to the ocean floor.

In Situ Burning:

ISB is a method that burns off most if not all the oil that was spilled with a superficial controlled

fire. This method has to be used with the utmost care in order to control the fire and making sure

that is doesn’t put the workers and marine life at risk. If not controlled properly it has the

potential to spread rapidly.

Although they both are able to get rid of the oil effectively, they also pose several risks.

Negative Effects:

For dispersants, the chemical never leaves the ocean so the risks are going to stay potential risks

The effects of the dispersants can impact: fishes life expectancies, death rates in coral reefs, sea

turtles internal organs and bodily functions, when birds get oil on their wings they have an

increased risk of getting hypothermia and early death, It doesn’t only affect the marine life, it can

also pose a risk to people to live relatively near the coastline such as: regular humans bodily

functions, internal organs, increased risk to diseases, and even early death

In Situ Burning on the other hand, involves fire. Fire itself can be dangerous. When not

controlled properly it can spread to nearby boats and cause burns to the workers if not far enough

away as well as the smoke that they breath in, they are lighting a oil on fire which is toxic, then

releasing toxic fumes in the air. Other than the fire itself, the large plume of smoke that is created

when the oil is set aflame, it can travel miles away and potentially reach land nearby and set a

forest fire.

Example:

● Deepwater Horizon Spill

■ April 20, 2010, offshore drilling rig exploded into flames. Spilling 4.9

million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

■ Mind you that one barrel holds 42 gallons of crude oil

 ■ Because of that is quickly became the largest and most expensive marine

oil spill in history, with an estimated $17.2 billion in damages to

properties, fisheries, and tourism across the Gulf Coast.

■ Dispersants and In Situ Burning was used

BP paid for any and all damages that came from the oil rig explosion because of The Oil

Pollution act of 1990

● Legal aspects

■ The Oil Pollution Act of 1990- strengthens the EPA’s (Environmental

Protection Agency) ability to prevent and solve disastrous oil spills.

■ Some regulations that are included is:

● Oil Spill Liability Fund- the company responsible for the spill is

the one that for all damages associated to the spills

● Worst Case Scenario Procedures- must be made for if a spill is to

occur.

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 doesn’t regulate what method the company responsible is required

to use. They only require that the problem is solved. But it should be strongly suggested that the

companies have more choices other than setting fires or dumping chemicals.

Such as Organic Cleaning Alternatives:

Organic methods:

● Plant based chemicals

 ○ Scientist at CIty College of New York have been testing a spray herder (a

variation of dispersant but only gathers the oil together not let it sink) that’s main

ingredient is phytol a molecule that is found in chlorophyll.

○ They've been testing the compound in mock oil spills and the results are

promising, they work just as well as the current chemical herders.

● Hair

○ Hair is a natural absorbent

○ Can pick up oil through the shafts of the hair

○ hair has holes and cracks in each strand, it is able to absorb three to nine times its

weight.

● Peat moss

■ Very absorbent

■ When they absorb the oil, and taken out they bring all the oil collected

with them

The organic alternatives show promising results and it should be made aware that other than the

current cleaning methods that could be used, there are also several other cleaning methods that

could be used that pose no threat to further harm the ocean.

SOL Review:

● The health of ecosystems and the abiotic factors of a watershed

■ Abiotic factors determine ecosystem type and its distribution of plants and

animals as well as the usage of land by people. Abiotic Factors include

 ■ water supply,

■ Topography,

■ Landforms,

■ Geology,

■ Soils,

■ sunlight, and

■ air quality/O2 availability.

● Major conservation, health, and safety issues associated with watersheds

■ Human activities can alter abiotic components and thus accelerate or decelerate

natural processes.

■ Rate of natural erosion.

■ Plowing cropland can cause greater erosion, while planting trees can prevent it.

■ Flood protection/wetland loss is another example.

● Water quality monitoring is the collection of water samples to analyze chemical

and/or biological parameters.

■ Simple parameters include

■ pH, temperature

■ salinity

■ dissolved oxygen

■ turbidity

■ presence of macroinvertebrate organisms

● The importance of water for agriculture, power generation, and public health

■ Estuaries perform important functions, such as providing habitat for many

organisms and serving as nurseries for their young.

 ■ The Chesapeake Bay is an estuary where fresh and saltwater meet and are mixed

by tides.

■ It is the largest estuary in the contiguous United States and one of the most

productive.

● The importance of protecting and maintaining water resources.

■ If there is even a minor change in the water quality it could affect the whole

habitat

■ Peoples seafood businesses

■ Peoples farms

■ The healthy of the wetlands nearby and the inhabitants

■ Our health

● Management of nonrenewable resources

■ Fossil fuels are the major sources of energy in developed and industrialized

nations

● The mitigation of land-use and environmental hazards through preventive measures &

Cost/benefit tradeoffs in conservation policies

■ Pollution prevention and waste management are less costly than cleanup

http://www.solpass.org/science6-8-new/s6/standards6/standard_6.9.html?section=study-6