Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Case Study

Gulf Deep-water Oil Spill The Gulf oil spill is considered the worst oil spill and one of the worst environmental disasters in the U.S. history. It was April 20th, 2010, that the Deepwater BP oil rig exploded and penetrated in the Gulf of Mexico sea. The Gulf oil explosion killed 11 workers but most of the impact was on marine species such as turtles, herons, gulls, birds, fishes, and sea mammals. Moreover, 16,000 total miles of coastline have been affected, including the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida due to the release of about 4.9 million barrels of oil into the sea.

Abstract The Deepwater Horizon Rig explosion that occurred on 20th April, 2010 resulted in approximately 4.9 million barrels of oil been released into the Gulf of Mexico for months and will go down in history as the biggest and most catastrophic oil spill to ever to occur. This research discusses the underlying issues that caused the explosion. The effect on the stakeholders, BP’s response to the crisis and the different approaches they could have taken before and after the accident.

The BP CSR and Crisis History: Before to the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion, BP encountered numerous disasters and scandals and have a track record of ignoring saftey. The first accident which happened in December 1965, where the BP oil rig Sea Gem while it was being moved and it cost the death of thirteen human lives. Next, on March 23, 2005, BP’s refinery exploded, caught fire in Texas City and 15 workers has died. Later BP was under the lawsuits from the victim’s families and charged with criminal violations of federal environmental laws.

Our natural resources are at risk every time fracking occurs. Fracking needs to be banned since it is hurting our health and that it drains our natural and limited resources required for us to sustain life.    Water is an essential to living and it is a need. Without it we would be dead from the dehydration. Fracking in this case can contaminate it to where we cannot drink it and if we do it can lead to death or a trip to the hospital:

Millions upon millions of people rely on fish for protein, and fishing is so much of the livelihood for millions of people around the world (overfishing). There are a lot of recreational fishermen that complain about the laws we have in place to protect fish, such as a size requirement and limit per day. These laws are put in place by the state to help prevent a species from being over fished. The definition of over fishing is to deplete the number of fish in a body of water by too much fishing. Overfishing is very harmful to the ecosystem, taking a species close to extinction or completely extinct.

Offshore Drilling Every year, in the United States alone, 565 million barrels or oil are extracted as a result of offshore drilling; totaling a startling amount of roughly 1.5 million barrels a day. Consequently, these threatening practices are negatively impacting marine mammals, sea birds, sea turtles, and fish. Although drilling offshore provides access to expensive resources such as oil, it heavily contributes to the extinction and endangerment of animals, and the disruption of marine ecosystems, thus these practices should be prohibited and viewed as unethical. To begin, new techniques of horizontal drilling allow for even greater amounts of oil to be extracted from a single well, producing problems in infrastructure on land.

In San Francisco on April 18, 1906 at about 5:13 am a HUGE earthquake hit recorded as a 7.7-7.9 . Damaging buildings from left to right. Many poorly structured buildings collapsed causing 500 million dollars in total damage (1906 money) translated to about 8.2 billion dollars today. It was recorded that most buildings immediately caught fire which trapped the victims, about 25,000 buildings were burnt down from the fire, a total of about 490 blocks.

308 people died making it the deadliest earthquake to hit Italy since Irpinia 1980 but many people where injured, the death rate relates to the fact that the buildings where built so poorly, according to fire and other rescue teams some parts of the build where build so badly that when it fell down it broke or spread like as if it was sand. The earthquake hit at about 6.3 moment magnitude and caused damage worth 15 billion euros. It left thousands of people homeless and with out basic necessities like water and food, camps where immediately set with all the supplies needed like med care food water

Dispersants cause the oil to break up into smaller droplets, which become miscible in water. However, these dispersants may result in more ecological harm than good. The chemicals contain nonbiodegradable toxins that can kill fish and migrate great distances. Dispersants also are blamed for the massive oil plumes several hundreds of feet underwater, harmful to all aquatic life, especially fish larvae and filter feeders. Moreover, because of the large volume of oil that has been spilled, the amount of dispersant required and the amount of oil dispersed simply suppresses the problem, rather than solving

One of these events is the famous Exxon Valdez, it spilled more than 11 million gallons of crude oil in Alaska’s Prince William

When the flood finally ended on August 31, 1927, lives were destroyed along with houses, stores and even towns. I think this was a very important part of our history because of the ways that it affected our

Valeria De Leon Mr. Mays English III 11 November 2015 Thesis Statement On April 20, 2010, the oil-drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded due to equipment failure and sank, spilling over 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico in the course of three months. The BP oil spill was the worst environmental crisis America has ever faced, damaging coastal habitats, the environment and the economy.

Hurricane Katrina and previous Hurricane Rita, destroyed 113 offshore oil and gas platforms, damaged 457 oil and gas pipelines, and spilled nearly as much oil as the Exxon Valdez oil disaster” (useconomy.about.com). Katrina was said to have knocked out 95% of oil production in the Gulf, which is a key supplier for the U.S. economy. Oil prices at one point jumped to $70 dollars a barrel and gas prices in some areas reached nearly $5 dollars a gallon. In an attempt to alleviate the shortage the U.S. government released 30 million gallons of oil from the county’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), trying to keep up with the high

As a result, the clams did negatively impact tourism, property values, the environment, and the general economy of the town of Lake George. Not only did the Asian clam result in high intrinsic costs (i.e. removal, treatment, eradication, etc.), but it also resulted in extremely high extrinsic costs on the town as well (i.e. decline in tourism, property values,

Deep sea exploration can have a variety of benefits. It can provide new information about marine species. This exploration can also teach scientists about adaptations organisms use to survive in unsuitable conditions. However, there is also a lot of controversy surrounding the search for oil. I believe that oil should not be drilled offshore, because it can possibly damage local economies.