Offshore Oil Drilling

Doesn’t everyone love swimming in the ocean and seeing all the pretty sea life? Some people do, and when people are offshore drilling they can cause a lot of problems if something goes wrong. The biggest concern by environmentalist is not a spill, but the pollution of the air and water, damage to the ocean bottom and debris that washes ashore from day-to-day operations of oil and gas rigs. Oil Drilling can lead to jobs being endangered, animals dying, and damaging the eco system. So many animals are dying because of the oil in the water. Proofread to- Government wildlife experts have found just in Alaska that the BP oil spill has threatened more than 400 species including 34,000 birds, 656 sea turtles and 12 dolphins, and this count was taken the first couple days of the spill. The oil is still on a continuous flow. During this lifetime, we will not know the amount of damage and problems caused by the continuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was a massive ongoing oil spill and oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico that started on April 20, 2010. The spill followed a blowout that caused an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, which then sank off the coast of Louisiana (Barclay). Tragically, eleven rig workers were missing and presumed dead; Thousands of barrels of oil per day had been gushing from a seabed well since the drilling rig exploded (Barclay). (Todd M. Schoenberger, Managing Editor, Taipan's Tipping Point Alert). Many were found without visible signs of oil exposure, and further tests are necessary to determine if oil was a culprit, said Dr. Michael Ziccardi, a professor at the University of California at Davis who heads the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. Whenever oil is recovered from the ocean, other chemicals and toxic substances come up too; things like mercury, lead and arsenic that are often released back into the ocean. If all these chemicals are in the ocean, no one should be near that water

References: Bransfield, J. Brian. (2010, July 11). Healing the hole in the Gulf- and in our hearts. Our Sunday Visitor, Vol. 99 Issue 11, 14-15. Retrieved July 30, 2010 from http://web.ebscohost.com.kaplan. Boesch, DF and N.N. Rabalais (eds.). 1990. Long Term Environmental Effects of Offshore Oil and Gas Development. Routledge, 718 Minerals Management Service 2006 National Research Council. 2003. Oil in the Sea III: Inputs, Fates, and Effects. Ocean Studies Board and Marine Board. National Academies Press. Olsgard, F. and J.S. Gray. 1995. A comprehensive analysis of the effects of offshore oil and gas exploration and production on the benthic communities of the Norwegian continental shelf. Marine Ecology Progress Series 122: 277-306. Wilson, D.L., J.N. Fanjoy, and R.S. Billings. 2004. Gulfwide Emission Inventory Study for the Regional Haze and Ozone Modeling Efforts: Final Report. OCS Study 2004-072. Prepared for Minerals Management Service, New Orleans, LA. Morrisville, NC: ERG, Inc.