The issues of oil spills – an overview and questions to ponder

Right now, somewhere on this planet, an oil spill is occurring. You may not have heard or read about it (yet) but it’s happening – with oil either gushing or seeping unfettered across some waterway or landscape.

There are a myriad of issues involved with oil spills. Unless you have a strong background in this industry – and perhaps even then – you likely won’t know or comprehend many of them. This thorny subject is the focus of an excellent article published today by Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN). Its author  Jyllian Kemsley outlines both the broad strokes and daunting specifics that face scientists and the oil industry in dealing effectively with oil spills around the world.

New report says shrimp in the Gulf are alright and growing?

Deformed shrimp taken from the Gulf of Mexico since the 2010 BP oil disaster, photo by Keith Ladner

A new scientific report published Wednesday  that looked at the abundance and size of Louisiana white and brown shrimp before and after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, says that the amount of size of shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico and its local estuaries were unaffected. It’s authors noted that “shrimp populations have been predicted not to suffer dramatic effects as result of the spill.”

Seriously?

Canadian organization argues for euthanization of oiled wildlife after oil spills

An oiled Canadian goose, photo courtesy of the U.S. EPA

As yet another example of how out of touch we are with Nature and the vital role of  its creatures, now there’s a controversy as to whether “Canadian governments, industry and wildlife management groups” should work to save wildlife seriously effected after an oil spill or make the “tough” choice to euthanize these creatures.

The number of oil spills keeps increasing

Oil spills make the news on a regular basis. Are we so used to hearing, seeing and/or reading about them that we take them for granted as a way of life? We humans can get used to anything if we have to, but are we becoming desensitized to this growing environmental disaster?

Will the oil spills stop before we kill all the wild (and marine) life?

BP’s latest oil spill hits Lake Michigan

It seems we hear about a new oil spill every week – sometimes more. And the pictures have become hauntingly familiar.

One of the newest spills featured in the news was caused by our environmental nemesis BP, of Deepwater Horizon fame. From one frying pan into the next.

Could Deepwater Horizon be leaking again?

Could this scene from the 2010 Gulf oil spill be beginning again?

As macabre as it may seem, the environmental debacle of BP in the Gulf of Mexico is back in the news, and not in a good way. CBS News reports that BP is engaged on its fifth day of a subsea mission under the supervision of the Coast Guard to look for any new oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Restoring the Gulf beyond Deepwater Horizon

Volunteers help plant and restore a salt marsh in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana

Since 1900, Louisiana has lost more than 1 million acres of wetlands and barrier shoreline. In just the past 50 years, more than 1,500 square miles of coastal Louisiana disappeared. The state could lose an additional 1,000 square miles of land by 2050– an area roughly the size of Rhode Island.

Since the oil spill of 2010, there has been some marshland die-off in critical marine life habitat areas like Barataria Basin. Birds and animals flock to the smaller islands of Barataria to mate and give birth. These islands were heavily oiled, resulting also in partial washing away in those areas.

To find out about the restoration efforts and challenges facing Louisiana and its wildlife, see http://bit.ly/I7xs0M.

The Gulf Oil Spill – Two Years Later

Large numbers of dolphin strandings are part of the aftermath of the 2010 Gulf oil spill

Two years have passed since Deepwater Horizon, the environmental disaster that coated the Gulf of Mexico in oil. The huge oil slicks are gone, as are the heart-wrenching pictures of dying seabirds and littered wetlands. Commercial and recreational fishing has resumed and beaches look pristine once more.

For a deeper look at how much land is still oiled, the surprising impact on marine and wildlife and a view of coastal recovery, go to http://bit.ly/JjfIfw.