The Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill, more commonly known as the BP oil spill, which occurred on the 20th of April, 2010 was an environmental and ecological disaster. It caused 19 times more oil to leak into the ocean than the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. (Repanich) The environmental implications of this spill are immeasurable. No matter how many tests, and surveys, comparisons, and cleanup efforts commence there is no possible way to; one understand all the current, and future damages created environmentally and economically, and two restore the ecosystem to its previous state.
The dangerous part that now arises is that the disaster is no longer in the media limelight, therefore companies, such as British Petroleum, and the government may not feel the pressure to continue the long term clean up process, and, in the government’s case, create legislation advocating against deepwater drilling, and overall dependence on oil production. The disaster that the Gulf of Mexico experienced with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill created and continues to create strain on the Gulf’s ecosystem; this strain must be continually evaluated in order to understand the true destruction that occurred and will continue to occur in the future.
The Deepwater horizon was an oil rig built by Hyundai Heavy industry in South Korea. It was then sold to a company called Transocean who then leased the rig to British Petroleum. This is how the rig had become known by the media as BP’s oil rig, and therefore British petroleum’s oil spill. Deepwater horizon held the record for completing the deepest oil and gas well. This well, known as the Tiber Well, was drilled to 35,050 feet. "This impressive well depth record reflects the intensive planning and focus on effective operations by BP and the drilling crews of the Deepwater Horizon," said Robert L. Long Transocean Ltd.'s Chief Executive Officer. (Transocean) This is an almost ironic quote illustrates how even the most productive rigs can suffer from catastrophe. The Deepwater horizon then moved to several other projects throughout the gulf until finally ending up drilling the Macondo Well.
This irony is furthered by the assessments of Deepwater Horizon by governmental inspections agencies. Deepwater Horizon was considered the industry model for safety.(Press) After the government looked into the rig further after the oil spill occurred they found that "There appeared to be a rush to completion of the Macondo well,” and that "there was not a culture of safety on that rig," co-chair of the national Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling Bill Reilly said. (News,) This illustrates a lacking of regulation that can leave the government partly to blame for the disaster that affected the Gulf.
The Deepwater Horizon exploded due to a methane gas explosion that resulted in the death of 11 crewmembers. This explosion lead to a fire that decimated the rig and led to its sinking into the gulf. The explosion is presumed to have ruptured the wellhead, and caused oil to leak into the Gulf of Mexico. (Miller) This leak in the wellhead led to approximately 4.9 million barrels of oil to be leaked into the gulf. (Repanich) This leak continued from April 20th to July 15th when the well was capped. These statistics are massive and are therefore difficult to fathom. The amount of oil leaked into the gulf would allow a person to drive a Toyota prius around the world 184, 181 times. (Repanich) Understanding the shear quantitiy does not help when trying to decipher the true environmental and economic repercussions due to this spill.
We can look at how much fishing grounds have been closed due to the oil spill, 57,539 square miles to be exact. Or we can analyze how many individuals that are presumed to be deployed due to the disaster, which is approximately 28,900 jobs.(Repanich) But it is incredibly difficult to analyze the monetary value that is lost environmentally. An example of this is worth of a specific bird species named the Brown Pelican. The Brown Pelican is Louisiana’s state bird and “What are people across the United States willing to pay, in dollars and cents, for the survival of that bird species? 5.00? $100.00? IOOO.OO? Or possibly $1,000,000.00?” These questions, posed by Itzchak E. Kornfeld, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, demonstrate an interesting point.(Kornfeld) How does one quantify the destruction done by the oil spill? And even if and when it is given a monetary value, can the government afford to save the ecosystem?
Even if the government could afford to save the ecosystem there is no possible way to be certain that any amount of money will be able to fully restore the mangroves, fish species, birds, and other animals that live in this ecosystem. An example of this is University of Alabama’s review of seafood safety after the Deepwater Horizon spill. This experiment found that “a detailed monitoring and testing strategy that includes assessment of metals should be designed and coupled with an effective risk communication campaign to present the current results and long-term monitoring plans after the DH oil spill. Any decisions made based on the current protocol should be transparent, and inherent uncertainties should be fully discussed.“ (Timothy) This illustrates just how little is known about the environmental effects of the spill. No two oil spills are the same. The part that sets this oil spill apart from those such as Exxon’s Valdez is the fact that the oil leaked at such a great depth. Like is explained in the quote the only way to know the future effects, is to continually test samples. This means that there is no way to prepare for upcoming concerns, and have no way of knowing how the ecosystem will react to this disaster.
This incident illustrates how the concept of peak oil has forced oil companies to push the limits to maintain the current extraction rate of oil. As the documentary End of Suburbia explained the United States has passed peak production and is on the downward slope of the bell curve that represents this theory.(End of Suburbia) It means that as time progresses oil companies drilling in North America is going to be forced to use techniques that involve greater risk, technological advances, and monetary investments. This can also be seen the recently budding technique of Hydrofracking, which is a technique where oil companies extract oil from shale deposits using water. This means that without higher standards of safety incidents like what happened on the Deepwater Horizon will become more prevalent in the future.
The other option is to become a less oil dependent as a nation. By becoming less reliant on oil we can then will not be forced to drill in deepwater, hence alleviating more risk. This step forward benefits the United States in several ways. The first is that, by taking steps to becoming more sustainable, the United States is at less risk of suffering another disaster such as Deepwater Horizon. Two, it better situates the United States to be able to deal with the transition to becoming a more sustainable as a whole. This sustainability would be an expensive change, but as expressed earlier with the brown pelican example how valuable is a species, or even an ecosystem.
It is understandable that the transition to an oil free economy is not instantaneous. It is reasonable to understand that this transition will take time and also call for more drilling in order to maintain the economy until the transfer can be completed. This, however, does not mean that the oil drilling that does continue can afford to be conducted in the same way. It is apparent that corners were cut in inspections and overall safety standards with the Deepwater Horizon. It is the government’s job to protect its citizens’ and their environment through updating such standards to create and maintain a reasonable standard of care.
After discussing the United States on a macro level it seems appropriate to return on a micro level and discuss the future development of the Gulf of Mexico. As explained earlier the long-term effects of the oil spill is widely unknown. Since there has never been a leak of this magnitude or of this depth there is no way of knowing the effects on fish populations, shorelines, or water quality. Scientist and researchers are trying to minimize the effects through things such as oil eating bacteria and other untested methods of clean up but due to the mass quantity of variables it is nearly impossible to come up with a surefire solution. Therefore the important factor that seems to continually establish itself is the idea that the government must maintain flexible and supportive of clean up activities. Most importantly is that these clean up efforts can not become lost in the shuffle of many prevailing illnesses that plague the United States such as war, and a failing economy.
As I have illustrated throughout this paper, the Deepwater Horizon has been a disaster of irreparable, and invaluable damage. This disaster has created a conundrum for scientists, how do we repair the defiled environment, and for policy makers, how do we sustain our oil mongering society and regulate big oil companies successfully. These questions cannot be left to be answered and accounted for by these groups alone, especially now that the media no longer is focused on the disaster. The average United States citizen must continue to pressure the government specifically in order to facilitate this change.
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