Effect of the BP Oil Spill

Physical Science 3rd

Jessica French

On April 20, 2010, the oil company BPs oil rig, Deepwater Horizon, suffered a massive explosion. This caused massive amounts of oil to spill into the Gulf of Mexico. This oil spill dumped out 100,000 barrels of oil every day, and reached the Mississippi Delta within nine days. Since April 20, 210,000 gallons of oil have been dumped into the Gulf every day. Not to mention, eleven people are already presumed dead. Economically, this oil spill has taken a tremendous toll on BP and the United States, and will continue to do so until the oil clean up and environment restoration continues. It has also caused Florida a lot of economic trouble. Florida relies completely on revenue from tourists and has no state income tax. This could devastate Florida, and the entire Gulf region. If Florida continues to lose these tourists, the state could be in serious economic trouble. Also, there are long term economic effects of the BP oil spill. One long term effect is that the fishing, shrimping, and oyster industries in the gulf are being destroyed. Seafood is a 2.4 billion industry in the state of Louisiana. Louisiana produces over thirty percent of the seafood for the United States. But, because of the oil spill, this is going to dramatically change. With the oil spreading and poisoning the fish and shrimp, the fishermen and shrimpers are starting to realize that their industries will never be the same after this. They have also predicted that it will be at least seven years before they can fish and shrimp in the Gulf again. This is disastrous for their industries, and their lives. Many people who work in the fishing and shrimping business are losing their jobs, and losing them fast. This oil spill has put many people on the coast out of work. Another long term effect of the oil spill is that the oil prices are going to go up around the globe. Oil prices have gone up because of the oil spill, and are likely to stay high for the long term as a demand for oil increases, and the supply decreases. Less oil and increasing demand means that prices are going to rise and that is not good for our already bad economy, since were already in debt to China. And since the oil is decreasing, I think our country should have alternatives to oil. Oil is not a renewable resource, meaning we use it faster than it can be replaced. Sooner or later we are going to run out of oil, and what will happen then? Eighty-five percent of the electric things we use need oil to work. How do we solve this economic crisis? Scientists should find more efficient ways to power the things we need. This would help our economic troubles with the oil. Another long term effect of the oil spill is that the oil spill is going to continue poisoning our water supply. Over the past twenty years, our world has witnessed thirty oil spills. Both the global food chain and the worlds waters are being progressively being poisoned by all of this oil. Nature cannot keep up with how fast we are poisoning the water. This new oil spill is not helping things at all. Also, more and more people are withdrawing their support of offshore drilling in the Gulf, which could be the last stands for offshore drilling. And what makes matters worse, is the oil clean up will likely take decades to even come close to completion. This is not good for our economy. Some even think that this could lead to the American economy collapsing. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 states that a $75 million cap is in place which limits the amount of money to be spent by a company that has caused an oil spill. This is somewhat of a good thing because BP cannot use over that amount. This oil spill has cost BP, as of July 7, and estimated of $2.27 billion. $25 million was given to Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi in grant money. $60 million allocated towards the construction of barrier islands off the coast of Louisiana. $1.65 billion for the 2010 clean up efforts, calculated at a rate of $33 million per day since the incident. Domestically, the impacts on gas prices have been minimized and they are congruent with the market averages. But BP and its response to its mistake have already diminished consumer confidence in the brand, and put Gulf area business in dire position. The severity of this disaster is evidenced on many levels, but the financial damage and consumer impact will be realized. Not only did the oil spill have

economic effects, but it also has environmental effects as well. Julia Kuman Drapkin writes, 10 Animals Most at Risk from Gulf Oil Spill. It states that some of the animals include; North Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, whales, dolphins, pelicans, oysters, shrimp, and blue crab. These are a few of the animals being affected by the oil spill. The Bluefin Tuna are endangered of becoming extinct because oil is spreading and contaminating the waters where their eggs are located, and will hatch. This is very bad for the tuna, because the oil will poison their eggs, causing the eggs to not hatch, and if they happen to hatch, die immediately. Oil not only effects water, but affects the air as well. Whales and dolphins are mammals, and need to come up for air. Well, the poisonous toxins from the oil setting on the water are being inhaled by the whales and dolphins when they surface for air. This oil spill is seriously harming the oceans environment, and inhabitants. And if they dont clean it up well enough, our marine animals that inhabit the Gulf, will possibly go extinct. But, no one knows for sure how this oil spill with affect our deep sea ecosystem. Scientists are not very optimistic about the outcome. This oil spill has slicked 11,000 square miles of the Gulf and 1,300 miles of pristine Alaskan coastline while killing hundreds of thousands of birds and marine mammals and untold numbers of fish and their eggs. But the oil rig is still leaking. This can lead to an undersea oil spill. And this could cause the expansion in size and extension in time of a seasonal dead zone that already exists in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of industrial pollutants. Undersea oil is a major threat to both large and microscopic organisms. The oil spill is already threatening the existence of the brown pelican, the ridley and loggerhead sea turtles, whales, coral reefs, and other organisms found in the deepwater habitat. The Gulf is also home to 207 species of saltwater fish, a large portion for which are used for human consumption and are key prey to other organisms in the food chain. The deepwater ocean is the worlds largest habitat, giving the oil spill the largest area of for ecological damage possible. The Gulfs ecological damage has the potential to be the most enduring. The BP oil spill has affected the regions environment inhabitants, and largely influenced the American economy in the Gulf region and will continue to do so for many years. Our country now has to deal with the catastrophic consequences of a disaster caused by a company, BP, that keeps both nation and world turning. This isnt our first oil spill. But, it is our second biggest. I think that we should stop drilling for oil, or make the tools and industrials stronger, more bearable. This way they wouldnt leak. Or burst. We should be more careful of what we do to our environment, because we never know what could happen, or what catastrophic disasters could occur.

Works cited; www.oilprice.com, www.suite101.com.