The world uses countless amounts of oil every year in one form or another. The United States alone has been consuming a total of over 7 billion barrels of petroleum a year or around 20 million barrels a day in recent times. This reliance on fossil fuels has its own long-term environmental problems. But when you have an oil spill you create another world of issues entirely. Oil spills happen for a variety of different reasons, from careless mistakes to equipment breaking down, or maybe even a natural disaster like hurricanes. According to oil tanker spill statistics 2024 In 2024, there were six large oil spills (>700 tons) and four medium spills ( 7-700 tons) were recorded from tanker incidents alone. Large spills are mostly involved in South America and Europe.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there are thousands of oil spills that occur in U.S. waters every year. While most oil spills are relatively small, spilling less than one barrel of oil. However, as years pass, those small spills start to add up. These oil spills have the potential to be very harmful to the environment, marine life, and humans. After a spill, since oil is less dense than water, it will typically float on the surface of the water. The oil will then rapidly spread over the surface of the water until it becomes a thin layer of oil also known as an oil slick.
Then it keeps spreading out until it becomes a super thin layer called a sheen. This thin layer of oil can become a massive problem. Animals like the sea otter can lose the ability to insulate themselves when covered in oil. Without proper insulation, they can end up dying from hypothermia. And if they try and clean the oil off themselves, they might ingest some of the oil. Other animals like fish can experience fin erosion when exposed to oil as well as reduced growth rates and enlarged livers. These oil spill can also limit their reproduction, even if the fish can make the eggs, the oil can negatively impact the chances of the eggs' survival. And the sad fact is that oil spills last long after the news stops covering them. The BP oil spill, for example, that happened about over a decade ago? Well, reports claim that animals are still being negatively impacted by the lasting effects of the spill even though clean-up has largely gotten rid of the initial problem. This brings up the question of how do we actually fix this oil problem.
Well, that’s hard to answer as it stands oil spill cleanup can involve a lot of different tools such as chemical dispersants and biological agents, and skimmers which are boats that skim or scoop spilled oil off the water's surface. Overall, there is no way to completely reverse the effects of an oil spill. Attempts to clean up oil spills have been shown to damage marine life even further.
I appreciate that you covered this. Things like this accompany the fears I have with disposing of the petroleum based fluids used to run cleaner energy. It seems like no matter what, we are faced with the probability that it will affect our wildlife and waterways. Accidents ALWAYS happen.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the Dawn ad when it shows them cleaning off animals following an oil spill. It is sad to see the animals be impacted as they are just trying to get by in their natural habitats.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Jake! Oil spills are a huge problem, and your breakdown of their impact is really clear. It reminds me of Lake Erie’s pollution issues cleanup took decades, and even now, effects still linger. Just like with oil spills, fixing the damage isn’t quick or easy. Appreciate the info!
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting getting to hear about the process of oil spills and the different terminology associated. I had always wondered how these spills are cleaned up, and it is disheartening but makes sense to see that clean-up is not perfect.
ReplyDeleteFossil fuels are nasty. When burned they not only create planet warming greenhouse gases but also fine particulates enormously dangerous to human health. And when they are spilled they are toxic, damaging to plants, animals, and ecosystems. I hate it when I spill gasoline on my clothes or in my car. What a stinky mess! Let's go to clean renewable energy!
ReplyDeleteFossil fuels are bad all around if it isn't the effects on climate change through emissions or oil spills. Seeing wildlife die from our actions on this large of scale is horrible.
ReplyDeleteThis was so informative and helpful for you to post. I know we have a lot of coverage on oil spills happening, but I haven't heard nearly as much news coverage on how they clean and take care of the spill. Think of all the animals that die and suffocate from oil spills and how sticky oil is/lasts. I wonder if these oil spills have any effect on public beaches and places where swimming occurs.
ReplyDeleteHonestly the fact that there are so many oil spills per year, you would think that there would be a much more efficient method, yes they may be small but that is seriously super damaging.
ReplyDeleteI definitely believe that stricter regulations on oil transport and drilling could significantly reduce these incidents. These oil spills are happening way too often.
ReplyDeleteOil spills create severe and lasting environmental damage, harming marine life and ecosystems, and despite cleanup efforts, the long-term effects often persist, highlighting the urgent need for better prevention and response strategies.
ReplyDeleteI really do believe that regulations on the transportation of oil and gas will help less spills, which will save the oil companies money and also protect the environment. These small spills will eventually accumulate from not being a big problem to becoming the biggest problem. If we start legislation and lobbying for these regulations it will save us in the long run. Thank you for writing this post.
ReplyDeleteOil spills are so hard to recover from, and cause so much damage to the environments and animals around them. Out of the oil spill impacts you discussed, I had never heard of oil impacting otters ability to insulate themselves prior to reading this blog post
ReplyDeleteIt is a sad reality that oil spills happen this frequently, and reading about how this effects only a couple of species like otters and fish makes it hard to imagine the long term effects on even more species especially since the oil is so difficult to remove.
ReplyDeleteI like that you made the distinction between the size of oil spills. I always imagined an oil spill as a bad thing no matter the amount of spilled oil, but the difference is important note. But I also liked how you pointed out that they all add up and the loss is much greater than just oil.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, the impacts are much greater than the lost oil!
ReplyDeleteOil spills cause long-term devastation to marine life and ecosystems. Preventing spills is critical, as cleanup attempts cannot erase the damage.
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