Crude oil occurs naturally in the form of droplets, within pores of rock below the ground or on the ocean floor. This material is then drilled and pumped out, transported to refineries in different areas to be processed. A “spill” refers to an instance in which petroleum leaks onto the surface of a large body of water or onto land, which can be incredibly harmful to the environment. Larger spills– when pipelines break, or oil tanker ships sink– do immense damage to sensitive environments, and can have effects that last for years after the inciting incident. These issues increased in the 1960s due to increased petroleum exploration and production on continental shelves; supertankers, which carry 500,000-plus metric tons of oil, are used more commonly and therefore can pose more of a risk in case of an accident occurring. Currently, it is estimated that there are thousands of oil spills per year in the U.S., and 3.5 to 6 million metric tons of oil added to the world’s waterways annually.
There have been many instances of major oil spills throughout history, but 3 notable ones include the Santa Barbara, Prince William Sound, and Deepwater Horizon spills. In 1969, a platform off the shore of Santa Barbara, California blew up and spilled 4 million gallons of oil. In 1989, an Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska and released 11 million gallons of oil. The most recent incident of these three, which involved the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico, occurred in 2010; an accident occurred with the platform, and resulted in a spill of 134 million gallons of oil. These three instances are certainly not the norm, but it is important to recognize the massive potential for damage in this type of incident.
Oil spills can cause different kinds of damage. Fouling, or oiling, refers to when oil causes some sort of physical harm to animals that impacts their ability to survive. This can involve birds’ wings getting coated with a thick layer of oil, which can both prevent them from flying and prevent proper self-insulation– in some cases, it can result in death via hypothermia. When some furred animals get oil within their coats, it can result in their insulating properties being stripped, which often results in death or sickness. Oil also contains extremely toxic compounds, which can then seep into plant matter or water; when ingested, these compounds can result in stunted growth, immune system problems, heart damage, and even death. Sensitive regions like saltwater marshes and mangroves, which can be greatly damaged by small amounts of environmental variation, are particularly at risk for oil-related harms. Along with this, the spilling of oil on the surface of waterways can result in particular damage for marine life; the thick layer of oil prevents sunlight from coming through, as well as reducing the amount of dissolved oxygen within the water, which can cause death to some of the plants or fish that require certain levels of these phenomenon to live. One less obvious result of oil spills is also economic: due to potential contamination of fish as well as possible vessel or equipment damage, commercial fishing is typically suspended in the region immediately after a spill. Since cleaning up after spills can take months or (in some extreme instances) years, this can greatly damage this part of the economy in those areas.
So how do we control these spills to prevent this damage from occurring? It’s not as easy as it sounds. Some strategies used in the past have been found to actually do more damage; as an example, in 1989 it was discovered that using high-pressure hot water hoses to clean beaches can result in simply spreading the oil elsewhere, instead of properly cleaning it. However, different agencies have come up with a variety of alternative strategies to contain oil spills and remove enough of this harmful substance to allow natural environmental recovery processes to continue.
The NOAA, or National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is one of many agencies that works to combat environmental damage caused by oil spills, which often involves wildlife recovery, cleaning, rehabilitation, and more. Other groups include the Office of Response and Restoration, which helps to provide scientific solutions to keeping coasts clean, and the Coast Guard, which works on-site during instances of major spills. In the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, it was determined that those responsible for oil spills have to pay for the cleanup and restoration of affected habitats; organizations like the Natural Resource Damage Assessment thus work with state, federal, and tribal agencies to determine the level of impact and required funding for these incidents.
Some strategies involve physical barriers or techniques for preventing the spread of oil. As an example, booms are floating physical barriers that can be placed at the entrances to channels or harbors, as well as the sources of spills, to prevent spread. Skimmers are used on boats in calm waters, and skim oil from the surface before placing it into collection tanks. Different sorbents can be placed in water to absorb oil, and on-surface oil slick can be caught on fire and burned away (in a technique called in situ burning). Chemical dispersants can also be used to break up the oil atop water surfaces to improve ease of removal. Bioremediation is a strategy that uses specific microorganisms to remove toxic substances like oil; types of bacteria, fungi, archaea and algae can degrade petroleum products into simpler and nontoxic molecules. Fertilizer can be used to help these microbes grow, but this technique is only really usable when the oil approaches the shoreline. In instances of oil existing over water, new research indicates that sunlight may in itself help to remove the substance; it increases photodissolution, or how easily oil dissolves in water, by transforming it into other compounds. This is likely affected by the thickness of the slick and the light’s wavelengths, but further research is required as to how much it can help– some studies suggest that it may have helped to remove up to 17% of the oil following the Deepwater Horizon incident!
In general, more research is required to determine how to help prevent these spills and contain them. Better equipment is needed to remove onshore oil on sandy beaches and rocky shores, and new regulations need to be passed regarding shipping and environmental rules to decrease the amount of major supertanker oil spills that occur. But work is already being done: in one notable example, some salons are contributing leftover hair to make bioplastic pellets to help pick up oil! There’s tons of potential for the creation of new products to help with this subject, and many organizations are continuing their work to protect our waters from this dangerous material.
https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/ocean-coasts/oil-spills
https://www.britannica.com/science/oil-spill
https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/large-oil-spills
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-10-03/huntington-beach-oil-spill-full-coverage
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/recycle-hair-salons-1.6373334
https://www.jpost.com/science/article-699167
https://www.marineinsight.com/environment/10-methods-for-oil-spill-cleanup-at-sea/
https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/how-manage-damage-oil-spills