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The gulf of mexico oil spill

An unfortunate event occurred at the Gulf of Mexico.

It was on April 20, 2010 when a big explosion came about. Which is now known as The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. This significant oil spill took eleven peoples life away and injured seventeen others. It also endangered a huge amount of animals, nearly four-hundred of them around the areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and also Florida. On April 24th it was revealed that they had found the reason of the spill (More here ). A wellhead was damaged and was now leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

The spill was one of the largest oil spills in the history of petroleum industry. The spill had came from a sea floor oil gusher. Based on my research the oil started gushing into the gulf because of a mistake of BP??™s, also known as The British Petroleum Company. BP proceeded their work on drilling, knowing that the drill was in bad condition because a part needed to be replaced. Instead of taking precaution, it caused this big catastrophe. BP said they continued because ??? They did not want to loose any time or anybodies job??? A ton of crude oil is about 308 United States gallons or 7.

33 barrels. For the Gulf spill it released an amount of 4. 9 million barrels of crude oil. There has been many oil spills around the world. The first oil spill had occurred around the 1940??™s in the U.

S (Brooklyn, NY) which was called Greenpoint Oil Spill. All of the oil spills were due to damage of ships, pipes and many other reasons. The spills gushed uncontrollably for months, my research of the Greenpoint spill said it continued for a couple of years. The Gulf of Mexico is well known by its tropical climate. Its location for the huge body of water is the Mediterranean Sea. The Gulf is bordered north of the United States and also southeast of Cuba. The entire body of the Gulf of Mexico has been estimated 1, 600 kilometers (east to west) and 900 kilometers (north to south). The surface area is 1.

5 million square kilometers. The water surrounding is a shallow rim. The continental shelf is 180m and the continental slope is 180 – 3, 000m. The Sigsbee located southwest of the Gulf of Mexico is the deepest region.

The maximum amount of depths of water bordering around the Gulf is 3, 750 m to 4, 384 m. The Gulf is the ninth largest water body in the world. Major commercial fishing ports of the Gulf region bring in over 1. 2 billion pounds offresh seafood.

The Mississippi River delivers a great amount of sediment, nutrients, and chemical pollutants to the Gulf of Mexico. Twenty-seven percent of domestic crude oil comes from the Gulf region. The sea surrounding the Gulf of Mexico has thick layers of oil on the sea floor. Researchers have found dead shrimps and worms.

They are saying that the Deepwater Horizon oil did not evaporate in the air, it has sunken on the ocean floor. Another researcher said ??? A lot of fish go down to the bottom and eat and then come back up, and if all their food sources are derived from the bottom, then indeed you could have this impact of oil disrupting the ecosystem???, which in my opinion it is true. On September 12th, 2010 it was reported that sightings of black waves have been seen by the Mississippi River. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said that the reports of beaches covered in thick, black oil and tar balls was indeed true. Shaila Dewan of New York Times said ??? There is plenty of science being done on the spill, but most of it is in the service of either the response effort, the federal Natural Damage Resource Assessment that will determine BP??™s liability, or BP??™s legal defense. Scientists who participate in those efforts may face restrictions on how they can use or publish their data. More important, they do not have a free hand in determining the scope of their studies???. Research for the oil spill is highly urgent because of the everyday changing in the ecosystem for the Gulf region.

Many scientists wants to complete their research but they are also claiming the debt that their in. The research of this oil spill has cost a lot of money. The government has been afraid to get the help they need for the research. The government does not want to make it seem like they are asking taxpayers to pay for research on the spill, when technically it??™s BP??™s fault.

It has been very hard to get research from scientists due to debt they are in. BP has promised many promises on funding for the spill, but its being said that politics are getting in the way. According to Shaila (New York Times), Bp has given up to $30 million to give to research centers.

However many research centers are asking for way more or saying they only got part of the $30 million. The money was now divided into 3 and given to Northern Gulf, Dauphin Island, and Louisiana State. The money was given to them to hopefully get the best results of research possible. All requests were not met, so now they had to come up with a new plan to help.

The Gulf Of Mexico Alliance was made to join research and resource forces. The oil is very detrimental, it has put ecology and wild life in to danger. The oil spreads into a thin layer on the top of the ocean which is also known as a sheen. The oil is harmful to animals in ways of physical contact, ingestion, absorption. The polluted ocean now effects planktons, algae, larvae, and fish eggs which is part of the small fish family. This pollution then effects the larger fish family and also bears, birds, and even humans. The oil spill can also effect plants because the soil will lose its ability to absorb water.

The spill was so severe that there was short and long term effects. The short term effects are biological and also including physical effects like smothering and also the influence of toxic chemicals. There is even destruction of coastal habitats. Also that there is damage to boats and gear used for fishing.

There is loss for markets that wish to sell fish, because many buyers suspect the fish may be contaminated by the oil spill. For the long-term damages, the smaller molecules that??™s volatile in the oil, that quickly evaporates are the most toxic to life. The larger molecules that are less volatile are the ones that are given asphalt.

Though the asphalt needs to continuously be replaced. BP had to come up with a plan to stop the leak. They came up with an idea which to them is called ??? top kill???. The procedure they have picked was done before in the past, but not in so many depths of water.

This would work by forcing heavy mud into the wellhead that was damaged, and it will stop the gushing oil from coming out. If the mud does actually work they will continue the procedure by concrete into the wellhead to cut the leak. If that failed BP will go on to their next plan which would be to use a lower marine riser package cap. On July 15th the cap was put into place, with that being said the ??? top kill??? did not work. The cap that was placed on the gusher did indeed trap about 252, 000 gallons of oil. The cap is progress, though that does not mean that the area of the gulf isn??™t polluted anymore. The pollution is still endangering natural life and the wild life. Now there is only hope since the cap has been put on, that everything will all get better again.

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