Oil spills are catastrophic to the environment, and happen when manmade oil rigs and transportation
vessels malfunction. The oil causes the death of animals and plants, disrupts the water pH and salinity, and even pollutes the shoreline.
How are Oil Spills so Devastating?
There are multiple reasons why oil spills are so harmful to the environment. Starting off, oil does not mix with water, instead it lies on the surface, as a thin, sticky layer of “slick.” This layer can be as thin as 0.01mm, and is easily spread hundreds of miles by wind and current movement. The amount that remains on the top of the water is also called a sheen.
When oil mixes with water, it becomes a “mousse,” which is much stickier than oil alone. The mixture is extremely difficult to clean, and there is not a high amount of oil in the mixture itself.
The type of oil also affects the speed and process in which it is broken down. However, when oil does finally break down, it can sink to the ocean floor, contaminating the environment.
The coastline is where oil spills most visually harm wildlife. Birds and animals can become coated with oil, and ingesting it can be fatal. Birds especially are affected by oil spills: oil coats their wings, weighing them down and trapping them on the water, or on land. Their feathers’ ability to repel water is nullified, which can also kill a bird. If oil is not cleaned from a bird, it is almost certain that it will die.
Oil spills have long-term effects on the environment, and generations of animals can be affected by them. Birds have been found to lay eggs with thinner shells, and mammals such as polar bears are found to have died from kidney failure post-oil spill. Though mother nature is eventually able to clear an oil spill, the process takes years, and marine and terrestrial ecosystems suffer for it.
Cleaning
Though it seems whenever there is a catastrophe such as an oil spill that people rush to help, the truth is that modern technology used to clean oil spills is highly ineffective in addition to being costly. Though efforts were made to save birds, most of the birds died in the near future. According to Andrew Nikiforuk in his article “Why We Pretend to Clean Up Oil Spills,” “And, consider the 2002 sinking of the MV Prestige. The tanker split in half off the coast of Spain, spilling more than 70 million liters of highly toxic bunker fuel that coated more than 600 beaches with oil. The catastrophe killed some 300,000 seabirds. Although response teams diligently cleaned thousands of animals, most of the birds died within a week. Only a few hundred ever made it back to the wild. In fact, said Gaus, studies indicate that, in general, the post-treatment survival rate of oil-soaked birds is less than one percent.” To publicize a failure like this would lower public opinion and support for cleaning efforts.
One of the points Nikiforuk makes is that cleaning can be futile, and may even do more harm than good. The public effort is a sort of “response theater,” and the resources it would take to harness and run a full cleaning operation are nearly impossible to access. Of the existing technologies: booms, skimmers, fire, and chemical dispersants (Corexit), none of them have the ability to contain large oil spills. Even in the recent past, oil spills are only truly considered once they reach the shoreline.
Companies will claim that they are working to clean an oil spill, yet their methods are far from effective. Scientists should be put in charge of oil spills, not business-people.
However, there is a new technology that could change the way we clean oil spills. With reusable sponges, scientists seem to have found a way to clean oil spills while minimizing environmental impact. The technology is named the Oleo sponge, and once oil is collected, it can be used again. This could change the way we go about cleaning oil spills.
Written by: Mackenzie P (@mprtchard)
Works cited:
Chow, Denise. “How We Clean Oil Spills Hasn't Changed in Decades. These Scientists Want to Change That.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 7 Oct. 2021, https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/clean-oil-spills-hasnt-changed-decades-scientists-want-change-rcna2649.
Heron, S.F. “How Does an Oil Spill Affect the Environment?” Sciencing, 22 Nov. 2019, https://sciencing.com/oil-spill-affect-environment-4616883.html.
Magazine, Smithsonian. “Why We Pretend to Clean up Oil Spills.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 12 July 2016, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/oil-spill-cleanup-illusion-180959783/.