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Case Study – III
Oil Spills in USA
Oil Spills at refi neries along the route. Accidents can occur
during any of these transportation journeys or
Oil spills can be defi ned as an accidental or
at the time of storage.
intentional release of liquefi ed petroleum
Oil spills can also be caused due to illegal
hydrocarbon. Th is liquid is released into
dumping of oil by industries. Th e Gulf War
the ocean or coastal waters mainly through
in 1991 resulted in the largest oil spill in
human action. Due to their harmful eff ects, oil
spills are regarded as a form of pollution. Oil history damaging the environment greatly.
spills may occur during the transportation of Oil spills also take place in the event of natural
refi ned petroleum products through off shore calamities such as tsunamis.
platforms or drilling rigs. Cleaning up an oil Eff ects of Oil Spills
spill is diffi cult and may take weeks, months
or even years as it depends upon many Th e eff ects of oil spills on humans may be
factors. Th e production and consumption of direct or indirect, depending on the type of
oil is constantly increasing and as a result the contact with the oil spill.
risk of oil spills have also increased. • People who work with the oil are directly
exposed to oil spills.
• Since oil and petroleum products
have volatile qualities, the air becomes
contaminated when oil spills occur. Th is
becomes dangerous for people.
• People may come in direct contact with
oil and/or oil products while walking in
a contaminated area (e.g., a beach). Aft er
direct contact, contaminants may be
absorbed through the skin and enter the
Oil spill on a beach on June 12, 2010 in Gulf body.
Shores, Alabama
• Activities such as fi shing in the polluted
Causes of Oil Spills waters aff ect fi shermen and fi sheries if
Petroleum is moved from oil fi elds to a very large amount of oil is spilled. For
designated areas through diff erent modes example, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of
of transport. Th e transfer is done through Mexico impacted many local fi shermen’s
tankers, pipelines, railcars, off shore platforms, and fi sheries’ normal activity, and this had
drilling rigs, wells and tank trucks. Th e oil is a long-term eff ect due to the very large
stored at transfer points, at terminals and also amount of oil that was spilled.
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