Oil Spills

Do you remember 1989? Specifically, do you remember what happened in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24^th, 1989?

Yes, you are ahead of me. The Exxon Valdez ran aground on the Bligh Reef and dumped crude oil on to the ocean. The amount spilt, 10,800,000 US Gallons, was enough to contaminate 11,000 square miles of sea.

The ‘Exxon Valdez’ being recovered from the reef escorted by tugs and a coastguard cutter.

There were multiple factors involved to cause this event all of which can be easily found on ‘Wikipedia’. Not unnaturally, the company, Exxon, blamed the skipper even though he was asleep in his bunk at the time of the grounding on the reef.

This disaster resulted in the International Maritime Organisation introducing comprehensive marine pollution prevention rules (MARPOL) through various conventions.

How has this helped?

In 2010 on April 20^th, an oilrig called the ‘Deepwater Horizon’ let loose 4.9 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This is equivalent to 210,000,000 US Gallons.

‘Deepwater Horizon’

It was not a ship but an oilrig – so that’s all right, then. Doesn’t come under MARPOL.

Still, the learning curve was non too steep, was it? Perhaps nobody recalled the Ixtoc 1 oil spill in 1979.

This was a semi-submersible drilling rig in the Bay of Campeche, also in the Gulf of Mexico.

The spill resulted in 3,000,000 barrels of crude drifting off on the ocean. That would be around 130,000,000 US Gallons.

We do not seem to learn, do we?

Double hulled ships are not impregnable, they are not leak proof. Oil rigs can, and do, fail.

Piper Alpha in the North Sea killed 167 people when it exploded.

‘Piper Alpha’

We have not gone near the Buncefield fire, the Castillo de Belver oil spill, the Torrey Canyon disaster, the Prestige oil spill, the MV Tasman Spirit, the Cosco Busan oil spill – the list goes on and on and on… So many others.

All of these were ecological disasters.

The pollution in every case was widespread. Thousands of birds and marine animals were killed either by the crude oil or by the solvents used to disperse the oil.

Moreover, Vancouver and the native tribes in the area of the Exxon Valdez oil spill are still owed money. The oil companies just shrug it off and continue as normal without shouldering their responsibilities.

https://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Exxon-still-owes-for-Valdez-spill-1198238.php

Fortunately these things are now in the past. Oil spills have been stopped by legislation and good self-governance by the transportation and oil companies.

Well, not really. 

In the last few months we hear of a pipeline leak in South Dakota. That must be enormously embarrassing for the company who owns the pipeline since they are currently trying to get an extension built on the existing pipe.

Embarrassing?

Of course not. What is a bit of farmland compared to the economic viability of transporting oil cheaply from Alberta down into the USA through a pipe? The oil companies will be wondering what all the fuss is about.

‘Keystone’ Oil Pipeline Spill

Is that it? Pipelines are not ships or oilrigs so no problem. We can forget that one, can’t we? Of course, this is not the only leak from an oil pipe. They happen on a relatively frequent basis – more so than the oil companies would like you to think.

Oh, but it hashappened again.

Another pipeline. Unbelievably this pipe is under the sea.

This time it is off Kalimantan, a place called Balikpapan, on the coast of Borneo. It was first reported on March 31^st, 2018.

The operating company, Pertamina, said, at first, that it was from a ship but have now admitted that it came from one of their pipelines.

The spill now covers an area larger than the city of Paris and is burning fiercely. It is burning because the workers on site tried to clear it off the water’s surface by setting light to it.

Five fishermen have been reported as dead. 84 acres of Mangrove forest are contaminated; an Irrawaddy Dolphin (a protected species under Indonesian Law) has died making the species even more rare now; the people of Balikpapan have complained of health problems as a result of the slick.

The Dead Irrawaddy Dolphin

“Authorities declared a state of emergency in the city on April 3, and warned residents not to light cigarettes in the area. They also distributed gas masks to protect against the acrid fumes and smoke.

The East Kalimantan police and Pertamina are investigating the cause of the leak, after divers from the company found the pipe had moved some 328 feet from its initial position on the seabed.”

Police said that a criminal prosecution may follow.

What can be done?

As long as oil companies and those who transport or explore for oil are allowed to be self regulating there is nothing that can be one.

We have seen from the Exxon example that such companies ignore their responsibilities especially in terms of compensation.

Safety is expensive but so is the contamination and pollution that results from these spills; so are the deaths that are commonplace near and on these slicks – not just human deaths but wildlife also.

At some point someone has to grasp the bull by the horns and tackle this problem. 

We know that all projects are governed by three primary parameters:

1.           Cost

2.           Quality

3.           Time.

Only one of these will rule any project. Sadly, the overweening parameter has been cost but that has to stop. Time is of the essence but more so is quality.

Quality costs, quality takes time but quality is now paramount.

If for no other reason than that the World is running out of oil, we cannot afford to spill it out on the oceans and the farmland.

The time has come to stop this waste and the ecological disasters that ensue from it.