The Gulf of Mexico oil spill also referred to as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is considered to be the largest ever oil spill in marine history. The spillage happened when the Deep-water Horizon oil rig that was located about 41 kilometers the cost of Louisiana along the Gulf of Mexico exploded and sank two days later (Griggs, 2011). The United States government estimated that at least 4.9 million barrels of oil was discharged and spilled. The implication of the spillage was an enactment of new offshore drilling policies together with the negative implication and impacts that came long; such include environmental, health and economic impacts. The area that was affected hosted close 8,332 aquatic species that were affected. Chemical poisoning was also reported that affected workers along Florida, Mississippi and Alabama.
The oil population act of 19090 was enacted in order to strengthen and streamline the environmental protection authority's (EPA) ability in responding to and preventing oil spillage. The act had several provision and regulations to help in achieving its objective (White et.al, 2012). They included; formation of a trust fund finance that was to be funded by an oil tax. Its objective was to clean up any oil spillage in cases where the party responsible was unable to do so. Storage companies, facilities and vessels were also required to make a submission to the government on how they were to manage and respond to cases of discharge (Mariano et.al, 2011). One of the ways that this act was instrumental in containing spillage included the area contingency plan. This was effective in preparation and planning in cases of spillage. The regulations of companies, taxation and fines were also effective in containing spillage.
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There are several reasons why several challenges marred the containment of the spillage. One of the reasons is the use and deployment of containment booms. The containment booms washed the shores with oil which further allowed escape of oil. This method of containment contributed to the difficulty in containing the spillage due to its poor results. Other reasons why it was difficult included continuous or recurrent leakage, several explosives that were also witnessed and the huge liters of petroleum that was leaking (Redmond & Valentine, 2011). The environmental authorities had not planned and strategies effectively for such a large spillage that was occurring. The spillage had never been witnessed before.
The best method that could have been used in containing the spill is skimming. Skimming refers to a method of oil containment whereby several equipment and tools under the surface of the water are used in containing the spill. The reason why this method could have worked than using boom is because of the large nature of spillage. Large tones of petroleum were what spilled along the river. Petroleum is a lighter type of oil which can be easily separated from water through separation of based on the density of oil and water (Michel et al, 2013). This is with respect to cleaning. In terms of containing the spill, the use of sorbents could have worked better than using booms. Sorbents are able to suck all the oil spillage from their source of spillage without spreading to larger areas.
Conclusion
The Gulf of Mexico is recorded down in history as the worst ever witnessed oil spill. It led to environmental, health, social and economic impacts. Several interventions and measures have however been taken to ensure that such catastrophes are not witnessed again in future.
Reference
Griggs, J. W. (2011). BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Energy LJ , 32 , 57.
Mariano, A. J., Kourafalou, V. H., Srinivasan, A., Kang, H., Halliwell, G. R., Ryan, E. H., &
Roffer, M. (2011). On the modeling of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Dynamics of
Atmospheres and Oceans , 52 (1-2), 322-340.
Michel, Jacqueline, Edward H. Owens, Scott Zengel, Andrew Graham, Zachary Nixon, Teresa
Allard, William Holton et al. "Extent and degree of shoreline oiling: Deepwater Horizon
oil spill, Gulf of Mexico, USA." PloS one 8, no. 6 (2013): e65087.
Redmond, M. C., & Valentine, D. L. (2011). Natural gas and temperature structured a microbial
community response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Proceedings of the National
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White, H. K., Hsing, P. Y., Cho, W., Shank, T. M., Cordes, E. E., Quattrini, A. M., ... & Brooks,
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