Oil Spills

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• Oil Spills

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What is an Oil Spill?

• Release of liquid petroleum hydrocarbon
• Due to human activity
• Form of pollution
• Refers to marine oil spill

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Oil Spill Facts

• Takes months or years to clean up
• 14,000 spills occur each year
• Consume 400 million gallons of oil everyday
• Deepwater Horizon killed 33 of fish in the area

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What affects do Oil Spills have on Animals?
Seabirds

• Strongly affected
• Ways to die from Oil Spill
• Feathers are covered with oil
• Hard to fly and escape predators
• Cleaning themselves
• Blinding them

• Most die unless humans intervene

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Continued
Killer Whales
Sea Otters

• Fur gets covered in oil which disrupts air
  bubbles
• Air bubbles for warmth
• Air bubbles to float

• Ways to die from Oil Spills
• Eat fish that swam in oil
• Plug the blowhole with oil and drown

• Die from cold waters
• Placed in captivity for support

• Becoming endangered

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Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

• Cause
• Wellhead blowout
• April 20, 2010
• Killed 11 workers
• 205.8 million gallons
• Flowed for 3 months
• BP was responsible for the spill
• Largest marine oil spill in history
• In the Gulf Region
• Affected Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and
  Mississippi beaches

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Methods Of Cleaning
Booms

• High or low pressure hoses to spray oil off
  beaches
• Sorbents
• Large sponges that collect oil
• Booms
• Collects oil off the water
• Controlled Burning
• Reduces amount of oil
• Skimmers
• Boats that removes the oil

Controlled Burning
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Ways of Preventing Oil Spills

• Navigation
• Coast Guard must know where the tankers can drive
  
• Inspect equipment more
• Double Hulling
• 2 layers of watertight hull surface
• Prevent/reduces oil spills
• Careful as possible when transporting

Double Hull