When an accidental oil spill happens off shore, the beaches become unusable for a time and the affected marine wild life suffers. It takes a huge expenditure of time and money to clean it up. This problem is oil pollution. In fact, after the accidental off-shore oil spill on March 24, 1989 near Valdez, Alaska, the United States enacted the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. This law establishes regulations that govern both the prevention and the response to oil pollution.
Identification
Oil pollution happens when any kind of oil, or product that contains oil, contaminates a natural environment like a lake, river, ocean or other area on earth. Not only does oil pollution make the water unusable until it is cleaned up, it kills many fish, birds and mammals, and can even release toxic fumes into the air that can be harmful to people.
Causes
Most oil pollution, around 46 percent worldwide, is caused by natural leaks, or seepages. Another 37 percent of oil pollution happens because oil is released into the oceans. Much of this is due to regular maintenance operations on ships that are at sea. The rest is the result of oil mixed with storm water that gets into the sewer systems before flowing into the ocean. Twelve percent of the world's oil pollution is due to accidents like the 1989 oil spill near Valdez, Alaska. Finally, oil pollution from spills that happen on off-shore oil rigs while drilling for oil accounts for around three percent of the world's oil pollution.
Effects
Oil pollution harms sea birds when the oil touches their feathers making them unable to fly. The birds cannot remove the oil from their own bodies which makes them vulnerable to hypothermia because the oil prevents the feathers from helping to insulate them from extreme cold. Marine mammals like polar bears have similar problems with extreme cold whenever oil gets into their fur. Oil pollution also destroys smaller organisms in the water that birds, fish and marine animals eat. In addition to the destructive effects that oil pollution causes for the animals, it damages the environment, turning sand black, sticky and toxic. Finally, it makes the fish in the area temporarily unsafe for human consumption.
Prevention/Solution
Whenever oil pollutes the water, it must be physically removed both from the surface of the water as well as from the land in much the same way that a cook removes oils from the surface of a pot of soup. Unaddressed oil pollution may spread over an increasing surface area of water or it might disperse in smaller fragments as it breaks up and becomes carried by the currents. Some oils will eventually evaporate. Other oils mix, in the same process that one uses to make mayonnaise, emulsifying with the water. In the best case, the oil causing the pollution is a biodegradable kind which will eventually be absorbed into the natural environment without causing permanent harm.
Considerations
Many modern commodities are made from an oil base including plastic, asphalt, waxes, lubricants, fertilizers, paint and detergent. This does not even count the oil we use for fuel. Because oil pollution can be caused by both crude and refined oil as well as by products that contain oil, it is difficult to imagine a time when substantial amounts of oil won't be en route from one harbor to another. We will remain vulnerable to oil spills and the ensuing problems of oil pollution which is why regulations like the Oil Pollution Act of August 1990 are so important to keeping our environment safe and clean for all of the earth's inhabitants.
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