By Kana McNiff
Oil spills occur when a pipeline breaks, underwater drilling goes wrong, or an oil tanker ship malfunctions. Not only are oil spills devastating economically, they are extremely damaging to the ocean. The biggest oil spill recorded in the US was in 2010 when an oil rig, the BP Deepwater Horizon, exploded off the coast of Mexico. The explosion and sinking of the oil rig resulted in the deaths of 11 workers and continued to leak oil into the surrounding ocean for 87 days. By the time BP was able to cap the spill, 134 million gallons of oil had escaped. After the disaster, devastation reigned in the gulf. Oil clogged the gills of hundreds of thousands of fish, killing them. Oil stripped the protective coating from the bird’s feathers, making them unable to fly away. While the long term effects of the oil spill on marine life is not known, thousands of marine animals were killed.
On March 15, 2024, a Coast Guard ship “accidentally discharged” 500 gallons of oil off of the Northern California coast. Although the shore likely won’t be affected, the Coast Guard has removed about 1,050 pounds of oily waste from the area and the shoreline.
Due to the destructive nature of oil spills, finding cleaner energy sources has been a recent topic of debate. Because many of our industrial machinery, cars, and other forms of transportation are still dependent on oil, we are forced to transport oil across the world, increasing the chances of oil spills happening in the future. If we can find a way to utilize clean energy like wind and solar power, we can prevent future disasters from happening.
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