Revising for dayz

Oil spills in the united states from 2001-2014:

Oil spills are a huge problem for the environment and its inhabitants. An oil spill is when liquid petroleum hydrocarbon is released into the environment, mainly in marine areas, caused by humans and is a huge form of pollution in the ocean and coastal waters. Oil spills mainly occur in Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and Gulf go Mexico with occasional rivers. They are caused by oil drillers and their companies trying to obtain oil for gasoline and harm humans, marine life, and birds when spilled into the oceans. There have been 37 oil spills from 2011 until present occurring all around our nations oceans and in some cases, the rivers. Oil spills occur for multiple reasons such as the workers being careless, equipment breaking, natural disasters, or illegal dumping. Oil spills may not be completely solved because you cant control natural disasters and in some cases equipment breaking but it can be dramatically reduced. Spills need to be reduced because it contaminates our air, waters that we get drinking water from, as well as poison the fish we catch for selling on markets. Oil spills have a direct affect on human health. “Oil is semi-volatile, which means that it can evaporate into the air and create a heavy vapor that stays near the ground - in the human breathing zone. When winds whip up oily sea water, the spray contains tiny droplets - basically a fume - of oil, which are small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs.” (1, Gina Solomon’s blog, 2010) When it gets into our lungs we begin to suffer from different side effects such as headaches, difficulty breathing, vomiting, and nausea. Petroleum hydrocarbons in the air have been linked to various cancers. When the oil evaporates into the air, there is still resido left in the water which is what contaminates our drinking water and the marine life in that area and even miles away. When we take water that has been contaminated with liquid petroleum hydrocarbon we are cleansing the water but not enough to get all of it out. In turn, we end up drinking the water and have the possibility of becoming ill and causing different types of cancers. When the petroleum gets in the fish, the fish either become extremely ill and begin to die off or die almost immediately. Even after the oil spill has been cleaned up for the most part, the fish that are still living can be caught and sold on the markets for people around the world to purchase and cook. If we eat a contaminated fish it could cause many problems for our health and stop that market from selling fish until they figure out what was wrong with the fish and where it came from. For the best outcome, oil spills need to be stopped as soon as possible to stop further harm on humans and the marine life. The consequences of oil spills not being solved could result in worse human health affects, contaminating the water so badly that we can no longer use the oceans for drinking water, and losing our fish markets because a majority of the fish are contaminated or ill. As of today, many things are being done to prevent future oil spills even though it isnt enough. One way the government is trying to prevent oil spills is by new laws taking effect to prevent that crisis from reoccurring. One of the laws came about because of the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, requiring all tankers to have double hulls. Another way they are trying to reduce oil spills is advanced technology. They have advanced GPS’s to help stop collusions and groundings. Although the tankers have many rules and regulations they must follow, it doesn’t seem to be enough to reduce or possibly stop oil spills.