All About Oil Spills
School Name: Sherwood Heights School
Team Size: 1 or 2
Grade Category: 4-6
ProjectType: Experimental
Subject Area: Environmental Issues
Language: English
Team Captain First Name: Nikita
Team Captain Last Name: Bansal
Special Skills Used: HTML
Everyone knows that oil spills aren’t good. They can sometimes waste a lot money, or
save money. They definitely harm the environment. In my report you’ll learn how to prevent oil
spills, how they happen, and their effect.
First of all we’re going to learn what an oil spill is and how one happens. Oil spills
occur when people make errors or are careless. One example of this is when people cause an oil
tanker to spill oil into the ocean. A way this happens is if the equipment is breaking down.
The tanker might get stuck in shallow waters. When people begin to drive the tanker again, they
can create a hole in the tanker, causing it to leak. Another situation in which an oil spill may
occur is when two countries are at war. One country could dump gallons of oil into the oceans of
the other country.
Terrorists could create on oil spill because they dump oil into a country’s ocean. They
do this mainly because they’re trying to get the country’s attention, or they’re trying to make a
point to the country. People that dump dirty, used oil into the oceans are called illegal dumpers
because this act is illegal. They still do it, though, so they won’t have to spend money
decomposing the waste. Instead, they dump it in the ocean.
One final way that oils spills happen are by natural disasters, like hurricanes and
earthquakes. If a hurricane was nearby, the winds from it may cause the tanker to flip over and
pour oil out.
Our next topic will be the affect of oil spills on animals. Sea birds can die from
oil spills if their feathers become covered in oil. The oil makes its wings too heavy to fly, so
it tries to clean the oil off by eating it. The bird becomes poisoned. The sea bird may also
become blinded. When it puts its head down to eat the oil, the oil may get in its eyes. It
won’t be able to see predators, and may be eaten. If workers find birds that are not dead, they
will take the birds to a cleaning center where they are cleaned, checked for injuries, and taken
care of. After it feels better it will be released out into the wild.
Another animal affected by oil spills are sea otters. They are affected by oil spills in
many ways. Their bodies may become covered in oil. This would cause the otter’s air bubbles to
build up. These air bubbles are located in otters’ fur, and help them survive in the cold
oceans. They also help the otters float and they act like a covering to the otters’ body. When
the air bubbles build, otters can die of low body temperature. A lot of sea otters are held in
captivity after an oil spill until the otters are clean and healthy.
One of the many reasons for the endangerment of killer whales is an oil spill. The oil could
accidentally be eaten or enter a whale’s blowhole, not allowing it to breathe. The main reason
for them to die occurs when a fish has swum through oil and a whale eats it. The whale then eats
the fish, along with the oil, poisoning and killing the whale.
Small organisms are also greatly affected by oil spills. Plankton, larval fish, and
other organisms living at the bottom are especially affected. Seaweed, clams, oysters, and
mussels are affected, too. When hundreds of these organisms die because of oil, species can become extinct. The
predator(s) of that species will not be able to eat, so it will die. This is how an oil spill
can affect an entire food web. I’m now going to give you one example of an oil spill. It is the
Exxon Valdez oil spill. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was the largest oil spill to happen in the
world. It took place on March 23, 1989 at Prince William Sound in Alaska. The oil spill spilled
about 125 Olympic-sized swimming pools! Ten years after the oil spill took place, 2 out of 20
animals had recovered. They were the river otter and the bald eagle. It took the Exxon Valdez
Company four summers to clean up the spill. They spent about 2.1 billion dollars for clean up!
The last thing we’ll talk about is how to prevent oil spills. The answer is easy and simple!
Don’t use as much oil! If you don’t use as much, there will be no need to transport oil. The
people that transport oil can also use a double hull ship instead of a regular ship. The
difference is that it has two parts. This way, if the ship scrapes against something, the oil is
still safe in the second part of the ship. The only problem is that double hull ships are really
expensive. A law states that all ships must be double hull by the year 2015.
In conclusion, you should think about the environment, wild animals, and even money going to
waste. Remember, if you don’t use as much oil, this will all stop.
All information found on:
http://library.thinkquest.org/CRO215471/oil_spills.htm
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