DIFFERENT METHODS TO CLEAN UP THE EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL Introduction The ecological disaster I have chosen is the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. The aim of this study is to investigate the use of different scientific methods to clean up this horrible disaster. This essay argues that it is really important that we know if these scientific methods were or weren t helpful for cleaning up the oil spill. This is due to the fact that it could help as an example of which techniques to use or not to use if another disaster of this magnitude occurs. The purpose of this essay is to investigate and find how each scientific method and solutions helped in the cleaning up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The main questions addressed in this paper are: In which way did each scientific method helped on cleaning the oil spill? Was it really effective? Was the area complete cleaned up? Were there any consequences in the environment of the area? This paper begins with an explanation about what is the Exxon Valdez oil spill, where did it happen, why was it caused, what were the consequences, etc. It will then go on to the body where I will explain what were the scientific techniques that were used to clean up the area, how did each one of them help on cleaning up the oil spill, their benefits and limitations, etc. Finally, I would express my personal opinion and the importance of the oil spill and its consequences. Exxon Valdez oil spill On March 24, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez departed from the Valdez Marine Terminal full of crude oil. At 12:04 am, when the tanker had just entered Alaska s Prince William Sound, the ship hit the Bligh Reef causing the release of more than 40,000 tons of crude oil. It was the largest spill in the U.S history. Initial responses by Exxon weren t sufficient to contain much of the spill and due to a storm, the oil spread widely.
Moreover, it was hard work for the clean-up activities due to the wide area of the spill and its remote location, which can only access by helicopter and boat. Eventually, more than 1,500 kilometers of coastline were fouled and hundreds of thousands of animals were dead. (Taylor, 2017) Within hours after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, a team of NOAA scientists arrived there. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) specialists help in the cleanup, in the use of experimental bioremediation technologies, the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) help providing the weather forecasts to adapt their methods of cleanup to the weather conditions, the Hubbs Marine Institute s specialists help on cleaning oil from otters and the International Bird Research Center of Berkeley, California, help to clean and rehabilitate oiled waterfowl. Finally, the Coast Guard and other Federal agencies also arrived there to help. ("Exxon Valdez Spill Profile US EPA", 2017) Key concept: The key concept of my investigation is change due to the fact that this ecological disaster changed the whole ecosystem of the Prince William Sound, as it killed loads of animals and plants, and filled the water with crude oil. This caused lots of consequences which can be seen nowadays. For example, it caused the implantation of a new criteria that will be later mention.. The related concepts which will related to my study are: Environment: due to the Prince William Sound oil spill, the environment and the ecosystems of this area has been hardly affected with very important consequences. Consequences: this disaster has caused lots of consequences, for example, the destruction of lots of ecosystems, the implantation of a new criteria in the design of the tankers, the death of lots of animals and plants, etc. Body The use of scientific solutions to clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill Burning: a series of burns took place during the first hours after the spill. Using a fire resistant boom attached to two ships, it would move slowly through the oil. In
this way, it will contain the oil and later burn it. This solution was great, due to fact that it reduce more than 113.400 litres of crude oil to 1.134 litres of trash. But because of the bad weather, they couldn t continue using this method. Mechanical Cleanup: Then, they started using a mechanical cleanup as a solution to the oil spill. They used skimmers, a device used for recovering spilled oil from the water s surface. However, the thick oil and the amount of algae often block up the equipment. Therefore, the time it took for them to clean them was declared a waste of time. Chemical Dispersants: specialists tried to use a trial application of dispersants, releasing them with an helicopter. However, there weren t enough waves and the dispersant couldn t mix correctly with the crude oil in the water. Therefore, the use of this solution was useless. ("Exxon Valdez Spill Profile US EPA", 2017) Bioremediation: is the process in which microorganisms are used to break down organic matter to decompose the waste. This technique was also used in the Exxon Valdez oil spill to clean up the crude oil from the ocean. Crude oils which are mainly composed of diverse hydrocarbons escape into the environment from underground. Due to the fact that this happens naturally in all marine environments, lots of microorganisms such as bacteria, archaea or fungi, have developed the ability of using hydrocarbons as a source of carbon and energy for growth. (Atlas & Hazen, 2017) However, as the environment was so full of crude oil, not all organisms will survive. Therefore, they provide these microbes with different materials such as, fertilizer, oxygen and other conditions to survive. In this way, the microorganisms will break down the hydrocarbons at a faster rate. ("What is Bioremediation? - Conserve Energy Future", 2017)
Terry Hazen, a microbial ecologist from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Ron Atlas, a biology professor from the University of Louisville, say that the microorganisms played a big role in cleaning up the spilled oil. Hazen said: Because of the difficulty of achieving sufficient oil removal by physical washing and collection bioremediation became a prime candidate for continuing treatment of the shoreline. Field tests showed that the addition of fertilizer enhanced the rates of biodegradation by the indigenous hydrocarbon-degrading microorganisms, resulting in total petroleum-hydrocarbon losses as high as 1.2 percent per day. Within a few weeks of the spill, about 25 to 30 percent of the total hydrocarbon in the oil originally stranded on Prince William Sound shorelines had been degraded, and by 1992 the length of shoreline still containing any significant amount of oil was 6.4 miles [just over 10 kilometers], or about 1.3 percent of the shoreline originally oiled in 1989. (Lebwohl, 2017) In my own words, what he meant to say is that, when nitrogen was added to the Alaskan water, the microorganism levels rised up. Then, these oil-eating microorganisms reduced the amount of oil from the spill by breaking down the hydrocarbons. Consequences of the Exxon Valdez oil spill This ecological disaster caused threats to the food chain, so important for the Prince William Sound s commercial fishing industry. And also, injured types of animals, plants, and marine habitats in Alaska's Prince William Sound. The specialists tried with more effort to save the sensitive environments and the animals that lived there. However, the wildlife rescue was slow and because of the direct contact with oil or of a loss of food supplies, many birds, mammals and fishes died. Finally, this ecological disaster caused the implantation of a new criteria in the design of the tankers in which they must be made with double hull to avoid disasters like this one if the tanker hits something. Benefits and limitations Benefits:
An important benefit of the use of these solutions, mainly bioremediation, is that the amount of spilled oil has been degraded in a couple of years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in the Prince William Sound, in Alaska. Although the use of burning, mechanical cleanup and chemical dispersant weren t as efficient as the use of bioremediation, it also contributed to cleaning up, or at least a bit, that area. Another benefit is due to the fact that bioremediation and other methods were used to clean up the oil spill, lots of animals and plants were recovered. The implantation of these solutions to help clean up the area, lead to a quick speed-up in the cleaning up. Therefore, hundreds of thousands of species of animals and plants could be rescued and cleaned from crude oil. The use of these methods could have contributed in saving a huge amount of animals and plants that could had died. As well, the wildlife of the environment could have been even more seriously damaged. Limitations: An important limitation is that the company and the workers had spent lots of money, time and hard work in trying to clean up the disaster with use burning, chemical dispersants and mechanical clean up techniques. Although it reduced the amount the crude oil, it wasn t as fast and as efficient as the use of bioremediation. If the scientists would have find this solution to the massive problem before it could have save a lot of money, time, hard work, and which is most important, native animals and plants. Finally, another limitation is that although the use of all the different scientific solutions to help clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the crude oil wasn t completely degraded by the microorganisms. Therefore, some crude oil remains still today, in the shorelines of the Prince William Sound. Showing us the consequences of a man-made disaster who can be still be seen today and who has killed, although some of it has recovered, most of the wildlife of Prince William Sound in Alaska. Factors that affect the use of this scientific solutions as a way of cleaning up the Exxon Valdez oil spill
Economic: an important factor that interacts with the scientific solution to this ecological disaster is economic due to the fact the oil spill kills lots of animals and plants, including fish. Therefore, the fishing industry, very important in Alaska, would be seriously affected. As well, the state of Alaska sued Exxon over the spill and the government accused the company for violations the Clean Water Act. Therefore, had to pay one billion dollars to the state and the government. ("The Exxon Valdez oil spill", 2017) Environmental: another main factor is environmental because all the environment and ecosystems that can be found in that area was seriously affected due to this man-made disaster. The environment was so affected that we can continue to see the consequences of this disaster which happened almost 30 years ago. As of 2010, only 13 of the 32 monitored wildlife populations, habitats and resource services that were injured in the Exxon Valdez oil spill are fully recovered or very likely recovered. Moreover, some are still listed today as not recovering. This includes orcas, the pacific herring, etc. (Holleman, 2017) Conclusion Finally, in conclusion, the Exxon Valdez oil spill was a catastrophical man-made disaster in which almost 40,000 tons of crude oil was spilled on the Prince William Sound in Alaska. This caused the death of hundreds of thousands of different plants and animals. It destroyed most of the wildlife of the area, although some of it was recovered. The scientific solutions used to clean up the spilled oil were burning, chemical dispersants, mechanical cleanup and finally, bioremediation. Although the first three methods reduced the amount of crude oil spilled, it was not really effective. Therefore, scientists introduced a new method, bioremediation. Microorganisms have developed the ability to use hydrocarbons as a source of energy. But in this situation, in which there is a huge amount of crude oil, fertilizers and oxygen are provided to the microorganisms so they can survive. In this way, these microbes reduced almost completely the amount of crude oil in the area. By using these solutions, but mainly bioremediation, the amount of crude oil in the Prince William Sound area have mainly been degraded. The use of this method has also help to a quicker clean up. Lots of animals and plants could be rescued and cleaned. Although most of the wildlife of the area has been recovered, lots of animals and plants has been lost. And finally, although most of the crude oil has
been cleaned up, you can still dig a hole in the shoreline and find traces of crude oil underneath. I believe that the only real solution to all these ecological disaster, specifically, oil spills, is to stop using so much oil. References Atlas, R., & Hazen, T. (2017). Oil Biodegradation and Bioremediation: A Tale of the Two Worst Spills in U.S. History. Retrieved 5 June 2017, from Bragg, J., Prince, R., Harner, E., & Atlas, R. (2017). Effectiveness of bioremediation for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Retrieved 5 June 2017, from Exxon Valdez Spill Profile US EPA. (2017). US EPA. Retrieved 5 June 2017, from https://www.epa.gov/emergency-response/exxon-valdez-spill-profile Holleman, M. (2017). Opinion: After 25 years, Exxon Valdez oil spill hasn't ended - CNN.com. CNN. Retrieved 5 June 2017, from http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/23/opinion/holleman-exxon-valdezanniversary/index.html Lebwohl, B. (2017). Need to clean an oil spill? Microbes are key, study says EarthSky.org. Earthsky.org. Retrieved 5 June 2017, from http://earthsky.org/earth/need-to-clean-an-oil-spill-microbes-are-key-study-says Taylor, A. (2017). The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill: 25 Years Ago Today. The Atlantic. Retrieved 5 June 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/03/the-exxon-valdez-oilspill-25-years-ago-today/100703/ The Exxon Valdez oil spill. (2017). Washington Post. Retrieved 5 June 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/the-exxon-valdez-oil- spill/2017/03/14/d131b630-f876-11e6-9845- 576c69081518_story.html?utm_term=.fe75ad20e639 What is Bioremediation? - Conserve Energy Future. (2017). Conserve Energy Future. Retrieved 5 June 2017, from http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/what-isbioremediation.php