Question: Why was the deep-water oil spill of 2010 referred to as an environmental disaster? What were (are) the environmental and economic impacts of the deep-water horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?
The environment has been a victim of all sort attacks. Some of these attacks are natural such as earthquakes, Tsunamis, volcano and hurricane. However, there are some attacks that are man-made such as explosions, wars and chemical spills. Recorded in the history of man-made tragedies is the Deep-water oil spill of 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, United States of America. The incident was talked about as a disaster and had many environmental and economic impacts. In depth of this essay are reasons for calling this incidence a disaster and outline of the environmental and economic impact that were brought forth.
First of all there is need to define key terms. An environmental disaster is the tragedy of a natural or human-made hazard (a situation which poses a level of threat to life, health, property, or environment) that negatively affects society or environment (Bhargava, 2011).
Disasters have bad impact on the environment. Bhargava (2011) argues that environmental disasters bring destruction, lot of casualties, injuries and death, destruction of human property and also disturbs the stability of the ecosystem. The Deep-water oil spill of 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico was referred to as a disaster because most of the already mentioned tragedies occurred. Roberson and Kraul (2010) affirm that out of the hundred and twenty (126) workers on board of the Deep-water Horizon, seventeen (17) were injured and eleven (11) were killed.
The other reason for referring this occurrence to a disaster is that there was loss of property as well as aquatic forms of life. Jaun (2010) argues that the environmental damage from the oil spill was extensive, with twenty (25) national wildlife refuges in its path. Oil was found on the shores of all five Gulf States, and was responsible for the death of many birds, fish, and reptiles.
There are many environmental impacts that the Deep-water oil spill of 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico caused. One of the impacts is water pollution. This led to the death of fish, birds, and other aquatic living organism (Jaun, 2010). The ocean lost the natural beauty. In other words the property value of the ocean was lost.
Another environmental impact is that the dispersed oil had put coral reefs at higher risk of damage. The contaminants modified the coral reefs’ structure as well as food webs of species within the web. Species that are sensitive to pollution reduced in quantity over time due to the fact that they died or lost their ability to reproduce. It has been documented that the structure of the food web changed as species numbers changed (Peterson etal, 2003).
The economic impacts of the Deep water oil spill are also many. One of the industries that were affected was the tourism industry. Many people lost their jobs and had no source of income. The tourism industries in Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida were particularly hard hit. Ironically, analysts had previously predicted that tourism in the Gulf region, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, would return to pre-Katrina levels in 2010 (Feinbeg, 2011).
The economic losses also extended to the thousands of coastal small business owners including fishermen, shrimpers, oystermen, and those whose livelihood depended in whole or in part on fishing or tourism. 83 Between the energy, fishing, shrimping, and tourism industries, the Gulf region lost an estimated 250,000 jobs in 2010 (Feinberg, 2011).
The Deep Water Horizon oil spill is also called Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Deep water oil exploration is simply the process by which companies drill for oil in deep sea. On the other hand, an environmental disaster can be defined as an occurrence which arises either due to natural calamity or anthropogenic initiated disaster which results in a negative or disastrous influence upon the natural environment (Harrington, 2010).
Occasionally, environmental disasters change the physical environment so much that the damage to the ecosystem is irreversible. Some disasters caused by natural climate or weather include wild fires, floods, earth quakes, droughts to mention but a few. In most cases however, environmental disasters are caused by human error, accident or simply incompetence. Some of these include oil spills, chemical spills as well as nuclear incidents and these have longer lasting effects on the environment than catastrophes brought on by natural events (Chriszt and Hammill, 2010).
Crude oil is an organic compound that is comprised of numerous hydrocarbons as well as other certain nitrogen heterocyclic compounds. Majority of these compounds have been reported as contaminants and carcinogens. They tend to be explosive in nature and are consequently soluble in water. Their properties permit them to interchange as well as to dissolve into water because of physical forces of the waves and current pull. Due to the oil properties mentioned above and the addition of coexisting compound to the crude oil, the dispersant added to the oil changes in density and sinks towards the bottom. When oil droplets descend, they affect countless of the gulfs inhabitants and also cause the death of vegetation (D’Andrea etal, 2014).
Amongst the water creatures, the seabirds as well as the fish are the most vulnerable to oils. Once oiled, a bird’s natural instinct to clean itself is lowered causing it to ingest oils resulting into very serious health effects such as congested lungs, intestinal hemorrhage, liver damage to mention but a few. On the other hand, fish breathe by passing oxygen rich water across their grills. When oil polluted water comes into contact with their grills, contaminants begin to enter the bloodstream and are delivered to other body parts which can harm or kill them. After the oil spill in 2010, numerous fishermen reported seeing sores on offshore fish species (D’Andrea etal, 2014).
Janke (2014) suggests that pregnant women, infants as well as children are at higher risk of adverse health impacts as a result of pollution. It was discovered that the oil spill decreased the air quality, increased incidence of low birth weight as well as prematurely born infants. Prenatal exposure to pollution has long term impacts because there is a relationship between birth weight and cognitive development. Low birth weight negatively affects educational attainment, reducing developmental outcomes while increasing the likelihood of repeating grades.
The deep-water Horizon oil spill has instigated several significant socioeconomic problems to the Gulf of Mexico economic industry .It disturbed the ecosystem in that many industries in America depended on it in order to operate their various businesses. The Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank acknowledged that approximately 130,000 jobs would be lost as a result of the oil spill. These included fishing, forestry, recreation accommodation as well as food. (Chriszt and Hammil, 2010). Some of these included fisheries, resorts, shipping as several others. At most basic level, the environment and trade are linked because all economic activities are based on the environment. Furthermore, trade generates the capital that would be used to improve human wel(lbeing and enhance the environment as a whole.
It is important to take into account that commercial fisheries in the gulf had a large quantity of fishing skiffs that game fishermen would rent with the goal of catching large fish offshore. It is sad to note that majority of the businesses which were operating with packed programs, were now incapable to keep their doors open due to the fact that business had gone down drastically. Jefferson (2011) states that as soon as oil spill arose business had to drop down over twenty percent for the businesses and as time went by, business had gone down even more since all the people thought that a large quantity of the fish population had died off from the oil pollution.
Another significant economic effect of the Gulf being harmed is that there could be even long term issues triggered in other fisheries up and down east coast. The majority of fishing industries rely on the Gulf Stream in order to get their large fish. So if the waters were polluted and moved up to the east coast it might wipe out those state fishing industries as well. Many of the people that are affected in the gulf may be unable to get other jobs back or even get compensation from the British Petroleum for their lose. This truly has negative impacts on the economy as many people were laid off due to the fact that their services are no longer needed until the waters are restored to their natural way. Furthermore, some of these undesirable effects originated from the increased use in certain facilities that are necessary for the clean-up and also the restoration on wild life (Chriszt and Hammill, 2010).
Despite the fact that the majority of people that had participated in the cleaning up efforts are suffering from health problems due to the breathing the toxic petroleum fumes. A large pay out came from different government agencies for instance the Department of Environmental Protection who paid out 29 million just to cleanup teams and industries as well as associations all came together and funded the cleaning up project. The stated activities resulted into the status of the economy performance of the United States of America and of Mexico to go down (Jefferson, 2011).
A marketing research company commission by Louisiana Seafood Promotion Board conducted a study after the oil spill and showed that the majority of customers that were questioned expressed some level of concern about safety of seafood. The majority of customers reduced their consumption of seafood (Juan, 2010). It is like that desire to eat seafood has reduced because of changes in consumer perception related to the spill.
The rental businesses were all starting to see their books filling up until the oil spill happened and just as fast as the rentals were being booked they started getting canceled. This decline in vacationers has impacted on the economy of the Gulf in that many are dependent on it for survival. Jefferson (2011), explains that the spill tragedy caused a decline in the amount of houses being bought in the Gulf region.
This is because many people are no longer for the idea of buying vacation houses in the area. The decline in housing sales has also resulted in a drop in the actual property values of the homes that are located around the Gulf. This makes it difficult to those that no longer want to stay in that area to move as they will lose out on their initial investment for the house also contributing to the less performance of the economy as the driving wheel of this factor was neglected due to the oil pollution in the gulf region.
In conclusion, an environmental disaster involves great loss, life forms, and cause injuries. Because of these tragedies, the Deep-water Horizon was referred to as a disaster. Some of the environmental impacts that this occurrence brought are water pollution, air pollution, visual pollution, coral reef degradation and death of many aquatic living organisms. On the other hand, the economic impacts include lost employment, loss of tourism industry, loss of marine trade and loss of other properties worth million dollars.




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