The Battle for the North Sea Oil (2):

Evident Peril of Environmental Destruction

In the previous article, a discussion of political, economic conflict surrounding the North Sea oil was made; now, this article mainly aims to address the myriad dangers of environmental destruction that have become evident today in the region, primarily as an inevitable result of the oiling companies? greed-drive, careless attitude toward the natural environment of the North Sea.

It is quite inarguable that an oiling enterprise, especially in the middle of a vast ocean such as the North Sea, is a very complicated and challenging process; the oiling corporations often spend many years searching for and building a platform whose supportive structure is firmly fixed to the ocean floor and is capable of enduring massive weight of oiling machine. These metal pillars that penetrate the ocean floor for such purpose obviously destroy the habitat of many animal species that dwell on or beneath the ocean floor. Of course, pillars for one oiling platform still occupy relatively a small area compared to the vast area of the entire ocean floor, yet it must be noted that the metal alloys, which the pillars consists of, gradually rust when exposed to salt in water for a certain period of time. The rusty metals then release a considerable amount of harmful chemicals including heavy metal compounds, which slowly yet surely accumulate in bodies of various marine species. Known as a process called bio-magnification, the cumulative amount of these toxic chemicals eventually strike us the humanity back as we consume fish and clams. Unfortunately, the oiling companies mostly appear to be unknowledgeable, if not ignorant, of such long-term risk factors.

Another threat of environmental destruction intensified by extensive oiling would be constant danger of accident on the platform and entailing leakage of massive amount of unprocessed petroleum into the ocean. Many European corporations, fortunately enough, are known for complying with safety protocols well, so at least we can rest assured that a risk of man-made disaster is quite minimal at the moment. On the other hands, there also are some uncontrollable factors in the nature that can lead to dreadful crisis on operating platforms despite all risk-management mechanism prepared. A periodic rainstorm, for example, is very frequent in the North Sea, and retains capacity of completely wiping away an isolated platform. Such rainstorm not only consists of pouring rain and mighty wind, but also a wave of lightening that can strike the platform and cause an inextinguishable conflagration. If such is the case, the massive explosion of the oil tank on platform would contaminate a portion of the North Sea across several thousand kilometers, killing an uncountable number of marine species. Equally dangerous risk factor is periodic volcanic activities present on the ocean floor, as a mountain ridge of active underwater volcanoes stretch from Iceland to northern end of the North Sea. Volcanic eruption and release of magma underwater are almost impossible to detect as they occur so abruptly, and in such cases the oiling platform is surely doomed for complete disintegration.