Oil spills and remediation

Managing oil spills is a tough job, but science can help to some extent.

 Oil spills and remediation

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• Managing oil spills: Research showed that stimulating Bacteria (Bioremediation) with nutrients in the cold seawaters of the Canadian Arctic can help decompose diesel and Other Petroleum Oil after Oil Spills. Earlier in 2020, the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai developed an Eco-Friendly Crude Oil Bioremediation mechanism technology.
• What it is: An oil spill refers to any uncontrolled release of crude oil, gasoline, fuels, or other oil by-products into the environment. They can pollute land, air, or water, though it is mostly used for oceanic oil spills.
• Causes: Oil spills are a major environmental problem, chiefly as a result of intensified petroleum exploration and production on continental shelves and the transport of large amounts of oils in vessels. Those that happen in rivers, bays and the ocean most often are caused by accidents involving tankers, barges, pipelines, refineries, drilling rigs and storage facilities, but also occur from recreational boats and natural disasters.
• Environmental impact: There are many -

1. Threat to indigenous people - Oil pollution poses health hazards for the indigenous population who depend on seafood.
2. Harmful to aquatic life - Oil on ocean surfaces is harmful to many forms of aquatic life because it prevents sufficient amounts of sunlight from penetrating the surface, and it also reduces the level of dissolved oxygen.
3. Hypothermia - Crude oil ruins the insulating and waterproofing properties of feathers and fur of birds, and thus oil-coated birds and marine mammals may die from hypothermia (decrease in body temperature to below-normal levels).
4. Toxic - Ingested oil can be toxic to affected animals, and damage their habitat and reproductive rate.
5. Threat to mangroves -  Saltwater marshes and Mangroves frequently suffer from oil spills.
6. Economic impacts - It affects tourism, because if beaches and populated shorelines are fouled, tourism and commerce may be severely affected. It affects power plants, as they depend on drawing or discharging sea water are severely affected by oil spills. It affects fishing, as major oil spills are frequently followed by the immediate suspension of commercial fishing.

• Bioremediation: Bacteria can be used to clean up oil spills in the ocean through bioremediation. Specific bacteria can be used to bioremediate specific contaminants, such as hydrocarbons, which are present in oil and gasoline. Using bacteria such as Paraperlucidibaca, Cycloclasticus, Oleispira, Thalassolituus Zhongshania and some others can help remove several classes of contaminants.

1. Containment Booms - Floating barriers, called booms, are used to restrict the spread of oil and to allow for its recovery, removal, or dispersal.
2. Skimmers - They are devices used for physically separating spilled oil from the water’s surface.
3. Sorbents - Various sorbents (e.g., straw, volcanic ash, and shavings of polyester-derived plastic) that absorb the oil from the water are used.
4. Dispersing agents - These are chemicals that contain surfactants, or compounds that act to break liquid substances such as oil into small droplets. They accelerate its natural dispersion into the sea.

• Indian legal provisions: There is no law covering oil spill as such and its consequential environmental damage in India but India has “the National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan of 1996 (NOS-DCP)” to handle such situations. The document was issued by the Ministry of Defense in 1996; it was last updated in March 2006. It gives the Indian Coast Guard the mandate to coordinate with state departments, ministries, port authorities and environmental agencies to assist in oil spill cleaning operations. In 2015 India ratified the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, 2001 (Bunker Convention). Convention ensures adequate, prompt and effective compensation for damage caused by oil spills. It was administered by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
• Biggest oil spill: The largest accidental oil spill in history began in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, after a surge of natural gas blasted through a cement well cap that had been installed to seal a well drilled by the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. On April 20, 2010, the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon (located in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 41 miles (66 km) off the coast of Louisiana), operating in the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded and sank resulting in the death of 11 workers.
• Oil seeps: An oil seep is a natural leak of crude oil and gas that migrates up through the seafloor and ocean depths. Natural seeps release oil slowly over time, allowing ecosystems to adapt, whereas oil spills from human activities like commercial oil transport can quickly release oil in quantities that overwhelm an ecosystem.

 

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