OIL SPILL TEACHER INFO
Oil Spill Background
We use gasoline to keep our cars running, oil to heat our homes in the winter, and coal to cook a barbecue in the summer.
> Fossil Fuels provide the energy needed to complete these tasks.
Defining Fossil Fuels:
a natural fuel (such as coal, oil, or natural gas) formed in the earth in the geological past from plant and or animal remains
Where do we get oil from?
1
Offshore drilling
2
Drilling on land
An explosion on April 20, 2010, aboard the Deepwater Horizon, an offshore drilling rig working on a well for the oil company BP one
mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, led to the largest oil spill in history.
Statistics3
4.9 million: Barrels of oil (205.8 million gallons) leaked from the Deepwater Horizon well, about half the amount of crude oil the
U.S. imports per day
19: Times more oil leaked from Deepwater Horizon than spilled from the Exxon Valdez in 1989 (10.8 million gallons)
*62,000: Barrels leaking per day when the wellhead first broke, roughly the amount of oil consumed in Delaware each day
*53,000: Barrels leaking per day when the well was capped on July 15, roughly the amount of oil consumed in Rhode Island each
day
397.7 million: Dollars' worth of the oil spilled at current market prices ($81.17 per barrel)
665: Miles of coastline contaminated by oil
Putting it into Perspective4
184,181: Times you could drive a Toyota Prius (48 mpg highway) around the Earth at the equator using the lost oil
69,068: Times you could drive a Hummer H3 (18 mpg highway) around the Earth
311: Olympic-size swimming pools that could be filled with the oil that leaked from Deepwater Horizon
13,208: Homes that could have been heated for one year (approximately 2 gallons of heating oil are produced from one barrel,
with an average American household using 742 gallons per year)
Cleanup Methods
Teams of scientists and engineers developed many different techniques and procedures used to clean up the oil spill.
 Booms and Skimmers*
 Manual/Mechanical Cleanup
 Oil Eating Mushrooms
(shovels, trucks on shore)*
 Chemical Surface
Dispersants*
 Natural Recovery
 Controlled Burns*
 Water-Oil Separating Devices
 Sorbent Materials
 Gelling Agents
 Vacuum/pumping*
 Biological Agents (help
decompose soil faster)
 Vegetation Cutting
 Hay
 Low-Pressure Flush
*methods actually used by BP
Chemical, Mechanical, Civil, Environmental, Industrial, and Electrical engineers worked together to devise
strategies to remove the oil from the water and the shore.
Preventing Oil Spills
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Government agency that carries out federal laws concerning oil spills, including requirements designed
to prevent spills.
 The EPA requires that facilities that consume oil in significant quantities must have fully
prepared plans to prevent oil spills from reaching natural surface waters.
 The EPA places similar requirements on oil tankers and off shore oil production systems.
Oil Pollution Act
Emergency Response Plans: The law says that the owners of the tanker must have detailed plan on what
they will do if there is a spill. They must have this plan written before any spill occurs.
Double Hulls: The law says that all ships in the United States are required to have a double hull by 2015.
Liability: The law says that the owners of a boat that spills oil will have to pay $1,200 for every ton of oil
they spill.
Spill Fund: The law says that the government has money from companies that tranporst the oil so when
a spill occurs, the government can pay for the clean-up.
Navigation: The Coast Guard must know where the oil tankers can drive without an oil spill occurring.

Many regulations and mechanisms may be in place to prevent oil spills, however it is up to the
employees to take appropriate, corrective action.
Some of the mechanisms that are in place:



Pipelines employ computers, electromagnetic instruments, and ultrasonic devices to detect
weak spots so they can be repaired before a leak develops.
Marine terminals and vessels are being designed differently -- tankers, for example, are being
built with double hulls.
And storage tanks are constructed of special materials to withstand corrosion.
Prevention, however, is not just the job of industry; consumers also play an important role in keeping oil
and other fuels out of the environment by observing proper handling and disposal practices.
1. http://hailetsa.manateeschools.net/design_brief/pre_spill.html
2. http://www.pesa.com.au/publications/pesa_news/aug_06/pesanews_8346.html
3. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/coal-oil-gas/bp-oil-spill-statistics
4. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/coal-oil-gas/bp-oil-spill-statistics
5. http://www.cnbc.com/id/37593652/17_Ways_To_Clean_Up_The_Gulf_Oil_Spill
6. http://www.oilspillinfo.org/prevention/overview.html