Environmental Consequences of Offshore Oil Drilling
Marina Heberer and Peter Prentiss 16 October 2008 ENVI 300
Areas of Effects
• • • • • • Air Pollution Water Pollution Destruction of Land Pre-drilling Seismic Testing Hazards Finished Projects Organism Impact
Air Pollution
• Every year, an average oil platform produces 214,000 pounds of air pollutants, including:
– – – – – 50 tons of nitrous oxides 13 tons of carbon monoxide 6 tons of sulfur oxides 5 tons of volatile organic hydrocarbons all precursors to smog, acid rain, global warming
Water Pollution
• Drill muds,drill cuttings, production formation water • BTEX: the collective name for benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylenes • volatile aromatic compounds found in discharges, and petroleum oils and its products • BTEX compounds are acutely toxic to aquatic organisms if contact is maintained • BTEX are generally neurotoxic to target organisms. • Benzene, in particular, has also been found to be carcinogenic to mammals and humans.”
Oil and gas operations dump more than 1 billion pounds of mercurycontaminated drilling fluids into the Gulf each year. Mercury levels in the sand around some Gulf rigs are three times higher than levels found at EPA Superfund sites where fishing is prohibited. Mercury levels in marine creatures living around these rigs are at least 25 times higher than in fish found elsewhere in the Gulf… A single production platform, which can drill 50-100 wells, discharges over 90,000 metric tons of drilling fluid and metal cuttings into the ocean. A single exploratory well dumps approximately 25,000 pounds of toxic metals into the ocean.
Concerns of hazardous discharges:
bioaccumulation that may lead to humans (ie radium from PFW taken up by marine organisms, bioconcentrates into marine food web)
accumulation of muds and drill cuttings on sea floor that may smother benthic and other marine organisms
organic hydrocarbon group, PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) are extremely harmful to marine life
found to cause life-cycle mutagenic damage to eggs of Pink salmon in the years following the Exxon Valdez oil spill at levels of only two parts per billion.
PLATFORM HAZARDS:
There have been 187 large oil spills on the OCS, each emitting more than 2100 gallons into the Gulf of Mexico, between 1981 and 2005
From 1995-2001, 32 explosions were reported to MMS (Mineral Management Services)…over half of these (65%) occurred during production operations. Equipment failure caused about 46 percent of the explosions, human error contributed to about 38 percent of the explosions, and the remainder resulted from other causes
Offshore pipelines and platforms spilled 1.8 million gallons of oil in US waters from 1990-1999…an average of almost 500 gallons a day.
MMS has shown a gradual increase in LOWC (Loss of Well Control) over the past seven years: 7 LOWC in the GOM during 2007, two of which caused surface flow of oil and two caused underground
ORGANISM IMPACT: BIRDS AND MAMMALS
Migratory and Seabirds:
hydrophobic nature of oil causes plumage to lose waterproofing, insulation and buoyancy, leading to death by hypothermia, exhaustion and starvation oil can be ingested or inhaled while preening feathers, and ingested while eating contaminated prey, causes reduced survival and lifetime reproductive success.
Birds have instinctual attraction to lights and flares of the platforms, causing them to circle and hover above the platforms for days, which leads to death by collision, impact, burning and starvation
Gulf of Mexico: more than 200,000 birds are die annually
Whales and Marine Mammals:
Seismic Testing: discharge of thousands of high-intensity blasts from powerful ―airguns‖, creating a strong shock wave through the ocean that pounds into the seabed, located and survey potential oil supplies
significant behavioral impacts of whales can occur due to seismic testing, has been proven to lead to stranding,and increased mortality in marine mammals as a result of hearing damage testing masks biologically significant sounds ie: communication and finding food, avoiding predators, finding mates
Vulnerability to Hurricanes
• Despite claims that platforms are minimally affected by hurricanes and severe weather, in 2005, 7 million gallons of oil were spilled during Hurricane Rita and Katrina
• Katrina: destroyed 115, damaged 52 and set 19 adrift • damaged 457 pipelines, bringing oil and wastes onshore
ONSHORE DAMAGE:
offshore drilling requires many forms of infrastructure on an onshore facility including: roads, docks, buildings, plants, etc.
these infrastructures can cause environmental degradation of coastal ecosystems, beach closures and pollution, •Onshore spills are the source of most of the pipeline spillage into U.S. waters—92 percent or more in each decade
ECONOMIC DAMAGE TO LOCAL TOURISM AND FISHERIES:
decrease in tourism of coastal towns:
•In 1979, a GOM oil spill off the coast of Texas caused tar balls to wash up on local beaches, causing a 60% decrease in the states tourism • communities are forced to sacrifice the natural beaches and coastlines for big oil refineries...Florida’s tourist economy brings in $50 billion annually
fisheries economy: (Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences)
―Seismic shooting severely affected fish distribution, local abundance, and catch rates in the entire investigation area of 40 ´ 40 nautical miles. Trawl catches of cod and haddock and longline catches of haddock declined on average by about 50% (by mass) after shooting started…Reductions in catch rates were observed 18 nautical miles from the seismic shooting area (3 ´ 10 nautical miles), but the most pronounced reduction occurred within the shooting area, where trawl catches of both species and longline catches of haddock were reduced by about 70% and the longline catches of cod by 45%...‖
PCFFA (Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Association):
“Seismic Testing. The sound blasts kill small foraging fish and scare other fish off making fishing difficult
Loss of Fishing Grounds. Fishing grounds are lost to the placement of rigs and the ―safety zones‖ placed around rigs where fishing is prohibited. Moreover, debris left on the seafloor from offshore drilling operations can damage or destroy fishing gear Chronic Small Spills. Large major oil spills from rigs are relatively rare, however, chronic, unreported small spills are frequent that can foul fishing gear or taint the catch
Loss of Port Infrastructure. Offshore oil and gas operations often displace commercial fishing facilities (marinas, fish processing plants, ice houses, etc) making fishing operations difficult to conduct;
Contamination of Fish. Fish found around oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico have high concentrations of mercury and heavy metals, making these fish questionable for consumption. Much of the contamination is associated with the drill muds and their disposal on the seafloor near the rigs‖
ECONOMIC DRAWBACKS:
how will OCS drilling affect our economy? • According to the EIA (Energy Information Administration of US Govt): ―The
projections in the OCS access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030. Leasing would begin no sooner than 2012, and production would not be expected to start before 2017. Total domestic production of crude oil from 2012 through 2030 in the OCS access case is projected to be 1.6 percent higher than in the reference case” • ―Because oil prices are determined on the international market, any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant” • “Although a significant volume of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and natural gas resources is added in the OCS access case, conversion of those resources to production would require both time and money.‖
Alternatives to Offshore Drilling
―Spending all this effort to go after oil offshore for a few months supply makes no sense when we could be developing permanent renewable energy in the same time frame.‖ David Bitts, President of
PCFFA According to the US Dept of Energy, if the global consumption of renewable energy sources remains constant, the world's available fossil fuel reserves will be consumed in 104 years or early in the 22nd century wind, solar, more fuel efficient cars
Current US Energy Sources