Preview

Oil Drilling

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1496 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Oil Drilling
Oil Drilling Have you ever seen an animal covered in sludge, helpless and weak? Offshore oil drilling is one of our world’s biggest concerns. Offshore oil drilling is the discovery of finding oil or gasoline resources underwater. Usually the oil is found off the coasts of each continent and can also be found in lakes and small seas. Drilling for oil provides the energy to make fuels for cars and other machinery. Many different platforms can be used for offshore oil drilling such as drill ships, jack up barges, steel jackets, and semi-submersibles for deeper water areas. The issue at hand is that oil drilling can lead to oil spills into oceans, seas, and lakes and can harm the environment. Barge collisions, explosions, leaks, spills, and pipeline corrosion are all key factors in the harmful effects of oil drilling. Drilling leads to pollution in the environment and kills many organisms and aquatic animals. Animals play a key role in society, especially the marine animals. Long term effects create damage to the food chain, fisheries, health, the ecosystem balance, and enjoyment of nature. Oil spills harm the lives of marine life and the federal government allows them to be killed during gas and oil drilling. When explosives are used to remove the oil rigs, pipelines can be demolished the oil will spill everywhere. Aquatic life is endangered around these oil rigs and causes many hatchlings not to be brought into the world. Sea turtles are attracted to bright lights and if the oil rig has created an explosion, they will head toward that direction, endangering their own lives for vicious predators along the way. Not only is marine life affected, but birds. Many types of birds are endangered as well like ducks, seagulls, and pelicans. If the ocean is polluted with toxic oil and they decide to swim in it, all the oil will get stuck on their feathers not allowing them to fly. Oil drilling is dangerous and can lead to the extinction of many animals. The United States


Cited: Donatoni, Matthew. "Offshore Drilling." Santa Clara University : School of Engineering Home Page. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. <http://cseserv.engr.scu.edu/StudentWebPages/MDonatoni/ResearchPaper.htm>. Nelson, Hal T. "Should the US Cancel Plans for Offshore Drilling? (PROs vs CONs)." Latest Articles. 1 June 2010. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. <http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2525743/posts>. Jazeera, Al. "Obama Permits Offshore Oil Drilling - Business - Al Jazeera English." AJE - Al Jazeera English. 1 Apr. 2010. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. <http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2010/03/201033118235692566.html>. Szumski, Bonnie. Oil. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven, 2006. Print

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The recent explosion, deaths, and environmental impact of the deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico brought the question of drilling platform safety to the forefront of the news, continuing to do so over two years later. The disaster is one of the more recent events and “is the largest marine oil spill in history” (Cleveland, 2013).…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When waste is spilled into the ocean it spreads throughout the water harming marine life and their habitat. It can affect their hearing, changes in their behavior and can even cause physical injuring or death. Much of the marine life is threatened by extinction. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has threatens our planet with environmental damage. Oil spills like this fill the air with toxins that raise concern for many health problems. When oil is recovered from the ocean floor chemicals and toxins come to the surface, which are the released into the air. This is a growing concern and should not be dismissed.…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    "Senate Rejects Arctic Refuge Drilling Amendment." U.S. PIRG Online Newsroom 18 April 2002. Online. Internet. 19 April 2002. Available http://uspirg.org/uspirgnewsroom.asp…

    • 2553 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hydraulic Fracking

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Petroleum, natural gas, oil…do we really need them? These products power so many things today that humankind “depends” on. Machines in factories, automobiles, and an abundance of other electronics are fueled by the result of hydraulic fracking. Hydraulic fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is used among companies that drill underground for oil and natural gas. The drillers inject millions of gallons of water, sand, salts and chemicals—some being very toxic to humans—into rock formations at extremely high pressure. This fractures the rock and extracts the fuel from underground, giving the companies what they need without harming themselves in any way. Hydraulic fracking is undoubtedly one of the most controversial topics that environmentalists discuss. Researchers are uncovering what companies have hidden, just how dangerous is this process? Three factors that are being looked into are: how does this oil extracting technique affect people around the drills, what are the positives and the negatives of the fracking, and what is being done by people and companies to stop hydraulic fracking or make is safer.…

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Baird S.L (2008, Novemeber). Offshore oil drilling: buying energy independence or buying time? Technology Teacher, 68(3), 13-17.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The no argument explains the affects from offshore drilling to our marine environment due to quick influx and concentration of oil during a spill. An example is plants and animals that become coated in oil perish from mechanical smothering as well as birds dying from hypothermia because their feathers lose their waterproofing.…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Domestic Oil Drilling

    • 1695 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Nixon, Robin. "Oil Drilling: Risks and Rewards | LiveScience." Live Science. 25 June 2008. Web. 06 Feb. 2012. <http://www.livescience.com/4979-oil-drilling-risks-rewards.html>.…

    • 1695 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Offshore drilling began in 1847, in approximately fifty feet of ocean water on top of wooden piers. Since then we have went from having a rig on a wooden piers and a platform 200 – 300 feet in the water to, having drilling rigs that can walk themselves and drill at a curve. Within that timeline discoveries of both good and bad, devastating and innovative have been made on the subject of drilling oil in the middle of the ocean. Offshore drilling has been the cause of many ocean life deaths and contaminations and the processes used to find and or retrieve oil have been known to cause disruptions in the ocean marine life. But I am…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Arctic Oil Drilling

    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Gas prices are increasing roughly every month or so as a result of the scarcity of oil. Some people just shrug the price increase off and cope with it, but the economic effect is far greater than it first appears. As the price of oil increases, so does the price of all other products that are transported. There is, however, an opportunity for the United States to increase the supply of available crude oil by drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The idea of drilling in the Arctic has been controversial and to the present day is still being debated. The United States’ need to determine whether drilling in the Arctic will be a worthwhile consideration, or if there are not sufficient benefits to counteract the harmful possibilities drilling possesses.…

    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oil Drilling in Alaska

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The president opposing this idea from the last few years is Barack Obama. He thought that the drilling would permanently…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Offshore Oil Drilling

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Offshore oil drilling is slowly destroying our environment. Over the past few years following the tragic oil spill in the gulf,…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Oil Spill Paper

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Oil pollution hurts the marine environment. It is a poison to the wildlife. The oil can smother the animal, it can get in their digestive system and kill them, or it can even mess with their reproductive system and behavior. If oil were to get on the body or wings of a bird, it could make them drown because the oil is too heavy for them to fly.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The effects of offshore drilling can be disastrous. My first concern is whether it is ethically right to drill off shore knowing that the effects are harmful to the marine ecosystem. Just from drilling alone (without spillage) we are polluting…

    • 561 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Offshore drilling also known as Seaward boring is a topic that has brought controversy for a few decades, the drilling in United States coast has been detrimental in helping the economy and political stand in the country; however this process is extremely dangerous to the environment, individuals and animals, Case in point, the oil slick in the Gulf a couple of years prior significantly harmed nature and marine life…

    • 1272 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Petroleum Essay

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The environmental impacts associated with extracting and transporting petroleum can affect fragile ecosystems. However, oil companies continue to develop new techniques and recovery methods, which reduce the amount of land affected.…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays