Sand Berms: Analysis and Evaluation
Source: Santa Aguila Foundation
Oil use and spillage general information
Every year in the United States, 100 million gallons of oil spill into the environment. The biggest spill ever occurred during the 1991 Persian Gulf War when about 240 million gallons spilled from oil terminals and tankers off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Even all the oil spilled during the Persian Gulf spill is only about 1/3 of what the United States consumes in a single day. The United States uses 710 million gallons of oil per day. Every 22 minutes, the United States consumes what spilled in the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska (11 million gallons). The world as a whole consumes 2.73 billion gallons per day. 31.5 billion gallons of oil are transported by sea every day (Oil Spill Intelligence Report).
What happens to oil when it spills?
The most effective technique in stopping oil spills is prevention. It is simply better and less expensive to spend more initially then to pay later for the costs of having an oil spill. Exxon Mobil says that it spends approximately $50 million per year on oil spill response activities, BP says that it spent “$29 million over three years on safer drilling operations research” and BP “supports oil spill response organizations” rather than researching oil spill responses itself. The main organization that BP supports says that it spends approximately $88 million per year ( Le & Flesher).
Some prevention techniques:
Every year in the United States, 100 million gallons of oil spill into the environment. The biggest spill ever occurred during the 1991 Persian Gulf War when about 240 million gallons spilled from oil terminals and tankers off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Even all the oil spilled during the Persian Gulf spill is only about 1/3 of what the United States consumes in a single day. The United States uses 710 million gallons of oil per day. Every 22 minutes, the United States consumes what spilled in the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska (11 million gallons). The world as a whole consumes 2.73 billion gallons per day. 31.5 billion gallons of oil are transported by sea every day (Oil Spill Intelligence Report).
What happens to oil when it spills?
- Oil generally floats because it is lighter than water
- 30-40% evaporates in the first 24-48 hours; these are the most poisonous (toxic) portions, as well as the portions that are the most soluble, and flammable (Oil Spill Intelligence Report)
- Oil can coat sea life and sea shores far from where it spilled and kill the plants and animals that it touches
- Sub-sea oil “plumes” can deoxygenate waters causing mass die-offs of organisms in the area
The most effective technique in stopping oil spills is prevention. It is simply better and less expensive to spend more initially then to pay later for the costs of having an oil spill. Exxon Mobil says that it spends approximately $50 million per year on oil spill response activities, BP says that it spent “$29 million over three years on safer drilling operations research” and BP “supports oil spill response organizations” rather than researching oil spill responses itself. The main organization that BP supports says that it spends approximately $88 million per year ( Le & Flesher).
Some prevention techniques:
- Improved piloting and training of ship and tanker crews
- Training of storage and pipeline facility crews
- Enforcement pollution rules at sea
- Building more spill-resistant vessels
- Maintaining vessels and pipelines
- Preparing for spill response through effective training, planning (contingency planning), and practice drills.
2010 Sand Berm Timeline:
Source: (Wall Street Journal, Coastal Care)
Source: (Wall Street Journal, Coastal Care)
Sand Berms in the News
A quick video segment on the sand berms from CNN Anderson Cooper.
Source: CNN
Copyright, 2010 Coastal Environments Class, Kyle Baldwin, Nicholis Jones, Kyle Ribeiro, Constantin Sullivan, Dr. Gaytha Langlois, Bryant University (Smithfield, RI)
