|
Marine Scientists Urge Government to Reassess Oil Spill Response Apr 24, 2012 On the second anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon blowout, anational panel of researchers including University of Georgiamarine scientist Samantha Joye is urging the federal government toreassess how it would respond to similar oil spills that mightoccur in the future. The 22 researchers, whose paper was published in the peer-reviewedjournal Bioscience , noted that the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill was unlike anyother oil spill encountered previously. Although the well blowoutoccurred at unprecedented depths and released enormous quantitiesof oil (an estimated 4.9 million barrels or 206 million gallons),the response to cleanup and contain the oil followed a frameworkthat assumed the oil's behavior would mimic previous shallow-waterand surface spills. In addition to creating a new model for understanding how deepwater oil spills occur, the authors argue for an increase inimmediately accessible research funding following oil spills sothat society can be better prepared to respond to future spills,should they occur. They also noted that the requirement of thefederal Natural Resource Damage Assessment Process that requirescooperative decision-making between the government and theresponsible party and mutual approvals of research studies slowsdown the process and limits the scope of studies that areconducted. "So many aspects of this oil spill were unique-that it was anoffshore, deep-water blowout; that both methane and oil werereleased from the wellhead into the pelagic ocean; that dispersantswere used at both the sea surface and sea floor," said Joye, theAthletic Association Professor in the UGA Franklin College of Artsand Sciences. "Doing science in response to the spill was anincredible challenge, and what we learned during the response ledus all to the new spill response model that is described in ourpaper." The authors noted that the lack of a model for understandingdeep-water spills may have hindered initial work on this disasterand obscured understanding of what actually happened in the keyearly days. "The problem here is that scientific assessment wouldbe faster and more thorough if this were a familiar type of spill,"said the study's lead author, Charles "Pete" Peterson, a professorat University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, who has been deeplyinvolved in the study of Exxon Valdez environmental effects formore than two decades. "But this was a new type of spill. We nowhave a sense that the bulk of the impact was probably in themid-water and deep ocean. Who the heck knows what oil does to themid-water pelagic and deep-dwelling critters?" To create their new model, a group of scientists convened under theauspices of the National Center for Ecological Analysis andSynthesis in 2010, while the spill was still active, to synthesizeexisting knowledge to anticipate the potential ecotoxicologicaleffects of the spill. They highlighted major gaps in scientificunderstanding that must be addressed for society to successfullyconfront the modern oil spill in an age in which drilling has movedinto deeper water. "All our previous oil spill models were focused on the skin and theedge of the ocean. That was where everyone thought the action was,like it was for the Exxon Valdez," said co-author Sean Anderson, anassociate professor at California State University Channel Islands,"As the Deepwater Horizon spill unfolded, you would hear folkssaying things like 'we all know what happens when oil and watermix; the oil floats.' That wasn't the whole story. And thatoversimplification initially sent us down an incorrect path full ofassumptions and actions that were not the best possible use of ourtime and effort." This new model for how an oil spill unfolds and where the resultingecological impacts accrue emphasizes that the vast majority of theoil is retained at depth and, among other response actions, callsinto question the efficacy of dispersants. In the case of DeepwaterHorizon, hot oil and natural gas erupted from the seabed and wererapidly mixed and dispersed due to the physics of the pressurizedoil jetting from the tip of the wellbore. "Much of that oil never got to the surface, or ever could havegotten to the surface, calling into question the value ofdispersant use at depth," argues co-leader Gary Cherr, director ofthe UC Davis Bodega Marine Lab. "We have generally hailed the useof [chemical] dispersants as helpful, but really are basing this onthe fact we seemed to have kept oil from getting to the surface.The truth is much of this oil probably was staying at a depthindependent of the amount of surfactants we dumped into the ocean.And we dumped a lot of dispersants into the ocean, all toldapproximately one-third the global supply." The authors argue that had their newly-proposed oil spill modelbeen in use, responders would have proceeded in a different manner.And in those critical early weeks and months of the unfoldingspill, the response effort could have focused greater attention onthe ecological communities most in harm's way. As near shore, shallow-water oil reservoirs become depleted, thepetroleum industry has transferred the focus of its marineexploration and production activities to deep (greater than 305 m)and ultra-deep (greater than 500 m) reservoirs similar to the onein which the Deepwater Horizon disaster occurred. Yet the OuterContinental Shelf Lands Act explicitly excluded the central andwestern Gulf of Mexico from the otherwise universal requirement toproduce a development and production plan, which, the authorsargue, effectively allows deep-water drilling to proceed withoutthe need for a full assessment of risks. "Our hope is that this paper brings attention to the fact thatdeep-water oil spill response efforts must be extensively revisedso that we do not repeat the same mistakes and are better preparedto assess important ecological impacts from day one," Joye said. Additional authors include: Richard F. Ambrose, University ofCalifornia-Los Angeles; Shelly Anghera, Anchor QEA, L.P.; StevenBay, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project-Costa Mesa;Michael Blum, Caz M. Taylor, Douglas Meffert, Tulane University;Robert Condon, Sean P. Powers, Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Ala.; MontyGraham, Southern Mississippi University; Thomas A. Dean, CoastalResources Associates, Inc.; Michael Guzy, John Lambrinos, BruceMate, Oregon State University-Corvallis; and Stephanie Hampton,NCEAS. I am an expert from miniusbcarchargers.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Genuine HTC Car Charger , Samsung Galaxy S2 Chargers, Samsung Galaxy S2 Chargers,and more.
Related Articles -
China Genuine HTC Car Charger, Samsung Galaxy S2 Chargers,
|
