By May 27, 2010, Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon, said in testimony before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee that it was defendant in 120 lawsuits, of which more than 80 were class actions seeking payment for financial losses covered by the Oil Spill Pollution Act. This view is supported by field observations of new shoots appearing in heavily oiled marshes 1 yr following the spill. Assessing impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico Date: July 10, 2013 Source: National Academy of Sciences Summary: … At the time, it was the largest single oil spill to happen in U.S. coastal waters. The BP oil spill began when the Deepwater Horizon rig suffered an explosion on April 20, 2010. The tribe sits about a four hour ferry ride from Prince Rupert, a port city and the nearest major town. During survey work, she found the stress levels were equally high, in part because they had seen what had happened during Exxon Valdez. Liesel Ritchie, Oklahoma State University Center for the Study of Disasters and Extreme Events, presented an overview of social science research on community impacts of marine oil spills. This paper reports the first attempt to use multi-year passive acoustic data to study the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the population of endangered sperm whales. However, other species and areas are not showing the same kind of promise. We will not use the email for anything other than notifying you of blog activity, and it will not be displayed with your comment. Litigation commenced almost immediately after the explosion and oil spill. “There’s nothing you can control with natural disasters, but with a technological disaster we have this notion of ‘We thought we had things under control, we thought we had the technology we needed to make things safe.’ But instead we see we have beliefs about a loss of control,” Ritchie said. Crude oil, spilled over 87 days, impacted 687 miles of Gulf coast wetlands. Abstract. The following publication highlights some examples of the way species were affected by the spill. The explosion claimed 11 lives, and the underwater blowout that followed released a massive volume of crude oil into the ocean. Fig. Ritchie’s research into the social effects of oil spills from both Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon, as well as her social impact assessment work for the Gitga’at, have continued to inform other communities how best to prepare for oil spills — at both a physical and psychosocial level. Deepwater Horizon: Another Year Gone By, What’s Changed? <>>> “It was still that close to them emotionally. Links in this Twitter Feed may take you to sites that are not hosted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. For 87 consecutive days, the Macondo well continuously released crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Ritchie’s research into the social effects of oil spills from both Exxon Valdez and Deepwater Horizon, as well as her social impact assessment work for the Gitga’at, have continued to inform other communities how best to prepare for oil spills — at both a physical and psychosocial level. There is some hope though. Abstract. 4.9 million barrels Photo: http://static.businessinsider.c om/image/4bdae57c7f8b9a1 c32140300-590-/.jpg 3 The community of Cordova, where Ritchie spent the majority of her time, was not hit directly by the oil from Exxon Valdez. - "Projected Impact of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on U.S. Gulf Coast Wetlands" 1 0 obj They see themselves as keepers of the land and water, for themselves, their children, their grandchildren, and future generations.”. 1. This paper reports the first attempt to use multi-year passive acoustic data to study the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the population of endangered sperm whales. Deepwater Horizon oil spill impacts on Alabama beaches J. S. Hayworth1, T. P. Clement1, and J. F. Valentine2 1Department of Civil Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA 2Department of Marine Sciences, University of South Alabama, Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory, Alabama, USA Received: 14 June 2011 – Published in Hydrol. Immediately following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the National Center for Disaster Preparedness surveyed households in highly-affected Louisiana areas to track the event’s health and social impacts.. She and her team had just begun wrapping up their work in Alaska when Deepwater Horizon happened. 4 0 obj In its first month, BP spilled 30 million gallons of oil into the Gulf, three times the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Please provide comments that are relevant to the topic. We appreciate your interest and welcome your feedback to our posts. Contact Us | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Website Satisfaction Survey | Information Quality | Accessibility | FOIA, Website owner: Office of Response and Restoration | NOAA's Ocean Service | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | US Department of Commerce | USA.gov, By Alyssa Gray, Office of Response and Restoration. <> The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly. <>/XObject<>/Font<>/Pattern<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 720 540] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> Tests on edible seafood caught in that area do not show excess hydrocarbons in the food supply in the region. Oil is a valuable resource, and we have to consider its expansion possibilities until the source dies. For more information, you can view the presentations given by Liesel Ritchie and other scientists from the Sea Grant workshop here. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill response and clean-up (OSRC) involved over 9000 large and small vessels deployed in waters of the Gulf of Mexico across four states (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi). Researchers continued to find severe impacts on deep-sea life. People and Pollution: The Social Impacts Oil Spills Have at a Community Level, Regional priority setting for health, social, and economic disruption from spills, Oiled Birds and Dawn Dish Soap: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Cleaning and Rescuing Oiled Wildlife. Ritchie and her team were contacted by the Gitga’at First Nation in British Columbia, Canada. Ritchie said that for communities in Alaska, seeing coverage of the 2010 spill was like experiencing Exxon Valdez all over again. On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded into fire in the northern Gulf of Mexico, approximately 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The project would have drastically changed the viewscape for the tribe — turning a fairly quiet, scenic area into a crossing for supertankers. “But the regional setting can make a difference … I think that the dependence of folks on oil in Cordova [Alaska] was so much less than what we saw in the Gulf Coast, where business owners and people relied on oil and the oil industry for jobs, which also left them more vulnerable in some ways. Even though there were harmful impacts resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, prior research has demonstrated that Gulf Coast marshes are resilient and can recover. These included oil sensitivity studies conducted on organisms throughout the food web that were affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill in the salt marshes of Louisiana. They can also cause physical, mental, and financial stress to people as individuals. People were also impacted by a constant influx of outsiders — responders, media, officials, scientists, and researchers were all converging on the scene. Ritchie has since worked on several other major spills, including Deepwater Horizon, which is at present the largest oil spill in U.S. history. There was 24/7 coverage of the oil still gushing out and they just couldn’t handle it.”. endobj But even at a larger social level, like a community, oil spills can threaten the order of things. The passageways where oil would have been transported were treacherous and highly risk averse. Traveling to Prince Rupert takes the better part of a day. “Animal noises, bird noises, marine animal noises … if you didn’t live there you wouldn’t notice it was missing.”. “They rely very heavily on that not only for their food, but also their culture, their way of life, their rituals. Lines and paragraphs break automatically. Surface oil and coastal impacts received considerable attention, but the far larger oil spill in the deep ocean and its effects received considerably less examination. “It was very touching and heart breaking going there to Alaska and seeing how deeply the people were affected. The largest closure occurred on June 2, 2010, during which nearly 37 percent of the fishable waters under federal management in the Gulf of Mexico. the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill’s impact. “They [the Gitga’at] are a very heavily subsistence-oriented people, but they don’t use that word, they find and refer to their lifestyle as one of being rich in natural resources, and that they thrive in the context of harvesting those resources,” Ritchie said. The Deepwater Horizon spill is one of the largest environmental disasters with extensive impacts on the economic and ecological health of the Gulf of Mexico. Deepwater Horizon Disaster •Explosion on April 20, 2010 – 11 killed, 17 seriously injured; Survivors face testimony, stress-related effects •Spill capped August 4, 2010– est. Oysters in many areas of the gulf are returning. Ritchie was part of the team that started studying social impacts during Exxon Valdez — the tanker that grounded on Bligh Reef in Alaska in 1989, spilling nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound. With human-caused disasters, Ritchie adds, there’s a “loss of control” that people experience. Thu 13 Feb 2020 12.27 EST 961 The environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico a decade ago was much worse … The Gitga’at were concerned about a proposed pipeline project, the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines, which would have brought increased maritime and ground transportation to the the area. If you want notification when others comment on this topic, please provide your email. In interviews with community members, Ritchie discovered on overall sense that the people were tired and wanted to move on but that it wouldn’t be until the litigation was complete that they would finally have closure. For many, the litigation and compensation process was equally as disruptive as the oil spill itself. A deep-sea crab crawling along the Deepwater Horizon spill site disturbs oily sediments. Of the 126 workers at the site that day, 11 were killed by the blast. Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill The Context Before the occurrence of the Deepwater Horizon event, BP had already been labelled as having a horrible safety record. Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Salt Marsh Periwinkles (Littoraria irrorata) Scott Zengel,*,† Clay L. Montague,‡ Steven C. Pennings,§ Sean P. Powers,∥ Marla Steinhoff,⊥ Gail Fricano,# Claire Schlemme,# Mengni Zhang,¶ Jacob Oehrig,¶ Zachary Nixon,@ Shahrokh Rouhani,¶ and Jacqueline Michel@ †Research Planning, Inc. (RPI), Tallahassee, Florida 32303, United States Two days later it sank. The long-term ecological impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) are compared to two extensively studied and more recent large spills: Deepwater Horizon (DWH) and the Hebei Spirit oil spill (HSOS). Ritchie noted that when it comes to psychosocial stress — the interrelation between social factors and individual thought and behavior — the more deliberate an act is, the more time the effect will last. %PDF-1.5 A divide was created between those who were able to get contracts to work on the cleanup, and those who didn’t. Aside from BP, there were numerous stakeholders that were impacted as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. To name a few, you could begin with; the oil rig workers and their families, the environment, the fishing industry, the oil industry, marine wildlife, and the tourism industry. Oil spills can damage the environment and the wildlife and marine life that depend on it. Provide your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Prior to the spill the Littoral Acoustic Demonstration Center (LADC) collected acoustic recordings near the spill site in 2007. Ritchie said there were some who were extremely active in the process of compensation and litigation, but that others simply couldn’t handle the stress of experiencing the trauma again and again for the purpose of documenting it. Each of the three spills differed in magnitude and duration of oil released, environmental conditions, ecological communities, response and clean up measures, and ecological recovery. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill was the largest in US history and its harm to wildlife, including sea turtles, captured the attention of the world [ 5 ]. The fishing industry in the area has seen their catches return to normal levels. It was like a sort of PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder],” Ritchie said. x��VMo�F����2�V��$�%�uP�I�@��RXPd*Rq�_ߙ�>(Yr}(�L���7ov�=������tt7�� ܌G�G�'@p!�TJx�J�5�Y���+(�����²��$,��B8)�Q��U����C@��J�)\.�=�nH��>�/MP���h�n��A�{��h);+�L��hϑ���*�c���*]f��_(k�u�YkA�MB���"�p���W�AX�-^�w�^��;���c��H�w���\��&�@gF�vFn��t�܈��S���Knqe���P���7xx��M��0��\K0t��-���fټ�!��ZP “One gentleman in particular told me he made a bonfire out of the dozens of file boxes he had after the settlement went through,” Ritchie said. 2 0 obj <> Effects of South Louisiana crude oil on gross fi xation of CO2C by smooth cordgrass (Spartina alternifl ora Loisel.) “What people described most was the silence,” Ritchie said. In a Sea Grant workshop last year, as part of the series “Regional priority setting for health, social, and economic disruption from spills,” community members, emergency responders, and researchers gathered to discuss the physical, mental, social, economic, cultural, and spiritual impacts from oil spills. The process involved a lot of paperwork, and repetitive efforts to document, over time, the impacts people were experiencing. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been described as the worst environmental disaster in the United States, releasing about 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gal; 780,000 m ) of crude oil making it the largest marine oil spill. Ritchie said the most important thing for communities to keep in mind when they’re concerned about a risk of marine pollution is that they shouldn’t get complacent about preparedness and response activities. Both the spill and the cleanup efforts had effects on the environment. stream 3 0 obj The environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is still evident a decade later. Labor Market Impacts of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Off shore Drilling Momentum By Joseph E. Aldy (Harvard Kennedy School) Introduction On April 20, 2010, the Transocean Deepwater Horizon suffered a catastrophic blowout while drilling in a BP lease in the Gulf of Mexico’s Macondo Prospect. Knowing how oil and dispersants might affect fisheries can help natural resource managers maintain healthy Gulf of Mexico ecosystems and protect the livelihoods of the people who depend on them. 20 Apr. *Signifi cant differences between treatments at the 0.05 level (redrawn from DeLaune et al., 2003). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As a sociologist specializing in human-caused disaster events, Ritchie has listened to communities over the years that have firsthand experience dealing with the impacts of oil spills. for 1+3, enter 4. Approximately 90% of the volume of the Gulf of Mexico is contained in water deeper than 200 m, a region where the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) blowout had more impact on … An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil rig in 2010 lead to the largest marine oil spill to occur in US history, resulting in significant impacts to the ecosystems and organisms in the Northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM). at different times after complete plant oiling (fi eld evaluation, n = 4). In a community such as the Gitga’at, Ritchie said an oil spill or other tanker event could wipe out the community entirely. ;���b�@�r��8��h��*?��93�'f��v������ Ѿq����2(c��zSG�5yy�R�%�I�ʏ�cu�|� Y��f`�u��V�^��U�ե�T{��q��t �~��6�k�bi����q��b3r�ժF�i�O�6y��e�H����i��`���K=8M�?���͙�9�%ѣ}��_�i��ĭ���!�;X��f���2��y����IIMk�����v-�ϯ������T�3���L���9��5>o��m�N;�b+��frW�. E.g. The tribe was concerned about how this project could impact their way of life, and requested a social impact assessment. The numerical declines were staggering within the first few months; forams (↓80–93%), copepods (↓64%), meiofauna (↓38%), … 4_2g���H�bRIɲ�i�}9�D�=���Z�EJ����y�Y��yQ`U �h�Y�ҵ��n���-��w�i�CD+�EG��V�2o��*���� ��I�����X�/�R-�1�89��fD��|Nī�c��'Ͻ���$(#�I�EZ��M㿧m���:�p�$��G-�.ms�=|�6M�.a^�y( ���w` ! The site with top-notch information is a good idea. 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