Environmental Destruction Why does a site defending animals talk about environmental destruction? We don’t have a Planet B, right? To survive, humans and other animals must have a living planet, capable of sustaining life. Algae Bloom Dead Zones Fracking Disasters Oil Disasters 2016 Florida Algae Blooms from EcoWatch Algae blooms are a national problem. In recent years, we’ve seen them in water bodies as large as Lake Erie. There are a perennial problem near the mouth of the Mississippi River, where algae blooms strip oxygen from the water, creating a dead zone that threatens shrimp, fish, crabs and other marine life across a span of ocean the size of Connecticut in the rich fisheries of the Gulf of Mexico. They’re a growing threat to our environment and health. The immediate cause of the blooms can vary, but the common basics are these: Rains wash pollution from farms, septic tanks and other sources into our waters—from small streams and wetlands to great rivers and lakes—and municipal sewage systems add waste to these waters. These pollutants then supercharge the waters with nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. That feeds a population explosion for algae that feast on these nutrients. Warmer temperatures accelerate the growth. Algae blooms, though, are toxic. Cyanobacteria is what scientists call them and they can cause skin and respiratory ailments as well as gastrointestinal and liver illness. In large doses, they can even threaten the nervous system. Humans can be affected by coming in direct contact with the algae; swallowing water at the lake, river or ocean; or even breathing water spray in which algae are growing. Learn more from EcoWatch… Pictures are worth thousands of words… Photo credit: NY Times Photo credit: U.S. News Photo credit: Lee Herald Photo credit: NBC News Photo credit: Jeff Tucker Fracking Disasters Animated and interactive graphics describe the connection between oil and gas production and human-caused earthquakes at Scientific American. By Amanda Montañez on June 23, 2016 Scientific American illustrates fracking perils The idea that human activities can cause earthquakes, or so-called induced seismicity, has been around for some time, but demonstrating its role and pinpointing exactly how it happens can be difficult. The July issue of Scientific American features a story by Anna Kuchment on how wastewater injection from oil and gas operations has been triggering earthquakes in the central United States over the past several years. Kuchment tells the stories of people affected by this phenomenon and argues for regulation to combat the issue. However, when the narrative becomes more technical—as in, how does this geological phenomenon work?—an information graphic does much of the heavy lifting. In the illustration found at Scientific American by Bryan Christie, saltwater released during hydraulic fracturing (better known as fracking) is injected into the earth, disrupting the natural forces acting on a geologic fault and causing the two sections of rock to slide past each other. Inherent in scientific illustration is the challenge of how to work within a static format to describe kinetic events occurring over time. This above graphic uses typical and effective methods to insert these elements into the visual narrative: arrows to show directional movement, ordering of components from left to right and top to bottom, and providing numbered steps to make clear how one event leads to the next. However, a digital format offers more possibilities. Data also plays an important role in this story. The correlation between the large amount of wastewater injected into the ground in certain areas and the subsequent increase in the number of earthquakes in the same locations is quite telling. Once again, although a verbal explanation might be adequate to convey this message, a graphic can do so more effectively. Please learn more from Scientific American… Denton, Texas as reported by the Oberver Groundbreaking research from two Texas universities has shown that recent North Texas earthquakes are likely caused by wastewater injection wells, which have proliferated during the fracking boom. Despite this, the oil industry and the Texas Railroad Commission (ostensibly two separate entities) are still skeptical about the link between fracking and earthquakes. But with its aggressive fracking ban effort, Denton looked to be the little town that could actually stand up to oil-and-gas bigwigs. In November 2014, Denton voters passed a ban on fracking with nearly 59 percent of the vote. But within hours lawsuits filed by the General Land Office and the Texas Oil and Gas Association foreshadowed its demise. Six months later, the Lege passed HB 40, a bill that sailed through the Capitol and made the Denton ordinance “unenforceable.” The law effectively prohibits municipalities from regulating subsurface oil and gas activity within their jurisdiction. As Denton Drilling Awareness Group’s board member Adam Briggle told the BBC, “The biggest point now is not what the rules are, but who gets to make them.” With towns now at the mercy of the state, opposition to fracking has come down to individual efforts. Earlier this year, the Observer looked at what happened to three families who refused to lease their mineral rights to drilling companies. In the end, these families were unable to stop drilling on their own properties, and in one case, producers just drilled on surrounding properties and divided the holdout family against itself. A man-made disaster can be a human tragedy, too. Learn more … Oil & Tar Sands Disasters The Torrey Canyon oil spill on March 18, 1967 near Scilly Isles, U.K. spilled between 25-36 million gallons. The ship was carrying 120,000 tons of oil when it hit a reef off the coast of Cornwall, creating an oil slick measuring 270 square miles, contaiminating 180 miles of coastland, and killing 15,000 sea birds along with uncounted masses of aquatic animals. Toxic solvent based cleaning agents were used in an attempt to disperse the oil. When that didn’t work, it was decided to set fire to the ocean and burn away the oil by dropping bombs. The Sea Star oil spill on december 19, 1972 in the Gulf of Oman spilled 35.3 million gallons when South Korean supertanker, Sea Star, collided with the Horta Barbosa, a Brazillian tanker, off the cost of Oman. Both ships caugh fire after teh collision. The Sea Star sank into the Gulf on December 24th while the Horta Barbosa fire was extinguished a day after the collision. March 16, 1978 at Portsall, France, the Amoca Cadiz supertanker broke in half and spilled its 69 million gallons of oil into the English Channel. The Ixtoc 1 oil spill in the Bay of Campeche off Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico spilled 140 million gallons of oil on June 3, 1979. A state owned Mexican petroleum company drilling an oil when experienced a blowout. The oil ignited and the drilling rig collapsed, gushing 10,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico for almost an entire year before the well was finally capped. The Atlantic Empress oil spill on July 19, 1979 spilled 90 million gallons of oil off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago when the Greek oil tanker was caught in a tropical storm and collided with the Aegean Captain. The Nowruz Oil Field spill on February 10, 1983 in the Persian Gulf spilled 80 million gallons of oil after a tanker collided with an oil platform. The ongoing war between Iran and Iraq inhibited capping the leak quickly. On August 6, 1983, the Castillo de Bellver caught fire 70 miles off Cape Town and drifted in the open sea until it broke in two about 25 miles off the coast. The ship sank with 31 million gallons of oil it was carrying. A poorly maintained pipeline caused the 84 million gallon Kolva River oil spill on August 6, 1983 in Russia. The pipeline had been leaking for eight months but was contained behind a dike until it collapsed, spreading an oil slick across 170 acres of streams, fragile bogs, and marshland. On November 10, 1988, the Odyssey oil spill spewed 40.7 million gallons of oil into the ocean about 700 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland. March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil spill began its allegedly drunk captain struck Prince William Sound’s Bligh Reef at 12:04 am, local time, and spilled between 11 – 38 million gallons of oil, killing more than 35,000 birds and 1,00 sea otters right away. It’s estimated 250,000 sea birds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald eagles and 22 killer whales died along with billions of salmon and herring eggs. Exxon dragged out the court cases and managed to avoid millions of dollars of cleanup. Fishing businesses that had been in families for generations went under. To this day, oil is found in the Prince William Sound sands and marine life that is tested is found suffering from that disaster. The Arabian Gulf/Kuwait oil spill on January 19, 1991 in the Persian Gulf of Kuwait spilled 380-520 million gallons of oil after Iraqi forces tried to prevent American soldiers from landing, in defense of Kuwait, by opening valves at an offshore oil terminal and dumping oil from tankers. The oil slick was four inches thick and spread across 4,000 square miles. The M/T Haven Tanker oil spill on April 11, 1991 at Genoa, Italy spilled 45 million gallons of oil. The ABT Summer oil spill on May 28, 1991 off the coast of Angola spilled between 51-81 million gallons into the ocean when the ship exploded. A large slick covering 80 square miles burned for three days before the ship sank on June 1, 1001. BP’s Gulf oil spill (often referred to as the Deepwater Horizon spill) that began on April 22, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico spilled as much as 2.5 million gallons of oil each day into the Gulf about 41 miles off the Louisiana coast. An estimated 206 million gallons of oil was spilled, damaging 572 miles of Gulf shoreline, killing many hundreds of birds and marine life right away and causing death still in 2016. This BP oil spill cost the fishing industry at least $94.7 million. The long-term effects of the oil and the 1.82 million gallons of dispersant used on that fragile ecosystem is still being tracked in 2016 and likely will be for generations to come. May 13, 2016, 2,100 barrels (roughly 88,200 gallons) of crude oil was released from Royal Dutch Shell’s offshore Brutus platform into the U.S. Gulf of Mexico 13 miles off the coast of Louisiana, creating a 2 mile x 13 mile oil slick. June 4, 2016 at the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, a train derailment resulted in 16 of 96 train cars toppled from the tracks with four exploding. The fire burned for 15 hours with 42,000 gallons of spilled Bakken crude oil released. Authorities said they had contained a light oil sheen detected in the Columbia River, potentially threatening migrating salmon already struggling for survival. June 23, 2016, 210,000 gallons of oil from a leak in a pipeline, owned by Colorado-based Crimson Pipeline LLC, in Hall Canyon contaminated land in Prince Barranca gorge, but did not reach the ocean. Officials did not provide a timetable for the cleanup. July 14, 2016, an exploding fire consumes an oil field in the San Juan Basin. The fire sonsumed storage tanks in an oil field in New Mexico and is slowly burning out. All 36 storage tanks, 30 holding oil and mix a mix of water and hydrocarbon, caught fire and burned. These examples are just a few of the many that have occurred. There are far too many photos of damage and loss of life to share on this page. Click here to view some of those. Sources: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/the-13-largest-oil-spills-in-history http://www.ecowatch.com/shell-oil-spill-dumps-nearly-90-000-gallons-of-crude-into-gulf-1891130324.html http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ventura-county-oil-spill-20160623-snap-story.html http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/07/14/exploding-fire-consumes-oil-field-san-juan-basin-cause-unknown-165147 http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2016/06/mosier_really_dodged_a_bullet.html http://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-abcarian-oil-train-20160714-snap-story.html
