Oil Spills

Photo: Gregorio Borgia

On January 13th Concordia, an oil liner, hit a rock off the Tuscan coast of the Mediterranean Sea and capsized. So far it has not sprung a leak, but it landed on a ledge or shelf and after sliding further yesterday due to bad weather conditions, efforts to drill holes into the 13 tanks and pump out the thick fuel has been suspended. Most are worried that it will sink to the sea floor and start to leak slowly as the Sea Diamond cruise ship did in April of 2007. That ship completely tipped over and continued leaking for three years with 30 kg escaping the ship near the Greek island of Santorini every day. With the most recent wreck in Italy, 20 people are still missing and 12 are confirmed dead. People are praying that they can pump the oil out before it sinks, which will take about one month or that the tanks ruptured and sent oil floating to the surface for easier recovery.

Photo: Pier Paolo Cito

This location is one of the Mediterranean's most prized reserves full of various corals, turtles, dolphins, etc. Many tourists come here to scuba dive and if it does indeed leak, much more damage will occur. as well as the loss of businesses. They are currently searching the ship for more survivors and rumor has it they may chain "Costa Concordia" to the seabed so it doesn't slip further.

There is also a sideline report of the captain, Francesco Schettino, who may have abandoned ship and is currently being investigated for multiple manslaughter by steering the ship too close to the Tuscan island of Giglio. Of course he claims innocence of simply falling off the boat before it capsized. Video footage of the security cameras onboard were found by divers and may hold some useful information to support or accuse Schettino as well as provide information on who was with the captain at the time of the accident and who was actually alerted.

The news report by Silvia Aloisi can be found at: SHIPWRECK more recent news at: SHIP SEARCH and cool pictures at USA-TODAY.

We have all probably heard of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in March of 1989 (three months before I was born) that spewed around 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prudhoe Bay in Alaska because they changed their course due to icebergs.

http://www.wholetruth.net/history.htm

It was the largest spill ever in U.S. waters until of course the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, as it released carcinogens, soot particles and organic aerosols that cause respiratory problems after oil is burned in effort to clean it up. Also released into the air during burning were hydrocarbons like benzene, naphthalene, and the smog component called NOx, which reacts and forms "bad ozone" in the atmosphere.

Photo: Ann Heisenfelt/EPA

This oil spill helped scientists understand the impact future oil spills could have on the atmosphere according to Duval at EarthSky. I only hope that our reliance on oil is significantly decreased soon with alternative forms of energy because this is dangerous and the effects spread far beyond the actual dumping site. It is a sad sight to have so much wildlife die from accidents such as these. They also affect us directly through air pollution and could potentially harm our food through consumption of contaminated fish, oysters, etc.

Read More:
EPA Emergency Management
http://www.epa.gov/oilspill/
Major Oil Spills since 1967-2010
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001451.html
Affect of Oil on Animals
http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/oil_spills.htm