An oil spill is a form of pollution that is caused when a large vessel, such as a tanker, hits an oil well or an offshore drilling platform, and releases crude oil into the environment Oil spills can have devastating consequences on both human and animal life, due to their toxic and hazardous nature, and can have a long-term effect on the environment.
The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, which happened off the coast of Alaska in 1989, is considered one of the worst oil spills in history, and is still considered the benchmark for the effects of an oil spill on the environment, twenty years after it occurred. This spill occurred when the oil tanker Exxon Valdez hit an underwater rock, leading to an 11-million gallon spill. The oil spread over a distance of 1,300 miles, and affected over 1,000 miles of Alaska’s shoreline. The resulting environmental damage was extensive, and included the death of thousands of birds and animals, as well as the destruction of local habitats.
In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill brought the dangers of oil spills to the forefront once again. This was an accident on a BP-owned drilling platform, located 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana, which caused a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The damage caused by the spill was immense, and it took 87 days to seal the well and stop the flow of oil into the sea. This spill is considered the largest accidental oil spill in history, with an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil leaked into the ocean.
The Amoco Cadiz Oil Spill of 1978 was a spill of over 69 million gallons of light crude oil, when the supertanker broke apart after hitting a shallow reef in the English Channel. This spill caused massive environmental damage to a large area of the coast of France, killing tens of thousands of birds, fish, and other marine life.
The Ixtoc I Oil Spill of 1979 occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, when an oil well blew out and spewed oil into the sea. This spill lasted for almost nine months, and spilled over 3 million barrels of crude oil, making it the largest oil spill up until then. This spill affected almost 200 miles of the Mexican coastline and caused damage to many species of birds, mammals, and fish.
The Prestige oil spill of 2002 was one of the worst environmental disasters in history. The heavy-fuel oil tanker Prestige split in two due to the rough seas, and spilled over 75,000 metric tons of fuel oil off the coast of Galicia, Spain. This spill caused extensive environmental damage to the coasts of Spain and Portugal, and it is estimated that over 2,000 birds and marine animals were killed.
Finally, the Selendang Ayu Oil Spill happened in December 2004, when a freighter carrying more than 4 million gallons of fuel oil crashed into a reef off the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. This spill was considered one of the worst in modern times, due to the amount of oil spilled and the difficult ocean environment. The sheer amount of oil released led to the death of hundreds of thousands of seabirds, as well as other wildlife.