What Happened At The Macondo Well - 1007 Words

Humans are a poisonous sludge, slowly poisoning ourselves and all other inhabitants. There are many ways we do this, offshore oil drilling being one of them. Offshore oil drilling is the process of drilling into the earth and pulling up petroleum, a natural fuel source made of decomposed organisms. While there are many positive effects, there are too many negative ones for oil drilling to continue. Offshore oil drilling is too dangerous to be considered safe for use in the ecosystem. Not only is it too dangerous, oil rigs are made in an environment many would deem too hazardous for settling any type of structure. Oil drilling kills many people each year and pollutes the marine environment, killing the oceans natural inhabitants.†¦show more content†¦Nature is unpredictable and one cannot prepare for every outcome. While nature is a big factor in well breaches, one main factor is the oil companies’ lack of restrictions. This is demonstrated in National Environmental He alth Association Position on Offshore Oil Drilling, where the author states: An ABC News review of federal records shows that in spite of chronic safety violations, MMS†¦ In a majority of cases in which workers were killed, there was no record of fines paid. When fines were imposed, the maximum penalty was only $25,000 (5). This quote shows how much the oil companies are allowed to get away with. If this were to happen in any other industry, they would have been arrested and forced to pay millions of dollars in fines, but not when it comes to oil because of how much revenue it brings in. The amalgam of these three facts shows the dangers of oil drilling in the extreme environments that oil is found in. In addition, offshore oil drilling causes water pollution and disrupts the marine ecosystem. Doctor Ermal Xhelilaj states in his article, The Behavior and Effects of Oil Pollution into Marine Environment and Oceans† that â€Å"Shorelines are also vulnerable to the oil pollution and a study of the US Coast Guard has revealed that exposed rocky cliffs and seawalls, wave cut rocky platforms, fine to medium-grained sand beaches, coarse-grained sand beaches, mixed sand and gravel beaches, gravel beaches/ riprap