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"Oil from the Exxon Valdez and Gulf War oil spills" persisted. "By contrast", "the Braer spill off the Shetland Islands and the Sea Empress spill off Milford Haven left almost no long-term environmental damage", why the difference? Jackzhp 12:39, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
Answer: the coast line is very wet and damp with oil. The cost line in the Shetlands is a high energy coast line.....meaning that the turbulence created by the wind and tide, in the water, crashing on the rocks naturally dispersed the oil, breaking the oil up into a more manageable amount for the environment to deal with.
The Prince William Sound is a reasonably low energy coast line, plus black and white (as colours not race) don't mix and make a media view point to attack the oil companies, who are not without blame. loopa, more oil is poured down the drains in Pennsylvania in one year than was spilled from the Valdez 35000T ish wow!. Any media catastrophes stories there? That is just one state......with many Amish that don't have the necessity to do oil changes, imagine the quantity coming out of NY or Italy with all the guys’ hair products!!!!! Now that is a disaster!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.142.15.34 ( talk) 13:17, 19 November 2008 (UTC)
I removed the following line from the article, because I couldn't find any sources for it. Any ideas?
"A tanker spill off shore from Aberdeen, Washington released 100,000 gallons of oil into the harbor. citation needed" Fredwerner ( talk) 05:40, 25 November 2007 (UTC) then made out wih sam —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.204.4.10 ( talk) 17:28, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
Under environmental effects: "Oil coats the front of Sea otters, seals, reducing their furs natural insulation abilities" —Preceding unsigned comment added by PrinssiFO ( talk • contribs) 22:56, 11 January 2008 (UTC)
Sounds like someone was trying to slip that in there. No citation and incorrect information. —Preceding unsigned comment added by sanjat312 ( talk • —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.170.75.220 ( talk) 07:05, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
This article should be expanded to include Oil Spills that are NOT in the environment. E.G. Oil Spills that pose safety hazards in maintenance or construction areas. There is currently no article for those. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.164.80.42 ( talk) 10:22, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
"Oil is also released into the environment from natural geologic seeps on the sea floor. [1] Most human-made oil pollution comes from land-based activity, but public attention and regulation has tended to focus most sharply on seagoing oil tankers"
63%, in the United States alone, comes from natural, geological expulsions, and less than 1% from drilling platforms, etc. citation needed Yet, this isn't even given more than a passing, obscure reference in the article....why? -- Dashel101 ( talk) 22:38, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
Oil is EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.243.196.114 ( talk) 20:44, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
In the Methods of cleaning - equipment section there is a product mentioned, Nokomis 3
After looking up the corresponding article, which is poorly written and has a smell of advertisment to me, and seeing the manufacturers website, it turns out Nokomis is a simple dispersant, which are covered in the "methods" part above.
I vote for deletion of the Nokomis 3 - reference. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.148.120.37 ( talk) 13:39, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
Agreed and done. It is only one of many dispersants and not notewothy in this article. --
Paulscrawl (
talk) 13:01, 29 May 2010 (UTC)
There should be a lot of equipment used together so that we dont have to pay or use all one resource. They say hay works and hair, well why not combining it togther to clean up the spill. i understand its a very hard process but we have to give it all our try or we could be in a very very deep mess.
Isn't it a little premature to put the deepwater horizon incident in the list of largest oil spills of all time?-- 345Kai ( talk) 00:50, 1 May 2010 (UTC)
-> Analysis of spill maps by outside experts, using the NOAA's guidelines for estimation, are around 25,000 bbl/d. Estimates from ocean-floor video footage of the leak<ref>{{cite blog|url=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/12/865931/-BP-Releases-First-Video-of-Oil-Volcano-(Update-with-leak-estimations,-new-video)|title=BP Releases First Video of Oil Volcano (Update with leak estimations, new video)|last=John Amos|publisher=Daily Kos|date=2010-05-12}}</ref> yield similar results. Meanwhile, neither the Coast Guard nor the NOAA ever publicly explained their methodology for arriving at the 5,000 bbl/d estimate<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.onearth.org/node/2084|title=Gulf Oil Spill Far Worse Than Officials, BP Admit, Says Independent Analyst|last=Emily Gertz|date=APRIL 29, 2010|publisher=Natural Resources Defense Council|accessdate=12 May 2010}}</ref> (actually, they accepted that estimate only after being challenged on the 1,000 bbl/d estimate,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/01/nation/la-na-oil-spill-measure-20100502|title=Tiny group has big impact on spill estimates|last=Julie Cart|publisher=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=2010-05-01}}</ref> which they seem to have gotten from BP). By May 1, 2010, these organizations gave up estimating the rate of the spill.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/01/1916707/nightmare-scenario-feared-if-massive.html|title= Nightmare scenario feared if massive oil spill enters the Gulf Stream|last=ALLEN G. BREED and SETH BORENSTEIN|publisher=[[Associated Press]]|date=2010-05-01}}</ref> And the administration has since stated that the leak may actually be in the tens of thousands of barrels per day.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100502-702751.html|title=Interior Secretary Salazar: US Gulf Oil Spill May Be Worse Than Valdez|last=Ian Talley|publisher=DOW JONES NEWSWIRES|date=2010-05-02}}</ref> BP now puts the upper limit at 60,000 bbl/d<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N05227297.htm|title=BP exec says oil leak could flow at 60,000 bpd|last=Eric Beech|publisher=Reuters|date=2010-05-05}}</ref> (which is 15-times greater than the worst-case scenario they originally submitted in their filing to MMS<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/29/gulf-oil-spill-exceeds-bp_n_556798.html|title=Gulf Oil Spill Exceeds BP's 'Worst-Case Scenario,' Drilling Supporters On Defensive|last=Marcus Baram|publisher=Huffington Post|date=2010-04-29}}</ref>). So, there's really nothing other than momentum maintaining the 5,000 bbl/d figure. Using the more credible 25,000 bbl/d estimate, this would already put the spill at 75,000 tonnes. It is almost certain to pass 100,000 tonnes before it is brought under control.-- levydav ( levydav) 02:26, 13 May 2010 (UTC)
->Two new analyses of the video of the leaking pipe put the rate at 56,000-84,000 bbl/d and 20,000-100,000 bbl/d.<ref>{{cite blog|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126809525|title=Gulf Spill Could Be Much Worse Than Believed|last=Richard Harris|publisher=NPR|date=2010-05-13}}</ref> If the tighter estimate turns out to be true, the spill has already exceeded 100,000 tonnes.-- levydav ( levydav) 22:26, 13 May 2010 (UTC)
The current version of this article lists the Exxon Valdez spill at 350,000 tonnes of crude. However, the reference listed for the Exxon Valdez spill, says 240,500 barrels. At 7.33 barrels per tonne, this is 32,810 tonnes. The reference in the mail Exxon Valdez oil spill article says ( http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/facts/qanda.cfm) says 38,800 metric tonnes. "11 million gallons or 257,000 barrels or 38,800 metric tonnes." List of oil spills, has it at 37,000 tonnes. So, there seems to be a conversion issue in the current version of this article. Thus, this spill is NOT in the spills over 100,000 tonnes. I'm removing it from the list. AppleMacD ( talk) 21:36, 1 May 2010 (UTC)
-- An alternate list of the largest oil spills can be found at EnviroWonk ( http://envirowonk.com/content/view/68/1/), and it agrees largely with the list we give here. It also confirms that Exxon Valdez doesn't make the cut. I'd been concerned about whether we'd screwed up a conversion factor, but it appears that AppleMacD is correct and that Exxon Valdez was an incorrect listing. Yakaji ( talk) 22:06, 1 May 2010 (UTC)
-- It doesn't appear that the current spill off the Louisiana coast meets the criteria, either. At 5,000 bbl a day X 12 days, that's 60,000 barrels or a little over 2.5M gallons. Dakdawg ( talk) 17:25, 2 May 2010 (UTC)
--- According to various press releases, the number for the Louisiana spill should be more like 100,000 barrels a day. That would be 1,200,000 barrels = 50,400,000 gallons. Of course, I don't know where they're getting this number from, and it could be inaccurate. Better to wait until the spill has been dealt with and the figures properly calculated before putting it on the list. ZbeeblebroxIV ( talk) 19:30, 2 May 2010 (UTC)
--- A "press release" does not imply accuracy. The recent "estimates" from the released videos seem to be grossly inacurate (too high in this case) due to their use of the gas-fraction (NG = natural gas) velocity, escaping which is co-mingled with the liquid-fraction velocity (crude) and a likely "mis-calculation" of the appropriate fractional-diameter. Thus I deleted (only) the overblown second phrase in the sentence. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.245.13.121 ( talk) 18:22, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
--- On both wiki pages the Deep Horizon numbers are skewed. One says 265,000 tons and the other over 500,000 tons. I think someone misread their listed source and somehow came up with the larger number and they are not accounting for how much is spilling after the fact of siphoning and flaring. I suggest considering these two pages for a new and more accurate amount. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/horizon-oil-spill.html where pbs sites 1,059,240 gal/day captured or flared and http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIXWYBTpLtSayJtg41LKXpxSxVPAD9GM48CO1 . I think it will be closer to August before this spill equals Ixtoc, however it is quite possible the truth is not being revealed at all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chesscat77 ( talk • contribs) 08:13, 1 July 2010 (UTC)
I know it is sourced to the NY Times, but it seems like something has to be wrong with this edit [1] that increased the Gulf War spill by two orders of magnitude. Dragons flight ( talk) 19:43, 4 May 2010 (UTC)
Here's a serious attempt to estimate the extent of spillage after the Gulf War--they come up with 4 million-6 million barrels, which is 168 million-252 million gallons. Maybe we should use this estimate in place of the three other take-our-word-for-it sources?
http://employees.oneonta.edu/baumanpr/geosat2/Environmental_Warfare/ENVIRONMENTAL_WARFARE.htm
Nareek ( talk) 16:49, 6 May 2010 (UTC)
-> I asked the authors of the NYT article. They said it came from NOAA, but they have since learned it is wrong. --
levydav (
levydav) 22:26, 14 May 2010 (UTC)
In a fortnight it reached 290k tons, it should top this list in a month. Yet it isn't mentioned. Is this because it's ongoing? 99.236.221.124 ( talk) 04:29, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
Can whoever posted the comment about PCBs please explain to me how an aromatic compound living several km deep in the earth's crust managed to get itself poly-chlorinated? PCBs were manufactured in chemical plants. If they previously existed naturally in crude oil, then this is the first I have heard about it. However, I am leaving the comment for now with a citation request in the possible event that I am wrong. If I am right, then please remove this comment, as this seems like the kind of mislead hype that damages the credibility of wikipedia. Wulfgang ( talk) 14:19, 25 May 2010 (UTC)
-- 222.64.219.195 ( talk) 01:07, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
-- 222.64.219.195 ( talk) 01:19, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
I think it would be very helpful to have a column in the table of largest spills to identify whether the source was a marine well, land well/field, or tanker. In the onging debate about whether to drill offshore or import oil via tankers, we need to understand which is better. Wmjohn6217 ( talk) 20:40, 27 May 2010 (UTC)
Quantities should be normalized into gallons or barrels throughout this page, but not tons. I've been spending the last couple of weeks multiplying or dividing by 42 or by 7.3 (or whatever it is) but most people don't do that. Listing all three is OK, but listing tons alone is not because very few reports use tons. —Preceding unsigned comment added by John Emerson ( talk • contribs) 01:52, 31 May 2010 (UTC)
John Hofmeister's been going on about this massive but, until now, unknown, spill that Saudi Aramco had in 1993-1994. I can find nothing about it anywhere. With him claiming that it was 150% the size of the Gulf War spill, it seems like a hard thing to have kept quiet for 17 years. Is this an example of an amazing press containment atop the oil containment? Hofmeister's story is here. Czrisher ( talk) 13:27, 28 May 2010 (UTC)
Found some vandalism while visiting the page. Did an Undo to put the article back as it was. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bmaples ( talk • contribs) 02:35, 31 May 2010 (UTC)
Its article puts it at 250,000 barrels, which certainly merits placement on the list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Orionriver ( talk • contribs) 07:30, 3 June 2010 (UTC)
Look right on the page for the Valdez spill. The official number has been 250.000 barrels for nearly two decades. It's on the Exxon Valdez page, why isn't it here? —Preceding
unsigned comment added by
76.188.82.182 (
talk) 22:42, 10 June 2010 (UTC)
The 'largest spills' table/section seems to be somewhat western-centric--my guess would be that the data is limited to single-events (not multiple smaller events in a single area), and is focused on events that were 'noticed' by the western world for whatever reason (that includes Iraq war). For example, I keep hearing that the Niger Delta is horribly hit and nobody hears about it. I think those are multiple events over extended time--no less devastating, but each event is smaller, or maybe just nobody measured the spill?
"According to Nigerian federal government figures, there were more than 7,000 spills between 1970 and 2000, and there are 2,000 official major spillages sites, many going back decades, with thousands of smaller ones still waiting to be cleared up. More than 1,000 spill cases have been filed against Shell alone." http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/30/oil-spills-nigeria-niger-delta-shell
Maybe the poster of the data could add some text for context as to the source, types of data, limitations, etc?
Thanks. 69.86.235.245 ( talk) 01:48, 4 June 2010 (UTC)
Thanks for the Guardian link. a key quote from that article has two different sources (WWF UK and Amnesty) give two very similar estimates of between 1.22 and 1.5 million tons (9 to 11 million barrels) of oil:
One report, compiled by WWF UK, the World Conservation Union and representatives from the Nigerian federal government and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, calculated in 2006 that up to 1.5m tons of oil – 50 times the pollution unleashed in the Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Alaska – has been spilled in the delta over the past half century. Last year Amnesty calculated that the equivalent of at least 9m barrels of oil was spilled and accused the oil companies of a human rights outrage.
This presumably includes spills that would not make it into the list of "largest spills" however.See suggestion (B) below, under "Data for Totals" Harel ( talk) 22:41, 8 June 2010 (UTC)
It would be very useful to have total amount spilled tabulated. Two data actually:
A. Does anyone know how to use wiki code to create a "Row" in the table of "spills over 100,000 tons" that would total all the preceding rows? It would total the upper and lower bounds so this total would itself consist of two numbers; upper and lower.
B. It would also be very helpful to have the current-best-estimate total for ALL spills of oil (in the broad definition of the term) both "small" (under 100,000 tons) and those above.
(By the way, if I calculated correctly, every 1 million tons spilled (the size of some of the largest ones; the total spilled is far above 1 million) is equivalent to one ppt (part per trillion) of the entire planet's ocean volume. With some petrocheicals (e.g. benzine) being cited as having toxicity in the ppb's range, it's entirely possible that the threshold for "some harmful effects from long-term exposure" swimming in it for months or years could end up being measurable in parts per trillion. This aside is not the only reason totals are helpful, but does illustrate one of the many reasons a WP would be helpful to contain totals A. and B.) Harel ( talk) 22:56, 8 June 2010 (UTC)
I haven't been able to find anything on this particular spill anywhere in Wikipedia. Reports are that the spill was 100 - 120 kilotons of oil. Here's a couple of references to get started:
http://www1.american.edu/ted/komi.htm http://archive.greenpeace.org/majordomo/index-oldgopher/9505/msg00009.html
This reference says the 'official estimate' was 60,000 tons: http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2007/Oil_spill_in_Komi
This reference cites (unnamed) environmental groups at 60-200 tons (and the company's official position of 14,000 tons): http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jRgVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vQcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6808,213696&dq=komi+oil&hl=en Biccat ( talk) 01:38, 11 June 2010 (UTC)
That was terrestrial, what could it have spilled into? 99.236.221.124 ( talk) 00:58, 17 June 2010 (UTC)
It filled up an area of California scrubland. Huge pools of oil were created by earthen berms and sandbag dykes. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/science/earth/19enviro.html?hp Similar info is to be found in the Wikipedia article on the event. Note that while this article is called "oil spill", it describes any uncontrolled discharge of oil. 76.118.170.241 ( talk) 04:02, 20 June 2010 (UTC)
We are in dire need of better sources for the given number of 9 million gallons. The three current sources are a youtube video and about.com, both of which aren't incredibly reliable, and a book which apparently is reliable but ideally would be supplemented by an online reliable verifiable source. Travelbird ( talk) 15:37, 1 July 2010 (UTC)
User 91.55.96.174 just removed two columns, the ones showing gallons and barrels, from the table of oil spills. The Table now shows only tons. All the news I have heard lately measures spills in gallons or barrels, not tons. I think the change should be reverted. HowardMorland ( talk) 04:29, 3 July 2010 (UTC)
Someone needs to separate the wheat from the chaff in the second part here, and make what is viable more encyclopedic. Daniel1212 ( talk) 15:31, 3 July 2010 (UTC)
This article contains one very limited paragraph on Environmental Damage from Oil Spills. This seems hopelessly inadequate to the subject, even in an encyclopedia. This entire construct ought to be expanded and perhaps listed by each aspect of the environment: i.e. hydrology, aquatic mammals, humans, etc. Surely there must be a body of research that has addressed this and can be cited more authoritatively? Justinoly22 ( talk) 14:18, 1 August 2010 (UTC)
BBC says 4.9 million barrels..of which 800,000 were captured, it has been said. Haven't checked all the other references in the last couple of weeks so rather than adding I'll leave it to others whether to add the BBC link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10848147 It does show that even the lower figure 4.1 is above the mid-point of the "2 to 6 million" range for the 1990s Persian Gulf spill..so is larger than that one for certain. (aside: U.S. media still report that one as "the largest" when it's in third place, below Deepwater Horizon, which in turn is below Lakeview, someone write/email your media to correct them next time they say it) Harel ( talk) 04:51, 4 August 2010 (UTC)
I've been wondering if the Kuwaiti oil fires shouldn't be included as an oil spill, and on the list of biggest spills. While not all of the oil simply gushed onto the land or into the sea, a great deal of it apparently did. According to the article on Wikipedia, approximately 300 oil lakes were formed on the surface of Kuwait as a result of the deliberate sabotage to the wells. And an uncontrolled gusher, such as a sabotaged well, seems to be within the scope of this article, given the inclusion of the Lakeview Gusher, even if much of the oil is immediately consumed by fire. In effect, the oil leaves the ground in an uncontrolled fashion, and enters the environment, although much of it is then burned.
The article on the Kuwaiti oil fires says that approximately 6,000,000 barrels of oil were lost each day as a result of the oil fires. Much of that spilled out onto the ground, with the rest being burned and released into the atmosphere. There's no total figure given, but clearly the amount of oil involved would far surpass any of the largest oil spills in the table in this article. And I think most people would agree that the event belongs in the category of oil spills. P Aculeius ( talk) 19:29, 10 August 2010 (UTC)
Per Wikipedia policy, "Most human-made oil pollution comes from land-based activity" has been removed until a citation can be added. This is a fascinating fact (assuming it's accurate), but such a specific and not widely known fact requires a reference to be included. I'd really like to see where it's from. Please add it back in once a source can be found and cited.
--
Cfwschmidt (
talk) 02:19, 8 October 2010 (UTC)
Vessels such as supertankers can be used to suck up oil; see http://inhabitat.com/gulf-spill-solution-could-be-supertankers-bp-wont-listen/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.182.152.229 ( talk) 15:41, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
That is not a squid..... It is a pile of kelp. Not entirely sure how to edit that caption though. Any help?? Wilbiddle42 ( talk) 21:53, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
I'm not sure why the term "ton" at the head of the table of largest oil spills still has a clarification tag. Although the term can refer to different measurements, note "a" clearly defines the volume of oil that is considered a "ton" in this instance. I'd like to remove the tag, but since this topic involved several editors a while back, I thought it better to give others a chance to reply first. P Aculeius ( talk) 13:40, 14 October 2011 (UTC)
From a text in Kijk magazine (13/2011), I seem to understand that unrefined oil can be (easily) degraded by microorganisms, where refined oil can not be broken down by microorganisms. So, it seems that an oil spill with the first type of oil is ecologically (relatively) harmless, while the second one creates huge environmental damage. Look into it and mention it in the article.
91.182.240.163 ( talk) 15:36, 23 February 2012 (UTC)
Hi all, I noticed there is no mention that I can see regarding the results of clean up efforts. That is a big oversight. For instance, During the Deepwater media coverage, it was widely reported that on the shores where the Exxon Valdez spilled, oil is still found under the rocks. Are there any successful clean ups? This type of information would be good to add to this article, no? petrarchan47 t c 19:34, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
The line in the largest oil spills section that says "Oil spills at sea are generally much more than damaging than those on water ," doesn't make sense. Did the writer intend to say "than those on land" or "than those on fresh water"? Without a citation it's hard to know. Linktex ( talk) 15:46, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
Perhaps this can be mentioned in the article: http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/05/22/robot-fish-pollution-idINDEE84L03320120522
KVDP ( talk) 14:28, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
Appearantly, Bacillus subtilis is used for this, see http://www.pnas.org/content/106/43/18109.short Mention in article 80.200.230.223 ( talk) 12:05, 8 January 2013 (UTC)
This section was added in this diff. I'm sure most of this can be used, but will probably need a bit of work first. petrarchan47 t c 20:49, 1 May 2013 (UTC)
Drilling for oil effects the environment; derricks, machine use to extract oil, causes the estate to become undesired, oil spills endanger the surrounding wildlife, thus creating business's decrease. In 1932 real estate values in Venice, California decreased due to the pollution and noise that the derricks, a machine used to obtain the oil, produced while operating. Tourist stopped visiting Venice therefore the businesses no longer had customers to sell their merchandise to. Residents and businesses protested against the drilling in residential areas in 1932, drilling had to occur two hundred and five thousand feet from the pier (Ekind). Drilling for oil in the ocean puts the aquatic life endanger. A team of researchers studying an oil well in Macondo, part of the BP Oil Company, discovered that oil was leaking out of the well a thousand meters down in the ocean. The discovery of this leak shows that the operations are not being executed correctly and that makes sterilizing the water much more complicated.The oil can harm many organisms that help support the Gulf's food web; from corals to migrating plankton (Schrope). The BP Deep Water Oil Spill occurred April 10, 2010, the aftermath devastated the wildlife; four thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight animals died in total. Shrimpers, fisherman and restaurants along the coast of Louisiana were effected by the BP Deep Water Oil Spill, they depended on the aquatic life to support their business. Although oil is a productive natural resource drilling for it endangers our environment. (Kornfeld)
Since this is the second or third time someone has just assumed that the amount of oil burned in the Kuwaiti Oil Fires was a typo, I'm just placing this memorandum about it. The sources and estimates found in various sources are provided in one of the sections above, and there's a note attached to the table in the article as well. It's not a typo. The amount of oil lost in the Kuwaiti Oil Fires is about two orders of magnitude greater than that lost in any other oil spill in recorded history. The reason why the Lakeview gusher isn't on a similar scale is because it was just one well... the Kuwaiti Oil Fires involved over seven hundred wells gushing uncontrolled for several weeks, and some for several months. The figures cited could still use more corroboration, but there's nothing the least bit surprising about the oil fires accounting for so much more oil spilled. P Aculeius ( talk) 02:43, 2 June 2013 (UTC)
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Oil spill's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.
Reference named "Panetta":
I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 18:21, 1 March 2014 (UTC)
Perhaps this can be mentioned ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.242.236.184 ( talk) 08:34, 6 April 2014 (UTC)
As per the discussion ongoing on the talk page of the Kuwaiti oil fires.
Oil well fires aren't oil spills as the oils residence time in the atmosphere is measured in milliseconds and the oil itself does not cause any environmental damage, only the combustion products of the oil cause environmental damage, damage that is categorically of a different nature than the environmental damage from actual oil spills.
Lastly, during the second US invasion of Iraq in 2003, oil wells(30 to 50) were once again set on fire in the Persian gulf and these fires weren't described as oil spills, here * | here likewise this recent Oil well fire on Baku Hafiz Heydarov in May 2014 was not described as an oil spill. |here Wikipedia's bizarre definition of an oil spill that seemingly include oil well fires is not supported by anyone else and so, as per WP:No original research & WP:USEBYOTHERS, the section/article - largest oil spills should not include fires like those at Kuwait in 1991 & Iraq in 2003 as NO reliable agency actually classified those fires as oil spills, and more generally no reliable agency regards the act of burning oil as one in the same as the act of spilling oil.
92.251.207.0 ( talk) 21:50, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
Response to third opinion request: |
I am responding to a third opinion request for this page. I have made no previous edits on Oil spill and have no known association with the editors involved in this discussion. The third opinion process is informal and I have no special powers or authority apart from being a fresh pair of eyes. |
There are quite a few things to say here, but the main one is that, pretty obviously, an oil spill must involve spillage. Gushers are not spills, any more than a chip pan fire is a spill. So no, the Kuwaiti oil fires were not oil spills. To address some of the specifics here in more detail:
I hope this helps. Regards, Stfg ( talk) 10:20, 8 July 2014 (UTC) |
I've asked the editor who keeps tagging the list of largest oil spills as "original research" to bring the argument to the talk page, but so far all there have been are comments in the edit summaries, including a warning not to remove the tag. From my perspective, the repetitive tagging constitutes a means of advocating a particular point of view without attempting to obtain consensus from interested editors. I suspect this may be because previous discussions of the same issue failed to achieve consensus, and I also think that the other editor involved may be the same one who previously raised the issue here, but I cannot tell, because that editor did most of his editing from IP addresses.
The issue under dispute is whether the Kuwaiti Oil Fires ought to be included under the heading of "oil spills". This editor first raised that question five years ago, noting that they seemed to fall within the definition of "oil spill" set forth in the lead paragraph of the article: "the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment". That being the case, they would almost certainly be important to include on the basis of their massive and unprecedented scale. It was also difficult to separate them as a distinct occurrence from the pooling of oil on the ground from the same wells that were sabotaged by the retreating Iraqi army in 1991, since that portion of the transaction was indisputably within the scope of the article. As the two events are closely linked and arose out of the same transaction, it seemed reasonable to include both, if both could fit within the scope of the article.
This addition was relatively uncontroversial at the time, and accepted as within the article's scope for the next four years. But in June, 2014, a discussion of the same point occurring on the talk page of the article about the Kuwaiti Oil Fires was carried over here by another editor. After going back and forth for a month, the argument was dropped, and the other editor added a "dubious" tag requesting further discussion. Nobody else accepted the invitation to discuss it. Several months later, the same argument was revived, although there was no change in circumstances or basis. After that discussion finally died down without a consensus being reached, an editor is now adding tags claiming that the disputed inclusion of the Kuwaiti Oil Fires is "original research," and claiming that what makes it "original research" is that the cited sources don't refer to it as an oil spill.
Since the other editor has declined repeated requests to discuss the issue on the article's talk page, I'm initiating a discussion here. My position is that this is not a question of original research, but the scope of the article as defined in the lead paragraph. If an oil spill is defined as "the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment," then it is of no consequence whether the oil pools on the ground or in the water, or whether any of it is burned, on land, in the water, or in the air. It plainly fits within the scope of the article, and including it on that basis cannot be characterized as "original research" whether or not the cited sources state that it is or is not a type of oil spill.
It has been argued repeatedly that this would require other oil fires to be included on the list of oil spills, which they are not. But given that no other oil fire approaches the scale of the other spills included on this or the other table, it is unlikely that they would be included anyway. The Kuwaiti Oil Fires are sui generis, as there has never been a comparable event before or since, and it is to be hoped that such an event is never repeated. But given the magnitude of the release of oil, which far exceeds any other spill, it seems to me that excluding them from the article when they plainly fall within its scope would not only be arbitrary, but unhelpful to those researching the topic of oil spills, as the event is clearly relevant and important.
Once again, I invite the other editor to discuss this issue here on the article's talk page, instead of simply conducting a back-and-forth argument through edit summaries. P Aculeius ( talk) 18:44, 26 August 2015 (UTC)
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I don't want to rehash the earlier dispute of "fire vs spill", but imho the two Kuwaiti should be treated as one, since they are basically belong to the same spill/event. Treating them as several spill seems rather confusing at least without further explanation (separating land spill and (susequent) sea spill).-- Kmhkmh ( talk) 11:54, 6 April 2018 (UTC)
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Remove "Solby's academically accelerated class took off on a mass journey to discover the advanced reasoning behind such science of oil and water. Below is the research they concluded." (the second paragraph) as it seems unnecessary. 138.87.133.14 ( talk) 15:34, 3 December 2018 (UTC)
and oil is one of the environment the bodies of water. method of separeting mixtures can be used in order to solve the problem 119.93.199.43 ( talk) 13:39, 11 October 2022 (UTC)
I work with developing systems for sensitivity mapping (Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) mapping)" and find that the section ESI mapping might deserve its own page so that the methods in question can be further elaborated. The ESI part of this article could then be made into a smaller one pointing to a more elaborate page. Comments? Ragnvald ( talk) 10:45, 19 February 2023 (UTC)
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"Oil from the Exxon Valdez and Gulf War oil spills" persisted. "By contrast", "the Braer spill off the Shetland Islands and the Sea Empress spill off Milford Haven left almost no long-term environmental damage", why the difference? Jackzhp 12:39, 1 August 2007 (UTC)
Answer: the coast line is very wet and damp with oil. The cost line in the Shetlands is a high energy coast line.....meaning that the turbulence created by the wind and tide, in the water, crashing on the rocks naturally dispersed the oil, breaking the oil up into a more manageable amount for the environment to deal with.
The Prince William Sound is a reasonably low energy coast line, plus black and white (as colours not race) don't mix and make a media view point to attack the oil companies, who are not without blame. loopa, more oil is poured down the drains in Pennsylvania in one year than was spilled from the Valdez 35000T ish wow!. Any media catastrophes stories there? That is just one state......with many Amish that don't have the necessity to do oil changes, imagine the quantity coming out of NY or Italy with all the guys’ hair products!!!!! Now that is a disaster!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.142.15.34 ( talk) 13:17, 19 November 2008 (UTC)
I removed the following line from the article, because I couldn't find any sources for it. Any ideas?
"A tanker spill off shore from Aberdeen, Washington released 100,000 gallons of oil into the harbor. citation needed" Fredwerner ( talk) 05:40, 25 November 2007 (UTC) then made out wih sam —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.204.4.10 ( talk) 17:28, 8 May 2008 (UTC)
Under environmental effects: "Oil coats the front of Sea otters, seals, reducing their furs natural insulation abilities" —Preceding unsigned comment added by PrinssiFO ( talk • contribs) 22:56, 11 January 2008 (UTC)
Sounds like someone was trying to slip that in there. No citation and incorrect information. —Preceding unsigned comment added by sanjat312 ( talk • —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.170.75.220 ( talk) 07:05, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
This article should be expanded to include Oil Spills that are NOT in the environment. E.G. Oil Spills that pose safety hazards in maintenance or construction areas. There is currently no article for those. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.164.80.42 ( talk) 10:22, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
"Oil is also released into the environment from natural geologic seeps on the sea floor. [1] Most human-made oil pollution comes from land-based activity, but public attention and regulation has tended to focus most sharply on seagoing oil tankers"
63%, in the United States alone, comes from natural, geological expulsions, and less than 1% from drilling platforms, etc. citation needed Yet, this isn't even given more than a passing, obscure reference in the article....why? -- Dashel101 ( talk) 22:38, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
Oil is EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.243.196.114 ( talk) 20:44, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
In the Methods of cleaning - equipment section there is a product mentioned, Nokomis 3
After looking up the corresponding article, which is poorly written and has a smell of advertisment to me, and seeing the manufacturers website, it turns out Nokomis is a simple dispersant, which are covered in the "methods" part above.
I vote for deletion of the Nokomis 3 - reference. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.148.120.37 ( talk) 13:39, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
Agreed and done. It is only one of many dispersants and not notewothy in this article. --
Paulscrawl (
talk) 13:01, 29 May 2010 (UTC)
There should be a lot of equipment used together so that we dont have to pay or use all one resource. They say hay works and hair, well why not combining it togther to clean up the spill. i understand its a very hard process but we have to give it all our try or we could be in a very very deep mess.
Isn't it a little premature to put the deepwater horizon incident in the list of largest oil spills of all time?-- 345Kai ( talk) 00:50, 1 May 2010 (UTC)
-> Analysis of spill maps by outside experts, using the NOAA's guidelines for estimation, are around 25,000 bbl/d. Estimates from ocean-floor video footage of the leak<ref>{{cite blog|url=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/12/865931/-BP-Releases-First-Video-of-Oil-Volcano-(Update-with-leak-estimations,-new-video)|title=BP Releases First Video of Oil Volcano (Update with leak estimations, new video)|last=John Amos|publisher=Daily Kos|date=2010-05-12}}</ref> yield similar results. Meanwhile, neither the Coast Guard nor the NOAA ever publicly explained their methodology for arriving at the 5,000 bbl/d estimate<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.onearth.org/node/2084|title=Gulf Oil Spill Far Worse Than Officials, BP Admit, Says Independent Analyst|last=Emily Gertz|date=APRIL 29, 2010|publisher=Natural Resources Defense Council|accessdate=12 May 2010}}</ref> (actually, they accepted that estimate only after being challenged on the 1,000 bbl/d estimate,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/01/nation/la-na-oil-spill-measure-20100502|title=Tiny group has big impact on spill estimates|last=Julie Cart|publisher=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=2010-05-01}}</ref> which they seem to have gotten from BP). By May 1, 2010, these organizations gave up estimating the rate of the spill.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/01/1916707/nightmare-scenario-feared-if-massive.html|title= Nightmare scenario feared if massive oil spill enters the Gulf Stream|last=ALLEN G. BREED and SETH BORENSTEIN|publisher=[[Associated Press]]|date=2010-05-01}}</ref> And the administration has since stated that the leak may actually be in the tens of thousands of barrels per day.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100502-702751.html|title=Interior Secretary Salazar: US Gulf Oil Spill May Be Worse Than Valdez|last=Ian Talley|publisher=DOW JONES NEWSWIRES|date=2010-05-02}}</ref> BP now puts the upper limit at 60,000 bbl/d<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N05227297.htm|title=BP exec says oil leak could flow at 60,000 bpd|last=Eric Beech|publisher=Reuters|date=2010-05-05}}</ref> (which is 15-times greater than the worst-case scenario they originally submitted in their filing to MMS<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/29/gulf-oil-spill-exceeds-bp_n_556798.html|title=Gulf Oil Spill Exceeds BP's 'Worst-Case Scenario,' Drilling Supporters On Defensive|last=Marcus Baram|publisher=Huffington Post|date=2010-04-29}}</ref>). So, there's really nothing other than momentum maintaining the 5,000 bbl/d figure. Using the more credible 25,000 bbl/d estimate, this would already put the spill at 75,000 tonnes. It is almost certain to pass 100,000 tonnes before it is brought under control.-- levydav ( levydav) 02:26, 13 May 2010 (UTC)
->Two new analyses of the video of the leaking pipe put the rate at 56,000-84,000 bbl/d and 20,000-100,000 bbl/d.<ref>{{cite blog|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126809525|title=Gulf Spill Could Be Much Worse Than Believed|last=Richard Harris|publisher=NPR|date=2010-05-13}}</ref> If the tighter estimate turns out to be true, the spill has already exceeded 100,000 tonnes.-- levydav ( levydav) 22:26, 13 May 2010 (UTC)
The current version of this article lists the Exxon Valdez spill at 350,000 tonnes of crude. However, the reference listed for the Exxon Valdez spill, says 240,500 barrels. At 7.33 barrels per tonne, this is 32,810 tonnes. The reference in the mail Exxon Valdez oil spill article says ( http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/facts/qanda.cfm) says 38,800 metric tonnes. "11 million gallons or 257,000 barrels or 38,800 metric tonnes." List of oil spills, has it at 37,000 tonnes. So, there seems to be a conversion issue in the current version of this article. Thus, this spill is NOT in the spills over 100,000 tonnes. I'm removing it from the list. AppleMacD ( talk) 21:36, 1 May 2010 (UTC)
-- An alternate list of the largest oil spills can be found at EnviroWonk ( http://envirowonk.com/content/view/68/1/), and it agrees largely with the list we give here. It also confirms that Exxon Valdez doesn't make the cut. I'd been concerned about whether we'd screwed up a conversion factor, but it appears that AppleMacD is correct and that Exxon Valdez was an incorrect listing. Yakaji ( talk) 22:06, 1 May 2010 (UTC)
-- It doesn't appear that the current spill off the Louisiana coast meets the criteria, either. At 5,000 bbl a day X 12 days, that's 60,000 barrels or a little over 2.5M gallons. Dakdawg ( talk) 17:25, 2 May 2010 (UTC)
--- According to various press releases, the number for the Louisiana spill should be more like 100,000 barrels a day. That would be 1,200,000 barrels = 50,400,000 gallons. Of course, I don't know where they're getting this number from, and it could be inaccurate. Better to wait until the spill has been dealt with and the figures properly calculated before putting it on the list. ZbeeblebroxIV ( talk) 19:30, 2 May 2010 (UTC)
--- A "press release" does not imply accuracy. The recent "estimates" from the released videos seem to be grossly inacurate (too high in this case) due to their use of the gas-fraction (NG = natural gas) velocity, escaping which is co-mingled with the liquid-fraction velocity (crude) and a likely "mis-calculation" of the appropriate fractional-diameter. Thus I deleted (only) the overblown second phrase in the sentence. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.245.13.121 ( talk) 18:22, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
--- On both wiki pages the Deep Horizon numbers are skewed. One says 265,000 tons and the other over 500,000 tons. I think someone misread their listed source and somehow came up with the larger number and they are not accounting for how much is spilling after the fact of siphoning and flaring. I suggest considering these two pages for a new and more accurate amount. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/horizon-oil-spill.html where pbs sites 1,059,240 gal/day captured or flared and http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIXWYBTpLtSayJtg41LKXpxSxVPAD9GM48CO1 . I think it will be closer to August before this spill equals Ixtoc, however it is quite possible the truth is not being revealed at all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chesscat77 ( talk • contribs) 08:13, 1 July 2010 (UTC)
I know it is sourced to the NY Times, but it seems like something has to be wrong with this edit [1] that increased the Gulf War spill by two orders of magnitude. Dragons flight ( talk) 19:43, 4 May 2010 (UTC)
Here's a serious attempt to estimate the extent of spillage after the Gulf War--they come up with 4 million-6 million barrels, which is 168 million-252 million gallons. Maybe we should use this estimate in place of the three other take-our-word-for-it sources?
http://employees.oneonta.edu/baumanpr/geosat2/Environmental_Warfare/ENVIRONMENTAL_WARFARE.htm
Nareek ( talk) 16:49, 6 May 2010 (UTC)
-> I asked the authors of the NYT article. They said it came from NOAA, but they have since learned it is wrong. --
levydav (
levydav) 22:26, 14 May 2010 (UTC)
In a fortnight it reached 290k tons, it should top this list in a month. Yet it isn't mentioned. Is this because it's ongoing? 99.236.221.124 ( talk) 04:29, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
Can whoever posted the comment about PCBs please explain to me how an aromatic compound living several km deep in the earth's crust managed to get itself poly-chlorinated? PCBs were manufactured in chemical plants. If they previously existed naturally in crude oil, then this is the first I have heard about it. However, I am leaving the comment for now with a citation request in the possible event that I am wrong. If I am right, then please remove this comment, as this seems like the kind of mislead hype that damages the credibility of wikipedia. Wulfgang ( talk) 14:19, 25 May 2010 (UTC)
-- 222.64.219.195 ( talk) 01:07, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
-- 222.64.219.195 ( talk) 01:19, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
I think it would be very helpful to have a column in the table of largest spills to identify whether the source was a marine well, land well/field, or tanker. In the onging debate about whether to drill offshore or import oil via tankers, we need to understand which is better. Wmjohn6217 ( talk) 20:40, 27 May 2010 (UTC)
Quantities should be normalized into gallons or barrels throughout this page, but not tons. I've been spending the last couple of weeks multiplying or dividing by 42 or by 7.3 (or whatever it is) but most people don't do that. Listing all three is OK, but listing tons alone is not because very few reports use tons. —Preceding unsigned comment added by John Emerson ( talk • contribs) 01:52, 31 May 2010 (UTC)
John Hofmeister's been going on about this massive but, until now, unknown, spill that Saudi Aramco had in 1993-1994. I can find nothing about it anywhere. With him claiming that it was 150% the size of the Gulf War spill, it seems like a hard thing to have kept quiet for 17 years. Is this an example of an amazing press containment atop the oil containment? Hofmeister's story is here. Czrisher ( talk) 13:27, 28 May 2010 (UTC)
Found some vandalism while visiting the page. Did an Undo to put the article back as it was. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bmaples ( talk • contribs) 02:35, 31 May 2010 (UTC)
Its article puts it at 250,000 barrels, which certainly merits placement on the list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Orionriver ( talk • contribs) 07:30, 3 June 2010 (UTC)
Look right on the page for the Valdez spill. The official number has been 250.000 barrels for nearly two decades. It's on the Exxon Valdez page, why isn't it here? —Preceding
unsigned comment added by
76.188.82.182 (
talk) 22:42, 10 June 2010 (UTC)
The 'largest spills' table/section seems to be somewhat western-centric--my guess would be that the data is limited to single-events (not multiple smaller events in a single area), and is focused on events that were 'noticed' by the western world for whatever reason (that includes Iraq war). For example, I keep hearing that the Niger Delta is horribly hit and nobody hears about it. I think those are multiple events over extended time--no less devastating, but each event is smaller, or maybe just nobody measured the spill?
"According to Nigerian federal government figures, there were more than 7,000 spills between 1970 and 2000, and there are 2,000 official major spillages sites, many going back decades, with thousands of smaller ones still waiting to be cleared up. More than 1,000 spill cases have been filed against Shell alone." http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/30/oil-spills-nigeria-niger-delta-shell
Maybe the poster of the data could add some text for context as to the source, types of data, limitations, etc?
Thanks. 69.86.235.245 ( talk) 01:48, 4 June 2010 (UTC)
Thanks for the Guardian link. a key quote from that article has two different sources (WWF UK and Amnesty) give two very similar estimates of between 1.22 and 1.5 million tons (9 to 11 million barrels) of oil:
One report, compiled by WWF UK, the World Conservation Union and representatives from the Nigerian federal government and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, calculated in 2006 that up to 1.5m tons of oil – 50 times the pollution unleashed in the Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Alaska – has been spilled in the delta over the past half century. Last year Amnesty calculated that the equivalent of at least 9m barrels of oil was spilled and accused the oil companies of a human rights outrage.
This presumably includes spills that would not make it into the list of "largest spills" however.See suggestion (B) below, under "Data for Totals" Harel ( talk) 22:41, 8 June 2010 (UTC)
It would be very useful to have total amount spilled tabulated. Two data actually:
A. Does anyone know how to use wiki code to create a "Row" in the table of "spills over 100,000 tons" that would total all the preceding rows? It would total the upper and lower bounds so this total would itself consist of two numbers; upper and lower.
B. It would also be very helpful to have the current-best-estimate total for ALL spills of oil (in the broad definition of the term) both "small" (under 100,000 tons) and those above.
(By the way, if I calculated correctly, every 1 million tons spilled (the size of some of the largest ones; the total spilled is far above 1 million) is equivalent to one ppt (part per trillion) of the entire planet's ocean volume. With some petrocheicals (e.g. benzine) being cited as having toxicity in the ppb's range, it's entirely possible that the threshold for "some harmful effects from long-term exposure" swimming in it for months or years could end up being measurable in parts per trillion. This aside is not the only reason totals are helpful, but does illustrate one of the many reasons a WP would be helpful to contain totals A. and B.) Harel ( talk) 22:56, 8 June 2010 (UTC)
I haven't been able to find anything on this particular spill anywhere in Wikipedia. Reports are that the spill was 100 - 120 kilotons of oil. Here's a couple of references to get started:
http://www1.american.edu/ted/komi.htm http://archive.greenpeace.org/majordomo/index-oldgopher/9505/msg00009.html
This reference says the 'official estimate' was 60,000 tons: http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2007/Oil_spill_in_Komi
This reference cites (unnamed) environmental groups at 60-200 tons (and the company's official position of 14,000 tons): http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jRgVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vQcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6808,213696&dq=komi+oil&hl=en Biccat ( talk) 01:38, 11 June 2010 (UTC)
That was terrestrial, what could it have spilled into? 99.236.221.124 ( talk) 00:58, 17 June 2010 (UTC)
It filled up an area of California scrubland. Huge pools of oil were created by earthen berms and sandbag dykes. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/science/earth/19enviro.html?hp Similar info is to be found in the Wikipedia article on the event. Note that while this article is called "oil spill", it describes any uncontrolled discharge of oil. 76.118.170.241 ( talk) 04:02, 20 June 2010 (UTC)
We are in dire need of better sources for the given number of 9 million gallons. The three current sources are a youtube video and about.com, both of which aren't incredibly reliable, and a book which apparently is reliable but ideally would be supplemented by an online reliable verifiable source. Travelbird ( talk) 15:37, 1 July 2010 (UTC)
User 91.55.96.174 just removed two columns, the ones showing gallons and barrels, from the table of oil spills. The Table now shows only tons. All the news I have heard lately measures spills in gallons or barrels, not tons. I think the change should be reverted. HowardMorland ( talk) 04:29, 3 July 2010 (UTC)
Someone needs to separate the wheat from the chaff in the second part here, and make what is viable more encyclopedic. Daniel1212 ( talk) 15:31, 3 July 2010 (UTC)
This article contains one very limited paragraph on Environmental Damage from Oil Spills. This seems hopelessly inadequate to the subject, even in an encyclopedia. This entire construct ought to be expanded and perhaps listed by each aspect of the environment: i.e. hydrology, aquatic mammals, humans, etc. Surely there must be a body of research that has addressed this and can be cited more authoritatively? Justinoly22 ( talk) 14:18, 1 August 2010 (UTC)
BBC says 4.9 million barrels..of which 800,000 were captured, it has been said. Haven't checked all the other references in the last couple of weeks so rather than adding I'll leave it to others whether to add the BBC link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10848147 It does show that even the lower figure 4.1 is above the mid-point of the "2 to 6 million" range for the 1990s Persian Gulf spill..so is larger than that one for certain. (aside: U.S. media still report that one as "the largest" when it's in third place, below Deepwater Horizon, which in turn is below Lakeview, someone write/email your media to correct them next time they say it) Harel ( talk) 04:51, 4 August 2010 (UTC)
I've been wondering if the Kuwaiti oil fires shouldn't be included as an oil spill, and on the list of biggest spills. While not all of the oil simply gushed onto the land or into the sea, a great deal of it apparently did. According to the article on Wikipedia, approximately 300 oil lakes were formed on the surface of Kuwait as a result of the deliberate sabotage to the wells. And an uncontrolled gusher, such as a sabotaged well, seems to be within the scope of this article, given the inclusion of the Lakeview Gusher, even if much of the oil is immediately consumed by fire. In effect, the oil leaves the ground in an uncontrolled fashion, and enters the environment, although much of it is then burned.
The article on the Kuwaiti oil fires says that approximately 6,000,000 barrels of oil were lost each day as a result of the oil fires. Much of that spilled out onto the ground, with the rest being burned and released into the atmosphere. There's no total figure given, but clearly the amount of oil involved would far surpass any of the largest oil spills in the table in this article. And I think most people would agree that the event belongs in the category of oil spills. P Aculeius ( talk) 19:29, 10 August 2010 (UTC)
Per Wikipedia policy, "Most human-made oil pollution comes from land-based activity" has been removed until a citation can be added. This is a fascinating fact (assuming it's accurate), but such a specific and not widely known fact requires a reference to be included. I'd really like to see where it's from. Please add it back in once a source can be found and cited.
--
Cfwschmidt (
talk) 02:19, 8 October 2010 (UTC)
Vessels such as supertankers can be used to suck up oil; see http://inhabitat.com/gulf-spill-solution-could-be-supertankers-bp-wont-listen/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.182.152.229 ( talk) 15:41, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
That is not a squid..... It is a pile of kelp. Not entirely sure how to edit that caption though. Any help?? Wilbiddle42 ( talk) 21:53, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
I'm not sure why the term "ton" at the head of the table of largest oil spills still has a clarification tag. Although the term can refer to different measurements, note "a" clearly defines the volume of oil that is considered a "ton" in this instance. I'd like to remove the tag, but since this topic involved several editors a while back, I thought it better to give others a chance to reply first. P Aculeius ( talk) 13:40, 14 October 2011 (UTC)
From a text in Kijk magazine (13/2011), I seem to understand that unrefined oil can be (easily) degraded by microorganisms, where refined oil can not be broken down by microorganisms. So, it seems that an oil spill with the first type of oil is ecologically (relatively) harmless, while the second one creates huge environmental damage. Look into it and mention it in the article.
91.182.240.163 ( talk) 15:36, 23 February 2012 (UTC)
Hi all, I noticed there is no mention that I can see regarding the results of clean up efforts. That is a big oversight. For instance, During the Deepwater media coverage, it was widely reported that on the shores where the Exxon Valdez spilled, oil is still found under the rocks. Are there any successful clean ups? This type of information would be good to add to this article, no? petrarchan47 t c 19:34, 18 August 2012 (UTC)
The line in the largest oil spills section that says "Oil spills at sea are generally much more than damaging than those on water ," doesn't make sense. Did the writer intend to say "than those on land" or "than those on fresh water"? Without a citation it's hard to know. Linktex ( talk) 15:46, 19 October 2012 (UTC)
Perhaps this can be mentioned in the article: http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/05/22/robot-fish-pollution-idINDEE84L03320120522
KVDP ( talk) 14:28, 16 November 2012 (UTC)
Appearantly, Bacillus subtilis is used for this, see http://www.pnas.org/content/106/43/18109.short Mention in article 80.200.230.223 ( talk) 12:05, 8 January 2013 (UTC)
This section was added in this diff. I'm sure most of this can be used, but will probably need a bit of work first. petrarchan47 t c 20:49, 1 May 2013 (UTC)
Drilling for oil effects the environment; derricks, machine use to extract oil, causes the estate to become undesired, oil spills endanger the surrounding wildlife, thus creating business's decrease. In 1932 real estate values in Venice, California decreased due to the pollution and noise that the derricks, a machine used to obtain the oil, produced while operating. Tourist stopped visiting Venice therefore the businesses no longer had customers to sell their merchandise to. Residents and businesses protested against the drilling in residential areas in 1932, drilling had to occur two hundred and five thousand feet from the pier (Ekind). Drilling for oil in the ocean puts the aquatic life endanger. A team of researchers studying an oil well in Macondo, part of the BP Oil Company, discovered that oil was leaking out of the well a thousand meters down in the ocean. The discovery of this leak shows that the operations are not being executed correctly and that makes sterilizing the water much more complicated.The oil can harm many organisms that help support the Gulf's food web; from corals to migrating plankton (Schrope). The BP Deep Water Oil Spill occurred April 10, 2010, the aftermath devastated the wildlife; four thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight animals died in total. Shrimpers, fisherman and restaurants along the coast of Louisiana were effected by the BP Deep Water Oil Spill, they depended on the aquatic life to support their business. Although oil is a productive natural resource drilling for it endangers our environment. (Kornfeld)
Since this is the second or third time someone has just assumed that the amount of oil burned in the Kuwaiti Oil Fires was a typo, I'm just placing this memorandum about it. The sources and estimates found in various sources are provided in one of the sections above, and there's a note attached to the table in the article as well. It's not a typo. The amount of oil lost in the Kuwaiti Oil Fires is about two orders of magnitude greater than that lost in any other oil spill in recorded history. The reason why the Lakeview gusher isn't on a similar scale is because it was just one well... the Kuwaiti Oil Fires involved over seven hundred wells gushing uncontrolled for several weeks, and some for several months. The figures cited could still use more corroboration, but there's nothing the least bit surprising about the oil fires accounting for so much more oil spilled. P Aculeius ( talk) 02:43, 2 June 2013 (UTC)
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Oil spill's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.
Reference named "Panetta":
I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 18:21, 1 March 2014 (UTC)
Perhaps this can be mentioned ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.242.236.184 ( talk) 08:34, 6 April 2014 (UTC)
As per the discussion ongoing on the talk page of the Kuwaiti oil fires.
Oil well fires aren't oil spills as the oils residence time in the atmosphere is measured in milliseconds and the oil itself does not cause any environmental damage, only the combustion products of the oil cause environmental damage, damage that is categorically of a different nature than the environmental damage from actual oil spills.
Lastly, during the second US invasion of Iraq in 2003, oil wells(30 to 50) were once again set on fire in the Persian gulf and these fires weren't described as oil spills, here * | here likewise this recent Oil well fire on Baku Hafiz Heydarov in May 2014 was not described as an oil spill. |here Wikipedia's bizarre definition of an oil spill that seemingly include oil well fires is not supported by anyone else and so, as per WP:No original research & WP:USEBYOTHERS, the section/article - largest oil spills should not include fires like those at Kuwait in 1991 & Iraq in 2003 as NO reliable agency actually classified those fires as oil spills, and more generally no reliable agency regards the act of burning oil as one in the same as the act of spilling oil.
92.251.207.0 ( talk) 21:50, 10 June 2014 (UTC)
Response to third opinion request: |
I am responding to a third opinion request for this page. I have made no previous edits on Oil spill and have no known association with the editors involved in this discussion. The third opinion process is informal and I have no special powers or authority apart from being a fresh pair of eyes. |
There are quite a few things to say here, but the main one is that, pretty obviously, an oil spill must involve spillage. Gushers are not spills, any more than a chip pan fire is a spill. So no, the Kuwaiti oil fires were not oil spills. To address some of the specifics here in more detail:
I hope this helps. Regards, Stfg ( talk) 10:20, 8 July 2014 (UTC) |
I've asked the editor who keeps tagging the list of largest oil spills as "original research" to bring the argument to the talk page, but so far all there have been are comments in the edit summaries, including a warning not to remove the tag. From my perspective, the repetitive tagging constitutes a means of advocating a particular point of view without attempting to obtain consensus from interested editors. I suspect this may be because previous discussions of the same issue failed to achieve consensus, and I also think that the other editor involved may be the same one who previously raised the issue here, but I cannot tell, because that editor did most of his editing from IP addresses.
The issue under dispute is whether the Kuwaiti Oil Fires ought to be included under the heading of "oil spills". This editor first raised that question five years ago, noting that they seemed to fall within the definition of "oil spill" set forth in the lead paragraph of the article: "the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment". That being the case, they would almost certainly be important to include on the basis of their massive and unprecedented scale. It was also difficult to separate them as a distinct occurrence from the pooling of oil on the ground from the same wells that were sabotaged by the retreating Iraqi army in 1991, since that portion of the transaction was indisputably within the scope of the article. As the two events are closely linked and arose out of the same transaction, it seemed reasonable to include both, if both could fit within the scope of the article.
This addition was relatively uncontroversial at the time, and accepted as within the article's scope for the next four years. But in June, 2014, a discussion of the same point occurring on the talk page of the article about the Kuwaiti Oil Fires was carried over here by another editor. After going back and forth for a month, the argument was dropped, and the other editor added a "dubious" tag requesting further discussion. Nobody else accepted the invitation to discuss it. Several months later, the same argument was revived, although there was no change in circumstances or basis. After that discussion finally died down without a consensus being reached, an editor is now adding tags claiming that the disputed inclusion of the Kuwaiti Oil Fires is "original research," and claiming that what makes it "original research" is that the cited sources don't refer to it as an oil spill.
Since the other editor has declined repeated requests to discuss the issue on the article's talk page, I'm initiating a discussion here. My position is that this is not a question of original research, but the scope of the article as defined in the lead paragraph. If an oil spill is defined as "the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment," then it is of no consequence whether the oil pools on the ground or in the water, or whether any of it is burned, on land, in the water, or in the air. It plainly fits within the scope of the article, and including it on that basis cannot be characterized as "original research" whether or not the cited sources state that it is or is not a type of oil spill.
It has been argued repeatedly that this would require other oil fires to be included on the list of oil spills, which they are not. But given that no other oil fire approaches the scale of the other spills included on this or the other table, it is unlikely that they would be included anyway. The Kuwaiti Oil Fires are sui generis, as there has never been a comparable event before or since, and it is to be hoped that such an event is never repeated. But given the magnitude of the release of oil, which far exceeds any other spill, it seems to me that excluding them from the article when they plainly fall within its scope would not only be arbitrary, but unhelpful to those researching the topic of oil spills, as the event is clearly relevant and important.
Once again, I invite the other editor to discuss this issue here on the article's talk page, instead of simply conducting a back-and-forth argument through edit summaries. P Aculeius ( talk) 18:44, 26 August 2015 (UTC)
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There doesn't seem to be any page on solidifiers. If made, add this: polyurethane/silane sponge
KVDP ( talk) 16:05, 23 June 2017 (UTC)
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I don't want to rehash the earlier dispute of "fire vs spill", but imho the two Kuwaiti should be treated as one, since they are basically belong to the same spill/event. Treating them as several spill seems rather confusing at least without further explanation (separating land spill and (susequent) sea spill).-- Kmhkmh ( talk) 11:54, 6 April 2018 (UTC)
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Remove "Solby's academically accelerated class took off on a mass journey to discover the advanced reasoning behind such science of oil and water. Below is the research they concluded." (the second paragraph) as it seems unnecessary. 138.87.133.14 ( talk) 15:34, 3 December 2018 (UTC)
and oil is one of the environment the bodies of water. method of separeting mixtures can be used in order to solve the problem 119.93.199.43 ( talk) 13:39, 11 October 2022 (UTC)
I work with developing systems for sensitivity mapping (Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) mapping)" and find that the section ESI mapping might deserve its own page so that the methods in question can be further elaborated. The ESI part of this article could then be made into a smaller one pointing to a more elaborate page. Comments? Ragnvald ( talk) 10:45, 19 February 2023 (UTC)