Contact Us

Find out the disease and risks of pollution you may have been exposed! Fill out the form below for more environmental pollution information!

OIL SPILL AFFECTING RESIDENTS IN THE AREA

Oil spills involve any release of oil or oil products in the environment (including soil, water, and/or air). Oil refers to crude oil, while oil products include various petroleum products (distillates) such as: gasoline, diesel products, jet fuels, kerosene, fuel oil, as well as heavy distillates such as hydraulic and lubricating oils. Residuals such as tars usually also signal and are associated with oil spills. In this section, we will refer to any such petroleum products and crude oil with the generic name of “oil”.

Oil Spills May Affect Residents!

Oil spills may occur all around us. Since oil products include a lot of common fuels, it is evident that oil spills may happen at high rate and in many locations, including residential areas. Oil leakage from storage tanks and associated piping and/or during transportation and handling of oil is usually the cause of oil spills within residential and commercial areas. Such spills may happen at the surface or underground (when oil is stored underground such as at many gas stations, storage facilities, and/or refineries). Surface oil spills are easy to identify and will leave visible traces such as oil stains, as well as other characteristic signs such as odors due to the vapors emitted by the spilled oil. The underground oil spills are more difficult to catch and yet may be more problematic (oil may reach groundwater more easily and travel with it). Both surface and underground oil spills have the potential to contaminate soils, sediment, water (groundwater and surface water bodies), and air (due to many volatile compounds emitted by the spilled oil into the air).

Additionally, big oil spills such as those from marine platforms or tanker ships also happen all over the world. Such oil spills usually happen far from residential areas, however due to the generally high volume of spilled oil, residents may still be affected in various ways. Typical examples are: the Exxon Valdez oil spill (close to Alaska coastlines) from an oil tanker ship and the recent BP oil spill from off-shore drilling (well explosion) platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil spills negative impacts on residents may be exacerbated by severe weather conditions. An example is the Murphy oil spill (due to the failure of a storage tank at the Murphy Oil USA refinery). Murphy oil spill had particularly affected residential areas in Louisiana due to the contamination of flood-waters following the levy breaks during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Particularly, more than 1 million gallons of mixed crude oil were released from the Murphy refinery tank. The flooding enabled the spreading of spilled oil over larger areas, impacting about 1,700 homes in several residential neighborhoods. Additionally, canals have been impacted.

Please follow the link below for more information on:

How to Determine if an Oil Spill Is Problematic for Human Health?

Also, if you believe you have been or are a victim of oil spill pollution, please do not hesitate to contact us.