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Showing posts from July, 2010

Spill Prevention and Response

To fuel the world economy, there are billions of gallons of oil and natural gas delivered by a network of pipelines, tanker ships and trucks. However, spills may occur sometimes, which may pose a great danger to the environment and economy. In US there are continual improvements to prevent spills from happening but you never know when it can strike. Take the example of the BP oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico. The spill has created a big catastrophe, keeping every one on their toes to control it. The oil leak is however finally staunched but the oil is still scattered and the clean up will take a lot of time to be completed. So, what does a spill prevention and response usually do? In open-water marine spills, the primary response objectives will be to prevent the oil spill from moving onto the shore, reduce the impact of the spill on marine life, speed the debasement of any un-recovered oil. Dispersant, which are used in the Gulf of Mexico spill, can be effective to break up spills of l