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=Oil Spills=

By: Emily Maziarski and Meg Biemesderfer
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Oil spills are a major problem in the world we live in today. We all know that in the past year there was a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It hurt many families and our economy too. Millions of plants and animals in the ocean are hurt or killed in spills! The spill doesn't just hurt families and animals for a week or a month, it continues for many yeas to come. media type="youtube" key="N__OeG8ENaM?version=3" height="390" width="640"

Effects on animals and plants.
There are millions of plants and animals in the sea and all of them can be effected by oil spills. If oil gets into the ocean it will kill most plants and animals. The oil doesn't just effect the ocean creatures and plants it kills a lot of other animals. Birds are a common loss in oil spills because they eat the fish that live in the water and are contaminated with the oil. It is also harder for the birds to live due to the lack of fish because most are dead. Another problem with oil spills is marsh loss and coastal erosion. It has a huge impact on fisheries, which raise eggs and newborn fish. Not only the big animals and plants that we can see but the smaller plants and animals that we never think about die in oil spills. Things we don't see are important, that's why their there, mother nature put them there for a reason many animals die that are only in that area of the world and then that animal/plant might be gone forever.



Effects on People
Oil spills don't hurt just animals and plants, they hurt us too! Many lives and families have been destroyed by spills. Many jobs are based on the ocean, so their jobs ruined. The following are jobs that are lost during oil spills, fisherman, local restaurant owners, and lobster men. People with these jobs, which are a lot of people who live near the ocean lose their jobs and lose all money flow in their family. People with these jobs cant support their family since they don't have a jobs, so their family becomes poor and maybe even homeless.The oil spills don't just hurt them financially, it can hurt them physically too. There can be short-term effects from toxin exposure, like cough and irritation of the mucous membrane. There can also be long-term effects on people such as neurological ailments and cancer (can take months to appear after toxin exposure). Effects are strongly related to a person's level of exposure, genetics means some workers will be more effected than others, and there is no way to know in advance on how a person's body will react. People are effected greatly by oil spills!

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Cost of cleaning up the oil
Oil spills are costly in of themselves, and are extremely hard to clean. The oil spreads under rocks and gets mixed with sand not to mention the poor animals getting covered in it! All this is costly to clean up, the workers must be paid, businesses repaid for damages, the locals must get compensation for the spill messing up their lives, all the machines cost millions just by them self, and all these cost add up. The total varies but all this can cost a lot, the average cost is 9.5 billion dollars to clean up! Luckily some companies and every-day people help lower the cost by donating time, money, and supplies to help with the animals and the clean up.



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Ways to clean it up
Even though it is very hard to clean up oil spills, it is possible. Its not possible to clean all of it though, the oil drifts farther away from the oil spill site so it is hard for the cleaners to get all of it. The oil also gets stuck in coral crevasses, which makes it nearly impossible to get. One thing they use to clean it up is this sand-like substance that they can sprinkle on the top of the spill. It absorbs the oil and bacteria will then eat some of it. Workers also us top hat containment domes, top kills, and junk shots which only temporary stop the oil tanker from leaking more or keep the oil in one spot in the ocean to make it easier or clean up.

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How long does it stay on the beach and in the water?
Oil does not go away easily or quickly, it can stay for decades after the clean up! It soaks into sand and slides under rocks. Animals and plants may eat or breath the oil in and spread the toxin when another animal eats it. These effects could keep multiplying and growing for hundreds of years! The animals will also go away for years after a spill. There are holes and plants, animals and rocks, all of these things can spread it! These spills last long, and hurt things years later. media type="youtube" key="EhNa3EXIsfM?version=3" height="390" width="640"