Cleanup and Recovery
The techniques used to clean up an oil spill depend on oil characteristics and the type of environment involved; for example, open ocean, coastal, or wetland. Pollution-control measures include containment and removal of the oil (either by skimming, filtering, or in-situ combustion), dispersing it into smaller droplets to limit immediate surficial and wildlife damage, biodegradation (either natural or assisted), and normal weathering processes. Individuals of large-sized wildlife species are sometimes rescued and cleaned, but micro-sized species are usually ignored.
Oil spill countermeasures to clean up and remove the oil are selected and applied on the basis of many interrelated factors, including ecological protection, socioeconomic effects, and health risk. It is important to have contingency plans in place in order to deploy pollution control personnel and equipment efficiently.
In open-water marine spills, the primary response objectives are:
to prevent the spill from moving onto shore,
to reduce the impact on marine life, and
to speed the degradation of any unrecovered oil.
If weather conditions allow, booms can be used to contain or divert the spill. The spilled oil may then be recovered using skimmers or simply burned off. However, if winds and/or waves are too high, booms will not be able to provide adequate containment.
Dispersants – applied to the spill via aircraft – can be effective in breaking up spills of light- or medium-density oils. Weather is a factor here too: High winds make it hard to target the spill from the air. Sorbents may be used for small-volume spills, or to "polish up" after other recovery options have been used.
Deploying the oil spill containment boom |
Deploying the SOCK Skimmer, Gulf of Alaska |
Ex. 5. Decide whether the following statements True or False, according to the text.
Computer technology can prevent pipeline leaks.
Modern tankers are designed with thicker walls.
Oil spills from tankers are responsible for the greatest amount of sea pollution.
Offshore drilling is more harmful in terms of water pollution than ship repair operations.
Oil leaks can occur at almost any stage of petroleum production and transportation.
Tankers can cause oil spills even if they don’t carry a cargo of petroleum products.
Stormy weather can decrease the environmental impact of oil spill.
If volatile organic compounds evaporate, the viscosity of oil increases.
Photolysis occurs if there is sufficient amount of nutrients and microorganisms.
Oil waste erodes shoreline sediments.
Oil spill cannot be burned at sea.
One of the aims of response measures is to shift the oil spill from sea to the land area.
Booms are effective if the weather is calm.
Dispersants are delivered to the spill are by sea.
Ex. 6. VOCABULARY. In the text above, find the equivalents to the following words and phrases. (The sequence corresponds to their occurrence in the text.)
готовность
поставлять на рынок
резервный, дублирующий
ультразвуковые устройства
слабое место
перевалочная нефтебаза
корпус
противостоять, не поддаваться
обращение с
утилизация
случайный
небрежный
ливневая канализация
остаток
просачивание, выход на поверхность
палуба основания морской платформы
промысловый трубопровод
груз
нефтяное пятно
связанный, липкий
волнение на море
дрейфовать
прибрежная зона
наземный
среда обитания
летучие органические соединения
вязкий
остатки нефтепродуктов
рассеяться
взвешенные твердые частицы
застывать, свертываться
липкий
смола
подвергаться атмосферному влиянию
разлагаться
фотолиз
разложение
биохимическое разложение
питательное вещество
гравий
булыжник
растительность
загрязнение
прибой
заболоченная местность
локализация
сбор нефти с поверхности воды
сжигание на воде
поверхностное повреждение
спасать
меры противодействия
взаимосвязанный
план действий по ликвидации аварий
боновое заграждение
локализовать, не дать распространяться
скиммер
диспергатор
сильный ветер
сорбент
Ex. 7. From the Vocabulary List above, find synonyms to the following items.
resist
reckless
pollution
interconnected
thicken, solidify
restrain
treatment
onshore
save
unintended
Ex. 8. Match words from Column A to the words from Column B in order to form phrases. Translate the resulting phrases into Russian. Make up five sentences with these phrases.
Column A
|
Column B |
|
|
Ex. 9. The Vocabulary List contains a number of useful terms. Match the terms and their explanations.
a) seepage |
d) photolysis |
g) skimming |
b) tar |
e) containment |
h) in-situ combustion |
c) volatile organic compound |
f) biodegradation |
i) dispersant |
A chemical agent used to break up concentrations of organic material such as spilled oil.
The act of removing floating material from the surface of a liquid.
An organic chemical compound that has high enough vapor pressures under normal conditions to significantly vaporize and enter the atmosphere.
Barriers which, in the event of a spill, can prevent spilled materials from reaching the environment.
Small quantities of water or other liquid percolating through a soil deposit or soil structure.
The breakdown of materials by living organisms in the environment.
A process whereby sunlight causes the chemical bonds in a molecule to break.
Burning of a spill product at the site of the spill.
A black, oily, sticky, viscous substance, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons derived from organic materials such as wood, peat, or coal.
Ex. 10. Insert appropriate items from the box into the following sentences. Sometimes you will have to change the form of the word.
a) preparedness |
f) volatile organic compounds |
k) surficial damage |
b) disposal |
g) disperse |
l) countermeasures |
c) careless |
h) disintegrate |
m) contingency plan |
d) oil slick |
i) biodegradation |
n) boom |
e) drift |
j) contamination |
o) contain |
Once oil has spilled, it is necessary to use oil spill __________ to try to reduce the adverse effects of spilled oil on the environment.
Only ten minutes after a spill of 1 ton of oil, the oil can __________ over a radius of 50 m, forming a slick 10-mm thick.
Removal of oil spill __________ from the soil can be taxing and expensive.
Due to bad weather all efforts of the Response Team to __________ the oil slick were in vain.
The large amounts of waste that can be collected during an oil spill clean-up operation may become a major problem if the question of__________ is not dealt with.
The Coast Guard has a __________ to deal with the oil spill off San Diego’s coast.
__________ float on oceans and seas, covering them in a thick film of crude or refined petroleum oil.
This short training course is aimed at developing personnel’s __________ for an immediate response to a spill.
The most important environmental factors that influence hydrocarbon __________ include temperature, concentration of nutrients and oxygen, and, of course, species composition.
These techniques to be applied to remove the __________, whose levels exceed the admissible concentrations, from contaminated soil.
The US Coast Guard promised to isolate and set fire to parts of an oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico before the spill __________ closer to Louisiana.
Oil on beaches is a form of oil pollution most obvious to the public which refers to __________ damage of vegetation and land.
Given enough time, the wastes from an oil spill will __________ into harmless substances.
After the sinking of the Erika ship, which caused a major oil spill in 1999, an environmental expert said: “It is a very severe warning to__________ transport groups”.
The Marine protection services effectively contained the oil spill using three floating __________.
Ex. 11. Translate the following sentences into English, using vocabulary from the text and terms given at the beginning of the Unit. (The items are underlined.)
Компания, занимающаяся эксплуатацией этого промыслового трубопровода, уделяет большое внимание повышению готовности персонала в условиях аварии.
Меры противодействия включают сбор нефти с помощью специальных боновых заграждений, локализующих распространение нефтяного пятна.
Ультразвуковые устройства зафиксировали утечку в корпусе нефтяного танкера.
Сбор нефти с поверхности является более предпочтительным методом устранения последствий разлива нефти, чем сжигание на воде.
Интенсивность биохимического разложения может быть увеличена за счет введения в воду бактерий и питательных веществ.
Последствия катастрофы были очевидны: гравий и булыжники в прибрежных зонах были покрыты толстым слоем вязкой и липкой нефти.
Распространение разлива нефти происходит быстрее в открытом море, чем в заболоченной местности из-за сильного ветра и течения.
Диспергаторы и сорбенты активно нейтрализуют нефть на море, однако их слабое место – высокая токсичность.
Корпуса грузовых судов изготавливаются их новых материалов, способных противостоять коррозии.
План действий по ликвидации аварий включает такие взаимосвязанные меры, как локализацию разлива, устранение поверхностных повреждений на воде и на суше и спасение морской фауны.
Остатки нефтепродуктов рассеиваются или опускаются на дно вместе со взвешенными твердыми частицами.
Земля, зараженная густыми, как смола, нефтепродуктами, бедна растительностью.
Нефть, которая не разложилась в процессе фотолиза, сворачивается и трудно поддается атмосферному влиянию.
В Северном море в результате случайной ошибки персонала танкера произошел разлив бензина, и летучие органические соединения быстро испарились.
Загрязнение морей и рек нефтепродуктами наносит огромный ущерб среде обитания наземной фауны.
Инцидент на перевалочной базе произошел в связи с небрежным обращением с отходами нефтеперерабатывающего завода при их утилизации.
Во время волнения на море судно начало дрейфовать, что привело к просачиванию нефти.
Listening
Ex. 12. Listen to a report made shortly after the drilling rig accident in the Gulf of Mexico and answer the following questions. You will hear the recording twice.
Vocabulary:
submarine – подводная лодка
Panhandle – г. Пэнхендл
swamp – болото
Louisiana – штат Луизиана
salvage crew – спасательная бригада
dome – купол
hose – шланг
Rear Admiral – контр-адмирал
intact – неповрежденный
What was the main cause of the disaster?
At what depth is the operation taking place?
What company did the oil rig belong to?
What is the function of the robotic submarines in the operation?
What are the two other rigs needed for?
Why is the operation unique, according to Mr. Sutters?
In what way, according to Rear Admiral Laundry, is the rig accident different from vessel spills?
What measures have been taken to protect the shoreline?
What is said about the damage to the marine species?
Ex. 13. Listen to an account of an environmental disaster that happened in the 1980s. Choose the correct option(s) to complete each sentence 1-8. At least one of the options is always correct, and sometimes both options may be correct! Listen twice, and circle “a”, or “b”, or both “a” and “b”.
Vocabulary:
sea otter – морская выдра
1. Captain Hazelwood
a) commanded a ship named after an oil company and the port of Valdez, Alaska
b) owned an oil tanker called Exxon Valdez.
2. Late night on 24 March 1989, the captain
a) left his third officer in charge of the ship
b) returned to his cabin because he wanted to do some paperwork.
3. A little after midnight, the ship
a) arrived at a port called Bligh Reef
b) collided with some rocks in the water.
4. Fifty million litres of oil
a) spilt into the sea.
b) was being transported by the Exxon Valdez.
5. The clean-up operation
a) was delayed by a storm that had damaged the rescue ship
b) started fifteen hours after the first report of the accident.
6. The oil spill from the Exxon Valdez
a) was cleaned up within the first two days after the disaster
b) caused millions of animals and fish to die.
7. The fact that 25% of the plankton in the sea was destroyed meant
a) that many animals and fish died because they had nothing to eat.
b) that 4,800 square kilometres of sea was covered in oil.
8. The Exxon Valdez disaster
a) was one of the first huge oil spills in history.
b) was the captain's fault.
Grammar
Ex. 14. Study the following information.