Download Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Prince William Sound, Alaska, 1989 What`s

Environmental Impacts of Fossil Fuel Use
Burning Oil Wells, Kuwait, 1990
Upper Big Branch (West Virginia) Mine Accident (April 5, 2010)
 515 safety citations had been ignored
 29 Miners killed in coal dust explosion
2011 - Environmental Protection Agency revokes the license by the Arch Coal
Company for its Spruce No 1 “mountaintop removal” coal mine, citing that it is
terminally bad for the environment
•
mine would have been the largest ever, removing 2,278 acres of forest
•
would have removed an entire mountaintop, dump 110 million cubic
yards of coal-mining waste into seven miles of headwater streams
•
only the 12th time in 39 years the EPA has blocked a mine under
provisions of the Clean Water Act
• in previous years, mines were
allowed to dump into stream
beds and riverbeds essentially
without regard to the
environmental consequences,
ignoring the Clean Water Act.
• Pres. Bush tried to repeal
Clean Water Act. Stopped by
Supreme Court.
Kingston Ash Slide
In December 2008, Kingston
Ash Slide flooded a large
swath of Tennessee with toxic
coal ash when a containment
pond ruptured. The massive
spill -- bigger than the Exxon
Valdez oil spill in Alaska -covered hundreds of acres of
land, knocking homes off of
their foundations and flowing
into streams and the Clinch
and Tennessee rivers. The
spill killed wildlife and poses
long-term threats to human
health and the environment
There are thousands of similar dumps in 46 states, many of which are
unmonitored and unregulated. Coal ash, a toxic byproduct of coal power plants,
contains heavy metals including arsenic, lead, mercury and selenium, which
threaten water supplies and human health. EPA has found groundwater at 63
sites around the country already contaminated by these dumps.
Sludge impoundment on the west side of Coal River Mountain,
WV, 5 miles away from Cherry Pond Mountain
 Holds 8 billion tons of coal sludge (by-product of washing coal)
Stream Acidity:
Stream Life and Ph Levels:
Soil Acidity: (1 kg SO4/ha/yr = 20.8 eq/ha/yr “charge
equivalent units”; 1 hectare ~ 2.5 acres)
Air pollution from fossil fuel combustion:
London “fog” (smog)
Monet: London
London “killer fog” in 1952 (>3000 deaths)
Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990: forcing a reduction in
pollution from power plants
Lead levels in childrens’ blood:
Particulate Matter (atmospheric) decreasing in the US:
Air Pollution decreasing in the US:
Six major pollutants: Ozone, particular matter, carbon
monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, lead
Human Health Concerns All Forms of Air Pollution
Beijing, China
Linfin,
China
Linfin,
China
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Prince William Sound, Alaska, 1989
Leaked an estimated 750,000 barrels of oil
Oil spills:
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Prince William Sound, Alaska, 1989
What’s the big problem with oil spills?
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Prince William Sound, Alaska, 1989
What’s the big problem with oil spills? Oil floats!
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Prince William Sound, Alaska, 1989
Spill covered 11,000 square miles
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 2010
Leaked an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 2010
Water depth was ~1.5 km; Took 5 months to contain
Why?
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 2010
Water depth was ~1.5 km; Took 5 months to contain
 Methane froze at the seafloor, preventing the cap to seal!!
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 2010
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 2010
Dispersant “Corexit:” Contains 2-butoxyethanol and
polypropylene glycol  increases oil toxicity by >50x
 Wiped out Gulf plankton and other life forms
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 2010
Deepwater Horizon
Oil Spill, 2010
Groundwater Pollution
13 fires broke out on the Cuyahoga River: 1868 - 1969
Standard Oil, Cleveland (John D. Rockefeller)
The 1969 Cuyahoga River fire helped spur an avalanche of water
pollution control activities resulting in the Clean Water Act (1972),
Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, and the creation of the
federal Environmental Protection Agency (1970).
Economist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman referred to the
Cuyahoga fire as the start of “environmentalism”.
Water quality has improved and, partially in recognition of this
improvement, the Cuyahoga River was designated as one of 14
American Heritage Rivers in 1998.
Pollution along the
Androscoggin River
near the Berlin (NH)
Paper Mill
Pollution along the
Androscoggin River
near the Berlin (NH)
Paper Mill
Pollution along the Androscoggin River near the Berlin
(NH) Paper Mill
Pollution along the
Androscoggin River
near the Berlin (NH)
Paper Mill
Pollution along the
Androscoggin River
near the Berlin (NH)
Paper Mill
The Androscoggin River today
Groundwater pollution from agricultural fertilizers
 Leads to Dead Zones in the Oceans
Nitrogen/phosphorous  algae blooms  ultra-low
oxygen levels (hypoxic)  lack of any other life
Algal Blooms: Qingdao (site of boating for World
Olympics in China)
Algal Blooms:
Off the coast of
Washington and
Vancouver Island
Algal Blooms: “Red tide” (Cape Rodney, New Zealand)
(particular kind of phytoplankton, dinoflagellates)
Algal Blooms: “Red tide” (La Jolla, CA)
Algal Blooms: Can choke out all other life in freshwater
lakes