Effects of Drilling for Oil on Animals

Transportation

• Oil must be transported from the drill site to a refinery. Sometimes this is done by pumping it through a pipeline, and other times by putting it on a cargo ship and sending it to a port. This process is perilous as there are sometimes thousands of miles of transit involved, and any number of things can go wrong, from a ship running aground, as occurred off the coast of Mumbai in August 2010, or a pipeline leaking or bursting and spraying crude oil into the wild. The Exxon Valdez spill, while not among the costliest accident in terms of the amount of oil dispersed, was devastating due to the remote area along the Alaskan coast where it affected seals, sea otters, salmon and aviary life.

Food Chain

• An unseen consequence of oil drilling operations is the effect it has on future generations. Food sources are wiped out in spills, meaning that spilled oil covers and kills not only the flora and fauna. The animals that rely on them for food will also be affected by starvation. Similarly, when predators are wiped out, populations of their prey can skyrocket out of control. When predators are forced to eat affected food, they can become poisoned from ingesting oil-soaked tissue.

Habitat

• Oil drilling operations have dire consequences on the habitat. When oil spills reach wetland areas, they slowly cripple and destroy marshy areas, specifically the grasses that hold the marsh together. Like trees on a hillside, when the roots are removed, the ground can destabilize and break apart. Dissolved organic carbon, DOC, can lower oxygen levels in the water, resulting in fish kills, according to Texas A&M University. Oil tends to get caught in these marshy areas, which act much like a net, and the effects of oil contamination can take years to recover from.

Pipelines

• When properly studied and planned, pipelines do not necessarily have to wreak havoc on the environment. The Alaskan Pipeline, for example, has not had drastic effects on populations of caribou and moose due to proper routing of the pipeline. Some musk oxen have been able to cross under the pipeline as well, and the alternative of building roads would open up the area to logging operations. Roads would have a larger impact on wildlife than a pipeline. According to the University of Michigan, the pipeline has only caused minimal impact on local animal populations along the pipeline route. Shipping remains a dangerous proposition because ice bergs prominently dot the local seas and the numerous fishing boats without navigation systems would pose as obstacles as well.