4. Is it true or false? Correct the wrong statements.

1. Animals die because of an oil spill occurring in their habitat.

2. Oil spills happen when people are careless and cause an oil tanker to leak oil onto the earth’s surface.

3. Well-maintained equipment may cause an oil spill.

4. When countries are at war, one country may decide to dump gallons of oil into the other country’s oceans.

5. Illegal dumpers are people who decompose their waste oil.

6. Natural disasters (like hurricanes) may cause an oil spill, too.

7. Birds die from oil spills if their feathers are covered in oil.

8. Birds may die from really high body temperature.

5. Retell the text.

6. Find on the Internet the information about Gulf of Mexico oil spill, 2010. Retell it. Reading for Translating

The Exxon Valdez Disaster

The biggest oil spill in recent years (and the biggest ever spill in US waters) occurred when the tanker Exxon Valdez broke up in Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989. Around 12 million gallons (44 million litres) of oil were released into the pristine wilderness—enough to fill your living room 800 times over.

The Exxon Valdez was an oil tanker owned by the Exxon corporation. The ship spilled its oil near Alaska, destroying the local environment and killing a great deal of the native wildlife. The gigantic oil spill is the largest ever in the history of the United States.

On March 24, 1989, the ship hit Bligh Reef near Alaska, opening a large hole on its hull. The ship was full of oil at the time, carrying a total of 1.2 million barrels (190 million liters).

Quickly, huge amounts of oil spilled into the ocean. In total, 265,00 barrels of oil (42 million liters) were dumped, 22% of that present of the ship.

Once out of the ship, the oil spread quickly. It ended up creating a 1,776 square mile (4,600 square kilometer) spill and gave 3,167 miles (5,100 kilometers) of coastline an oily covering.

The damage from the spill was tremendous. Between 100,000 and 600,000 birds, 5,500 sea otters, 30 seals, and 22 whales were killed. Several billion salmon and herring eggs are also believed to have been destroyed. Many other animals likely died as well and were never found. Other animals, such as bald eagles, that ate the oil-poisoned fish from the spill area were also killed.

Though public outrage eventually mounted, the reaction to the oil spill came slowly. The Alaska Oil Spill Team was slow to respond, and by the time that work on cleaning up the area began, massive amounts of oil had already spread to a large area surrounding the ship.

The Exxon corporation was forced to clean up the spill and fined heavily for the damage it had caused. The company spent $2.2 billion for cleanup work, and the total costs will likely amount to over $4 billion.

A large amount of oil is spilt every year. In fact, the amount spilt by the Exxon Valdez amounts to only 5% of all that was spilt in 1989.

Speaking

14 June, 2007

Deborah Swackhamer talks to Kathryn Lees and Neil Withers about water pollution. Deborah Swackhamer is professor of environmental chemistry at the University of Minnesota. Her work focuses on water pollution, in particular, on the chemical and biological processes that control the fate of toxic organic contaminants in the Great Lakes of North America.

Read the conversation and discuss the problems mentioned in it.

Neil Withers:What is the focus of your research?

DS:When I was a graduate student I saw the Great Lakes for the first time - I was stunned by their size and beauty. As a result, I spent my graduate work understanding the chemical behaviour of the Great Lakes and, ever since, I've focused on water chemistry programmes of the Great Lakes basin. Because the Great Lakes act like fresh water oceans, you can understand global processes by studying them. They're also easily accessible and urbanized - 42 million people live in the basin so they're reasonably polluted.

KL:What are the main pollutants in the Great Lakes?

DS:There are still 'legacy pollutants' such as DDT coming from atmospheric deposition as well as phosphorus and nitrogen from agriculture and sewage. However, the new problem is with endocrine disruptors. We know little about where they're coming from but we know they're causing harmful effects. At present, they are impacting fish and bird life but we are not sure if they are affecting people who are drinking the water.

NW:What is the greatest threat to the Great Lakes?

DS:In addition to the chemicals, biologically, there are close to 200 invasive species and a new one is added every eight months. The impact on food webs and ecology could be enormous. However, a dominant factor is the physical threat of global climate change. It affects how chemicals behave in the environment and it drives change in an ecosystem too. Everything is interrelated.

KL:Which species make good biomonitors in the Great Lakes?

DS:A salmon lives for three years and grows to one metre so they take up a lot of chemicals. They're also easy to catch and analyze so they give you a good sense of what's in the water.

NW:Many of the pollutants you mentioned are of great use to many people - how can we find a balance?

DS:Part of the problem is that our regulatory systems for evaluating chemicals are not rigorous enough. The US Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) was meant to regulate toxic compounds, but they have allowed many harmful chemicals through their regulatory 'filter'. We need better modeling tools for predicting toxicity and environmental behaviour so that we can design chemicals that will benefit society and not hurt the environment.