18. Imagine you are people from the list in Ex. 17. Act out interviews. Before you begin, decide what attitude you wish to convey by the tone of your voice and the way you speak.

19. Imagine you are fisherman or local hotel owners. Plan and write a letter demanding compensation for loss of trade caused by the oil spills.

From Rye D., Greenall S. CAE: Listening and Speaking Skills, 2004.

20. Discuss the following facts and figures.

1. There are more than 24 thousand enterprises in Russia releasing harmful substances into atmosphere and water basins. These substances are not caught and detoxified by technological processes. Nearly 33 % of emissions come from metallurgy, 29% - from power industry, 7 % - from chemical industry, and 8 % - from coal industry. More than half of the emissions deliver from transport.

2. There are great losses of non-renewable resources. While extracting mineral resources nearly one third of iron ore, 7,6 % of copper ore is lost, not more than 30% of oil are recovered from oil reservoir. Every year in the Russian Federation 45 billion tons of mining wastes are formed, out of which 20 billion tons are related to the nonutilizable toxic wastes. They are partially stored on the areas of plants or discharged into sewage system or drafts uncontrollably.

21. Discuss the following quotation from the standpoint of the ecological problems in mining and oil production

1. One of the first laws against air pollution came in 1300 when King Edward I decreed the death penalty for burning of coal.  At least one execution for that offense is recorded.  But economics triumphed over health considerations, and air pollution became an appalling problem in England. 

~Glenn T. Seaborg, Atomic Energy Commission chairman,

Argonne National Laboratory, 1969

2. The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing.  Not so with technology. 

~E.F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful, 1973

3. When some high-sounding institute states that a compound is harmless or a process free of risk, it is wise to know whence the institute or the scientists who work there obtain their financial support. 

~Lancet, editorial on the "medical-industrial complex," 1973 22. Read the text, do the tasks after it

Deepwater Horizon oil spill

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the BP oil disaster, or the Macondo blowout) is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed unabated for three months in 2010. It is the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. The spill stemmed from a sea-floor oil gusher that resulted from the April 20, 2010, explosion of Deepwater Horizon, which drilled on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. The explosion killed 11 men working on the platform and injured 17 others. On July 15, 2010, the leak was stopped by capping the gushing (фонтанирующий) wellhead, after it had released about 4.9 million barrels (780,000 m³) of crude oil. An estimated 53,000 barrels per day (8,400 m³/d) escaped from the well just before it was capped. It is believed that the daily flow rate diminished over time, starting at about 62,000 barrels per day (9,900 m³/d) and decreasing as the reservoir of hydrocarbons feeding the gusher (неконтролируемый выброс нефти) was gradually depleted. On September 19, 2010, the relief well process was successfully completed, and the federal government declared the well "effectively dead". In August 2011, oil and oil sheen covering several square miles of water were reported surfacing not far from BP’s Macondo well. Scientific analysis confirmed the oil was too dispersed to recover.

The spill caused extensive damage to marine and wildlife habitats and to the Gulf's fishing and tourism industries. Skimmer ships, floating containment booms, anchored barriers, sand-filled barricades along shorelines, and dispersants were used in an attempt to protect hundreds of miles of beaches and wetlands from the spreading oil. Scientists also reported immense underwater plumes (нефтяной шлейф) of dissolved oil not visible at the surface as well as an 80-square-mile (210 km²) "kill zone" surrounding the blown well. In late November 2010, 4,200 square miles (11,000 km²) of the Gulf were re-closed to shrimping after tar balls (смолистый шарик) were found in shrimpers' nets. The amount of Louisiana shoreline affected by oil grew from 287 miles (462 km) in July to 320 miles (510 km) in late November 2010. In January 2011, an oil spill commissioner reported that tar balls continue to wash up, oil sheen trails (следы нефтяной пленки) are seen in the wake (попутная струя) of fishing boats, wetlands marsh grass remains fouled (засорившийся) and dying, and crude oil lies offshore in deep water and in fine silts (нанос) and sands onshore. A research team found oil on the bottom of the seafloor in late February 2011 that did not seem to be degrading. On May 26, 2011, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality extended the state of emergency related to the oil spill. By July 9, 2011, roughly 491 miles (790 kilometers) of coastline in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida remained contaminated by BP oil, according to a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) spokesperson. In October 2011, a NOAA report stated that dolphins and whales continue to die at twice the normal rate.

In January 2011 the White House oil spill commission released its final report on the causes of the oil spill. They blamed BP and its partners for making a series of cost-cutting decisions and the lack of a system to ensure well safety. They also concluded that the spill was not an isolated incident caused by "rogue (вышедший из-под контроля) industry or government officials", but that "The root causes are systemic and, absent significant reform in both industry practices and government policies, might well recur (повториться)". After its own internal probe, BP admitted that it made mistakes which led to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. In June 2010 BP set up a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the oil spill. To July 2011, the fund has paid $4.7 billion to 198,475 claimants (истец). In all, the fund has nearly 1 million claims and continues to receive thousands of claims each week.

From www.wikipedia.ed

Enumerate:

- all consequences of Deepwater Horizon oil spill;

-all methods of oil cleaning mentioned in the text;

- all measures taken by the US government;

- all causes of Deepwater Horizon oil spill.