Oil Spill Response (main)

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Oil Spill Response


A number of advanced response mechanisms are available for controlling oil spills and minimizing their impacts on human health and the environment. The key to effectively combating spills is careful selection and proper use of the equipment and materials best suited to the type of oil and the conditions at the spill site. Most spill response equipment and materials are greatly affected by such factors as conditions at sea, water currents, and wind. Damage to spill-contaminated shorelines and dangers to other threatened areas can be reduced by timely and proper use of containment and recovery equipment


  • Oil spills in mangroves Featured Article Oil spills in mangroves Oil spills in mangroves
    Editor's Note: This article is excerpted directly from NOAA, "Oil Spills in Mangroves: Planning and Response Considerations, " July 2010. It has been edited only to... More »
  • What are booms? (1:24) Featured Video What are booms? (1:24)
    Date of Video: Jun. 21, 2010 Ocean Conservancy director of conservation sciences Stan Senner explains what oil booms are and how they are working in the Gulf of Mexico. More »
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ArcticOilSpill ehp.120-a194.g001.png.jpeg Arctic offshore oil exploration spill response planning Last Updated on 2012-05-11 00:00:00 Worldwide, oil and gas companies are being forced by resource declines to drill in less accessible areas, and the Arctic is their newest frontier. This article, written by Charles W. Schmidt*, appeared first in Environmental Health Perspectives—the peer-reviewed, open access journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The article is a verbatim version of the original and is not available for edits or additions by Encyclopedia of Earth editors or authors. Companion articles on the same topic that are editable may exist within the Encyclopedia of Earth. Offshore Exploration in the Arctic: Can Shell’s Oil-Spill Response Plans Keep Up? All around the world, oil and gas companies are being forced by resource declines to drill in less accessible areas, and the Arctic is their newest frontier. The geology above the Arctic... More »
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How to clean up an oil spill Last Updated on 2011-08-24 10:04:33 This clip from PBS experiments with cleaning up an oil spill. More »
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