My Fuel for Thought

As you can imagine, our school is aimed at giving back to the public. Part of that giving back is educating us in what we can do to either help or prevent bad things from happening. Well, in one of my classes, we started going over the use of fuel. We were then assigned to research about oil spills. Everyone has heard of the tragedy of the Exxon Valdez, but what has been done to prevent incidents like the Valdez's case from ever happening again? It turns out that there have been MANY more oil spills that have occurred after the Exxon Valdez crash of the coast of Alaska.

To enlighten you on the Valdez's crash, it occurred off the coast of Alaska near Port William Sound. What really caused the crash you may ask? Well, I'll counter that question with another question, What are sailors notorious for? Drinking. And drinking the captain was. In fact, he was so busy getting drunk, when he put the auto-pilot on, he didn't realize that there was a slight error in the navigation that he had given. Of course, there was someone watching right? WRONG! The watchman joined the captain for a couple (or probably a lot) of beers. The Exxon Valdez was going at a speed fast enough to put the entire ship on top of the reef. As a result, almost all of the crude oil that the ship was carrying bled into the ocean, causing massive environmental and ecological damage.

However, a very recent crash has occurred of the Guilmaras Islands (near the Philippines). Although not as much oil spill out of the tanker Solar 1 as the Exxon Valdez, the oil has spread as much as 20 nautical miles, causing 200 of miles of beach sand to become blackened by the industrial oil. Plus, it is also a threat to the economy of the Islands, as well as the Island's environment. If the mangrove trees die, there will be nothing to stop mud from reaching the ocean when the rainy season comes. Then, the coral reefs will die, killing many of the fish. The fisherman depend on the healthy reef for food and money. Everything is being done the communities on Guilmaras Islands and the parent company of the tanker Petron. The company is "doing everything humanly possible to help."

To see other oil spills and their effects, click here.

So now you might be asking "Why do oil spills still occur? Didn't we learn anything from the Exxon Valdez?" Yes we did. Now, all tankers are reinforced with a stronger and more durable hull...not to mention that there's now two instead of one. There are also harsher punishments for violations of safety rules. All is being done to prevent another disaster like the Valdez from happening again, the question is "What are you doing?"