Gulf War Oil Disaster

GEORGIA JARMOLKIEWICZ

BACKGROUND INFO

January 1991, Persian Gulf.

Iraqi forces purposefully opened valves at the Sea Island (Kuwait) oil terminal and dumped oil from several tankers into the Persian Gulf to work negatively against the US forces during Gulf War

3 million barrels spilt

5,000-foot-deep well erupted after an explosion

The slick of it went for 30 miles.

It was the largest spill in history

IMPACTS

The environment was severely damaged

30,000 water birds were killed by the oil.

Fish eggs and larvae killed

Reduced the breeding success of some bird species by 50 percent in the year after the spill

Coral reefs have been damaged, particularly off the coast of Saudi Arabia

A 2003 U.S. study found huge quantities of oil in the sediment of salt marshes, mudflats and mangroves on the coast of Saudi Arabia

MANAGEMENT

Half may have simply disappeared from the water by a combination of evaporation and degradation by bacteria in the sea. This was assisted with the heat and humidity in the Persian Gulf.

At first contained by favourable winds, the spill eventually spread to several coastal areas.

Flooding of salt marshes was the main effort to fix the disaster, however no serious attempts to clean the mess up have been made at all.

21 million gallons of oil were retrieved.