Everything to Lose Environmental Impacts of Offshore Oil Melanie McField, PhD Director, Healthy Reefs Initiative
Photo: Mito Paz
Coral Reefs and Mangroves Sustain the Fishing Industry and Protect Shorelines
Photos: WWF/ Italo Bonilla, Julie Stockbridge
Coral Reefs and Clean Beaches are the Basis of our Sustainable Tourism Product
Coral Reefs Have The Highest Biodiversity in the Ocean
Coral Reef and Mangroves Stabilize Our Shoreline and Protect Us From Storms
70% of coast is “protected” by coral reef (66% of mainland coast)
Two-thirds of coastline is “protected” by mangroves
About 50% of mainland coast Abut 75% of cayes
Belize’s Reef and Mangroves are worth between $US 325 and $559 million per year Every Year – if we maintain it One Billion Belize Dollars per Year
The full value is “priceless”
Marine Protected Areas Are Completely Ignored by these concessions, despite the millions of dollars spent annually to “protect� them
Issues that magnify the potential impacts in Belize
Oil and World Heritage Sites and Don’t Mix
• Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1996 . • All MPAs cover only 13% of the marine territory. “There is a policy within the World Heritage convention that World Heritage sites should be off limit to mining and hydrocarbon exploration and hydrocarbon exploitation. Drilling in the World Heritage Sites goes against the whole spirit of the convention ” May 18, 2010 UNESCO concerned about drilling in World Heritage Site
We stand to lose our WHS Designation
Over the Average Life of an Oil Rig • Drills between 50-100 wells, each dumping 25,000 pounds of toxic metals, such as lead, chromium and mercury, and potent carcinogens like toluene, benzene, and xylene into the ocean, and • Dumps more than 90,000 metric tons of drilling fluid and metal cuttings into the ocean; • Pollutes the air as much as 7,000 cars driving 50 miles a day.
Unavoidably Dirty Business
The largest global source of oil into the oceans are these cumulative, routine losses from transport, exploration & production
Routine Environmental Impacts – Lethal and non-lethal effects on fish, birds, molluscs, cetaceans and other mammals from discharges of oil and chemicals. (cancers, damage to growth, to feathers, scales and skin, to respiratory systems, to livers and to immune systems, and also disturbance of reproductive, feeding and other behavior
– During drilling, "muds" (lubricants), Underwater structures are treated with protective chemicals, which release toxins into the water. From the rig there are discharges due to deck drainage, cooling water from machinery and sewage. Operational Discharges (mostly deliberate and "routine“)
Oil Spills Are The Most Dramatic and Visible Impact • There were an average of 3.3 major oil spills per year. Between 2000-2009. • Accidents were the main cause of large oil spills with groundings and collisions accounting for 65% the total during 1974-2009. Other significant causes include hull failures and fire/explosions. Smaller spills 38% occur during routine operations especially Hurricanes & Earthquakes loading or discharging.
Are an added threat in Belize
Hurricanes - In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed 113 of the oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and damaged 457 pipelines.
Environmental Impacts - Oil Spills on Marine Life Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana
dead oil-covered dolphin lies, May 22 oil soaked bird, May 9
Environmental Impacts Damage to sensitive coastal habitats mangroves , seagrass beds, coral reefs and wetlands Ocean floor disturbance to seabed ecosystems from drilling infrastructure - Construction of undersea pipe lines, Rig and pipeline installation - dredging, filling and anchoring, dredging ship channels, and dumped drill cuttings (the rock material dug out of the oil or gas well- are often contaminated with drilling fluid . Contaminated sediments can be carried by currents over a mile from the rig, sharply Smothering of seabed wildlife and significantly effecting community structure reducing populations of small bottom dwelling creatures that are important to the rest of the food chain and
biomagnifying toxic contaminants in fish and shellfish we eat Twenty years after Valdez they are still feeling effects.
Enormous Economic and Social Impacts Lasting for Decades
MIDAS Workshop at Belize City February 2010 Chris Holden, Valerie Pasquarella and Marta Ribera Boston University
Suchi Gopal, Professor Geography & Environment& Les Kaufman, Professor Biology Dr. Burton Shank Boston University
MIDAS Oil Modeling • Following Chao et al (2001), we model the advection velocity and horizontal turbulent diffusion (e.g. influence of random wave motion on oil slick) which leads to the displacement vectors at each time step (time step of 1 minute). • We use the wind and current data to estimate the area based on the major and minor axis of an ellipse model. (A more complete oil model should include mass loss through evaporation, vertical dispersion, emulsification, shoreline deposition, etc. that are not incorporated here because we do not have the data).
• The current and wind data are from NOAA's coastal watch data site and come from RADAR scatterometers. This means that the Belize screen is covered by a 8x8 grid.
Who Are These Companies
Start Date: May 18, 2010 @ 5:35 pm
Do you agree with APAMO that there should be a ban on oil drilling and exploration in the area of the barrier reef? Yes (81%, 436 Votes) No (19%, 101 Votes) Start Date: May 14, 2010 @ 8:59 am
Do you support offshore oil drilling? No (73%, 374 Votes) Yes (27%, 138 Votes) Start Date: May 27, 2010 @ 4:11 pm
Do you believe that economic benefits outweigh the potential risk from drilling in the barrier reef? No (74%, 189 Votes) Yes (26%, 66 Votes) www.channel5belize.com
What Can You Do? Sign the Petition Complete the online survey www.surveymonkey.com/s/MC2W9ND Join the Facebook Cause Call or write your Representative Organizations you belong to can join the Coalition Volunteer with a local NGO / Coalition Member