Oil will seep to the surface and form tar pits, or on the ocean form a small oil slick. These events are natural and occur every day. However, we move large quantities of crude oil and nearly as much in various products (gasoline, jet fuel, etc.) Some spillage due to transportation is going to occur. When it does there are different approaches to cleaning the spill. It comes down to three general approaches: Contain and remove, disperse with chemicals, or do nothing (it will eventually disperse). There are also "spills" as a result of war (First Gulf War), and from drilling, notable the Gulf of Mexico drilling disaster associated with BP's Deepwater Horizon operation. Here is a good article on the relief well that finally stopped the spill. After reading this page you should know how spills are treated and prevented.
Picture of an oil leak reaching the shore. Here the oil comes close to shore, where there is a concentration of wildlife.
Credit: EPA
Spills can also occur at the drilling location. The oil business remains a dangerous occupation.
Credit: EPA
Here man made absorbents are used to collect the oil then it is off to a landfill or to a combustion site. Natural materials such as feathers are also used (fur tends to be hard to obtain!
Credit: EPA
Here a boom prevents the oil from spreading. Some of the booms are even fire retardant. The skirt below the surface and the floatation parts act as a physical barrier. Not as useful in very rough seas.
Credit: EPA
Birds die for several reasons: drowning (the feathers absorb so much oil the air is displaced resulting in loss of buoyancy), ingesting oil (from preening to remove it), and from hypothermia.
Credit: EPA
Cleanup tends to be person power intensive and very expensive. The argument comes down to which is cheaper, cleanup or prevention? That debate depends very much on the value you place on environments.
Credit: EPA
Here the oil can be seen on the surface with booms being used to contain the spill.
Credit: Photo Source
The cleanup on the shores of Prince William Sound. High-pressure hoses wash the oil from the beach into the water where it is contained by a boom prior to removal.
Credit: Photo Source
Not only is crude oil stored but so are the products. Containment walls prevent jet fuel, gasoline spills from leaving the storage site should the containment vessel fail.
Credit: EPA
Double-hulled tankers might have helped prevent an oil spill in this case. Some collisions will produce spills even from double-hulled tankers. Which is safer, all your eggs in few large baskets or many smaller baskets?
Credit: EPA
Shipping lanes are highly congested in many oil exporting areas, collisions are best avoided, as a tanker may require several miles to stop!
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Fire at refineries and at storage sites are dangerous to the nearby residents. Containment walls should stop the fire from spreading.
Credit: EPA
The fire will help reduce the water pollution at this location but it will produce lots of air pollution. In remote locations (out to sea) fire might be the only choice.
Credit: EPA
Some environments are more sensitive than others. Although there is oil in the North Pole area no country owns the land/ice although many maintain a presence there! (Including us Brits!)
Credit: EPA