Middleboro Review 2: 3 facts about Big Oil

Monday, March 11, 2024

3 facts about Big Oil

It’s not a secret: Oil is not good for our ocean or our planet. Offshore drilling threatens our ocean, wildlife and coastal communities with oil spills, creates toxic air pollution and—most of all—worsens and deepens the climate crisis. Even transporting oil is a dirty business; just look at last month’s devastating spill off Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean Sea.

As an ocean lover, you know about the threat of Big Oil. But this problem is big and messy (literally and figuratively). Here are three facts you might not know about oil’s impacts on our ocean:

There have been major oil spills every 20 years—each one worse than the last. In 1969, the Santa Barbara oil spill released more than 3 million gallons of oil off the California coast. Twenty years later, the Exxon Valdez spewed 11 million gallons into Alaska’s Prince William Sound, clogging beaches and killing wildlife. And, of course, 21 years after that the Deepwater Horizon explosion took 11 lives and poured 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico—the effects of which are still being felt today. See what we’ve learned from decades of devastating spills >>
Oil and plastics are linked in a BIG way. Plastics are made from and powered by fossil fuels—oil, gas and coal. By 2050, 20% of our oil use will be used to produce plastics—more per person than we use for our cars. If we don’t reduce how much plastic we make and use, we won’t be able to leave behind fossil fuels and their devastating impacts on the climate, our ocean and our communities. Learn how Ocean Conservancy is tackling these major ocean threats >>
Decommissioning is the way to go. We can’t transition away from offshore drilling without properly decommissioning—or closing down—offshore oil and gas facilities like wells, platforms and pipelines. But there are some major dos and don’ts around how to decommission effectively, including making sure operators, who put the facilities there in the first place, clean up after themselves. Read nine dos and don’ts of decommissioning >>

Offshore drilling is a big problem, and it requires strategic solutions. At Ocean Conservancy, we are working with partners around the globe to decrease risky drilling, reduce fossil fuels and protect our ocean and the wildlife and communities that depend on it. Learn more and see how you can help.

For our ocean,