Just because you can’t see the crude oil from the BP Oil Spill of 2010, doesn’t mean it is not continuing to damage the environment and kill marine organisms.  Crude oil can occur as free product when the local concentration of the crude oil exceeds the solubility of the compound in water.  In this case (in the immediate vicinity of the oil), the water column is completely saturated (depending on pressure, temperature and the chemical characteristics of the compound).  Since the density of crude oil is lighter than water, it floats on top of the water (ocean water, groundwater, etc.).  In the open marine environment, floating free product occurs when concentrations are too high to be dissolved in the sea water due to lack of time for the dissolution process to occur, too high a concentration of the contaminant in the water, low temperature or other factors.

Crude oil can also occur in other forms as well.  Crude oil can occur as micro droplets.  In these cases, a microscope may be required to see micro droplets. Crude oil can also be dissolved in water.  The way scientists know it is there is by sending a water sample to the chemical laboratory which analyzes the water.  One way to analyze the water is by using a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS).  This piece of equipment provides a quantitative concentration of the crude oil in solution.  Typically the results might be described in milligrams per liter (mg/L) or sometimes it is referred to as parts per million (ppm).  Some laboratory analytical chromatographs have detectors that are so accurate and precise, that they can analyze down to parts per trillion (ppt) for certain chemicals.  Just because we can’t see the crude oil in the water, doesn’t mean it is not there or that the crude oil is not still damaging the environment in a large and significant way.

The press releases and articles from universities (University of Georgia (UGA)) and government agencies (NOAA and others) continue to state that the amount of dissolved crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico related to the BP Oil Spill of 2010 is significant.  On August 2, 2010, NOAA noted the amount spilled is close to 4.9 million barrels.  UGA suggests significantly more oil was spilled than reported.  It is uncertain the basis of the UGA estimates or calculations.

Most of the crude oil spilled was removed during cleaning activities or degraded by various processes, according to the NOAA information.   Most of the residual crude oil (26% according to NOAA August 2, 2010 estimates) is dispersed into microscopic sized droplets which may be on the ocean sediments or dissolved in the marine water column.  Of specific concern is the potential effect of the residual crude oil on microscopic marine organisms which are at the bottom of the food chain in the Gulf of Mexico.  Other fish, marine mammals (toothless whales, also called baleen whales, for example) and others eat the phytoplankton, fish larvae and other microscopic organisms.  Although we cannot see the drops of oil, the dissolved crude oil in the water column may, if exposed, damage the fish larvae, phytoplankton, coral larvae and small fish which could be susceptible to the toxins contained within the crude oil.  These microscopic or extremely small food sources are important part of the diet for the toothless whales as well as many fish and others in the food chain.  A major decrease or damage to this critical food chain will hurt not only the microscopic marine life, but also the largest marine mammals and fish as well.

As of mid August 2010, there have been well over 57,000 measurements collected by an army of scientists, engineers and regulators in the Gulf of Mexico.  From these studies, it is appears that an underwater plume of crude oil more than a mile wide and 650 feet from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico exists at depth.  The oil is at depths of 3,000 to 4,000 feet.  By mid September 2010, this plume seems to have dissipated. 

If all the residual crude oil were to be consumed by aerobic marine microbes that use oxygen for respiration (aerobic bacteria), large dead zones below the hypoxic threshold could develop if the limited oxygen in the water column is used up in the process of the microbes consuming the crude oil.  Removal of large amounts of dissolved oxygen can create dead zones, where fish, coral and other marine organisms will not have the required oxygen for respiration.  One solution, if needed, is to pump enormous quantities of oxygen into these zones to prevent dead zones from occurring.  Oxygen concentrator machines that use a special molecular filter allow oxygen to be collected, while the nitrogen is released.  Since the atmosphere contains about  78.09% nitrogen and 20.95% oxygen, the oxygen concentrators are reasonably efficient and this technology is used in environmental remediation, medical and industrial processes.  Using large-scale oxygen diffusion technologies and oxygenating the marine waters near the most impacted areas would solve the problem of dead zones and would help remove the crude oil by allowing aerobic microbes consume the contaminant.  Critics would say it would be very expensive, time consuming and technically difficult.  The answer is, yes it would be expensive, time consuming and technically difficult.  On the other hand, any resource company that plans to extract resources (oil, minerals, etc.) should evaluate the risks of extraction (drilling, in this case) and provide the needed protection to guarantee that any spill or release could be quickly contained and environmental damage from a potential spill can be minimized. 

“REASONABLE PERSON” TEST

As a  standard or test for what seems like common-sense, in court rooms throughout the nation, attorneys frequently ask experts and witnesses of an event or an action, “what would a reasonable person do?”   This criteria seems like a worthwhile question as it pertains to the recent BP Oil Spill of 2010. 

On a small-scale, house-size example, I might suggest what a reasonable person might do to minimize catastrophic damage from a paint can falling from a ladder onto a floor.  Although my wife has anxiety and enormous reluctance about my home improvement projects, I do some indoor painting.  Lest I get yelled at later, I routinely think about spill and leak precautions prior to a painting project.   I don’t want to spill on the carpet or wood floors.  Obviously, I don’t have a written safety and spill prevention plan when I paint, but since the risks are minimal, and no one will be affected by my poor painting techniques, but my family.  Nonetheless, I still want to minimize the chances for spills and paint leaks and consequently being yelled at.  I for one, use painters drop cloths and plastic sheeting to collect possible spills.  I also have a few rags around to contain a spill or splatter.   I might have a bag of wet baby wipes as a precaution against leaks.  I also have a trash bag or trash can around so that if the paint can were to tip over on the plastic sheeting, I can get the spilled paint and messy can into a plastic bag or trash can to contain the mess.  I don’t think these simple precautions against the potential paint spill are unreasonable, time consuming or expensive, considering the risks of large volumes of paint on an oak floor or new carpet.  Looking at Home Depot, Loews, Sears, Orchard Supply, Ace Hardware and other stores that sell paints and painting supplies, it is apparent that I am not alone in trying to minimize the risk of catastrophic paint spills, leaks and other painting disasters on a small-scale basis.  Based on all the products to minimize small-scale painting disasters found in the well stocked stores mentioned above, I would suggest that most reasonable persons would use similar precautions as well. 

With the BP oil spill, the stakes are exponentially much higher, and most reasonable engineers, safety experts and scientists associated with this type of resource extraction activity should  have developed an emergency plan with the proper backup systems in place so that if a disaster were to occur, damage could be contained and minimized. 

I worked in the oil industry as an exploration geologist for about a decade.  I was several years with SOHIO Petroleum, a petroleum exploration and producing company that was later bought by BP.  Based on my experience, I suggest that many of the hard working engineers, scientists and safety professionals that I worked with were responsible and reasonable people.  Those still working in the oil industry probably still fit that profile and they would be the type of people to be cautious on a personal basis as well.   

By contrast, the media has pointed out that many of the spill response documents provided to the Federal Mineral Management Service by BP and other oil companies were prepared by a person who had been deceased.  The spill response plan on file with the MMS, was not continuously updated or re-evaluated, and consequently, was not relavant or appropriate.   In addition to the lack of spill response engineering, planning and design, there was a lack of reasonable spill response equipment, trained personnel and real plans for containment and disaster mitigation seem a stark contrast to the type of people who I worked with two decades ago.  In the BP spill case, it is likely that safety and the environment was not stressed at the highest level of corporate management and consequently those responsible for developing and updating the risk assessment procedures and safety and spill response plans were not thinking of the potential for extremely unlikely, but catastrophic events that might occur while drilling or producing from an off-shore oil or gas well.  Simple oil drilling risk and safety assessments could have easily highlighted the need for special equipment, engineered precautions and trained employees in spill and leak response.  We can now only learn from this example. 

In sum, although it is good news that by mid September 2010, the observations of floating crude oil have diminished significantly in the bayous, marshes and beaches of the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico, the environmental and economic devastation from the residual dissolved and microscopic crude oil droplets may continue to provide large-scale environmental damage for many years to come. 

James A. Jacobs, P.G. #4815, C.H.G. #88

Environmental Bio-Systems, Inc.

707 View Point Road

Mill Valley, CA 94941 USA

Tel: 415-381-5195

Fax: 415-381-5816

Cell: 510-590-1098

email: jimjacobs@ebsinfo.com

web site: www.ebsinfo.com

The BP Oil Spill of 2010 has created an environmental setting where hypoxia in marine waters is possible, as will be explained below.  Other zones of hypoxia, or dead zones, do exist in the Gulf of Mexico, related to high biological oxygen demand from the overuse of fertilizers and runoff of high-organic wastes carried within the Mississippi River that enters the Gulf of Mexico.  For theBP Oil Spill of 2010, the question is whether after all the free product is removed from the floating surface waters, will wildlife return to normal.  There are toxic effects from the chemicals that make up crude oil.  These chemicals can poison coral and fish in the area of the spill.   The damage to fish larvae to the exposure to toxins in the crude oil is a potential serious effect that needs to be evaluated carefully.  Another issue is that if the dissolved oxygen becomes reduced below 2 mg/L, hypoxia will occur and most fish or corals, worms and other living marine animals will not have enough oxygen to survive.  The exception for surviving in waters having less than  2 mg/L dissolved oxygen is the ubiquitous jellyfish.  The jellyfish is an ancient animal which can survive at levels of 1.3 mg/L due to their ability to store oxygen in their gel and use it when in hypoxic waters.  In addtion, jellyfish evolved at a time when the oxygen in ocean waters was limited.  Consequently, jellyfish have been able to domintate the marine environment in zones containing low dissolved oxygen. 

The volume of crude oil is estimated to be 4.9 million barrels, according to NOAA.   For every gallon of crude oil that spills, about three times that amount of oxygen is needed to conver the crude oil into carbon dioxide and water.  Dissolved oxygen levels at 1,100 meter depth dissolved oil plume (as of August 2010) noted decreases in dissolved oxygen from the normal dissolved oxygen levels associated with that depth.  Although the decreased dissolved oxygen levels should be monitored, levels are still acceptable for marine life.  However, if increased oxygen consumption associated with the BP Oil Spill of 2010 were to occur due to microbial degradation processes, a rapid restoration process in which BP pays to restore the oxygen levels to concentrations that will support marine life should occur.  This will be extremely expensive, but it can be done technically.  Using industrial oxygen concentrators, oxygen will be segregated by large molecular sieves and the nitrogen in the air will be discarded.  The concentrated oxygen, pulled out of the air by the oxygen concentrators, will be used with hollow membrane fiber technologie to put the oxygen in solution slowly.  Any more volume of oxygen will come out as bubbles.  The objective is to increase the soluble concentration of oxygen. 

This technology is planned for use at two reservoirs in California where high organic load combined with low circulation rates near the dam spillways has caused low dissovled oxygen levels behind reservoir dams.  These anoxic zones are not healthy for fish or animals that live in the water adn the quality of the water is degraded by low oxygen concentraton.

For more information on the technology please call: James Jacobs; Tel: 415-381-5195; email: jimjacobs@ebsinfo.com   Web Site: www.ebsinfo.com

California does not have a dry cleaner remediation reimbursement fund at this point.  According to the State Coalition for Remediation of Dry Cleaners (SCRD; http://www.drycleancoalition.org/ thirteen other states have solved the issue of funding dry cleaner assessment and remediation projects.  Unlike fuel stations in California where the funding is paid by consumers and currently 2¢ per gallon is collected by the gasoline and diesel tank owners and submitted to the Board of Equalization for disbursement to the California Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund (USTCF), there is no current dry cleaner fund or program in the state.  For fuel stations, many of which were owned by major oil companies at one time, the USTCF helped to allow these properties to be sold and allowed financing by banks.   Even large insurance companies may have been involved with the underwriting of the environmental claim on fuel leak sites, so there were many interested and highly funded and motivated responsible parties to encourage that the USTCF program was well funded by the state.  By contrast, the dry cleaners in California tend to be owned by individuals or families.  Most are not associated with national chains or brands.  As such, organization of these business owners into a cohesive group has been limited due to funding and knowledge of environmental issues.  The reason dry cleaner sites are important is that most of the dry cleaner  sites contain tetrachloroethylene (PCE; also called perchloroethylene or PERC) and breakdown products, including, but not limited to, trichloroethylene (TCE) and vinyl chloride.  These chemicals are far more toxic than petroleum hydrocarbons.  In addition to their toxicity, these chemicals tend to be more recalcitrant than hydrocarbon fuels.  The dry cleaning chemicals are more likely to impact drinking water sources and wells in California than petroleum hydrocarbons.  Without a state-sponsored remediation fund, obtaining bank loans or selling current and former dry cleaner properties is difficult, leaving many of these urban properties abandoned or derelict. 

STATE COALITION FOR REMEDIATION OF DRY CLEANERS AND CALIFORNIA AB698 (2003)

The State Coalition for Remediation of Drycleaners was established in 1998, with support from the U.S. EPA Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation. It is comprised of representatives of states with established drycleaner remediation programs. Currently the member states are Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. In addition, participation in SCRD as “Represented States” is open to states without drycleaner-specific programs, but active in the remediation of drycleaner sites under other authorities. California, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Virginia currently are SCRD “Represented States.” The Coalition’s primary objectives are to provide a forum for the exchange of information and the discussion of implementation issues related to established state drycleaner programs; share information and lessons learned with states without drycleaner-specific programs; and encourages the use of innovative technologies in drycleaner remediation. The Coalition conducts regular conference calls and has an annual meeting that focus on administering drycleaner cleanup programs and site assessment and remediation technologies.

In February 2003, a California bill (AB698) was introduced and sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Water District.  The water district is locatd in the heart of Silicon Valley and relies on surface and groundwater for potable water supplies.  The Santa Clara Valley Water District has been a leader in the regulatory community, sounding off alerts on various chemicals (MTBE, 1,4-dioxane) as well as understanding the issue with PCE from dry cleaners and impacts to water supply wells.  The bill (AB698) would have provided financial assistance to dry cleaning facility owners to properly investigate and clean up PCE contamination and helps regulatory agencies oversee cleanup or assist in replacing affected drinking water supplies.  Unlike the USTCF, this  bill would have set up a priority ranking system to award claims for  reimbursement at high priority sites where the drinking water needs are combined with the release characteristics to provide a dry cleaner treat index.  This type of financial triage is needed at the current USTCF.

When finally proposed, the California PCE (Tetrachloroethylene) Environmental Cost Recovery Act and would have required the owner or operator of a dry cleaning facility and each wholesale distributor of PCE, to register the facility with the BOE and to pay an annual registration fee of $1500.00.  In addition, a $10 per gallon fee of purchased PCE was also to be established which would have generated a modest $10 million dollars per year.  The bill died in committee because it was advanced at a time that the state was in a budget crisis.  Any legislation that would create new state staff positions did not occur at that time and future bills will need to be sensitive to these issues.  The program would have required assigning staff by the state water board or other regulatory agency to administer it.  So, even though the California dry cleaners remediation program would generate funds for the state to disburse to support remediation of orphan dry cleaner sites, the appropriations committee could not approve bills that created new state expenditures.

FUTURE DRY CLEANER REMEDIATION FUND      
On June 22, 2010 the California Council of Geoscience Organizations (CCGO; www.ccgo.org) and CORE Environmental Foundation (www.coreenvironmental.org) met with key California legislators who showed an interest in the dry cleaner remediation challenge.  The next step is to prepare a white paper with the key points.  After a white paper is prepared and reviewed, strong support from owners, consultants, insurers, equipment manufacturers, environmental attorneys and current and former PCE manufacturers.  It is  apparent that the current and former dry cleaners that have leaked PCE into the groundwater are in need of legislative funding associated with fees to create a sustainable dry cleaner remediation fund.  It is important that the structure of the funding be fair and receive wide support from the dry cleaner owner’s associations. 

 CONTACT

Please contact Jim Jacobs at CCGO and CORE for questions or comments.  CORE is a 501c3 non-profit organization.  (email: jimjacobs@ebsinfo.com; tel: 415-381-5195)

Cost recovery for necessary assessment and cleanup costs from an oil spill which started hundreds of miles away on an offshore drilling platform is going to be a large issue for numerous Gulf Coast property owners. Legal action of any sort is a time consuming affair. There are several types of damage caused by the BP Oil Spill of 2010. The first category relates to those employees injured or killed during the initial explosion of the Deep Water Horizon drilling platform on April 20, 2010. The aftermath of the explosion has created environmental concerns throughout several coastal states.  Overlapping regulatory jurisdictions and poor communication seemed to have hampered spill response activities.   In addition, it appears that BP did not fully evaluate the risks and possible consequences of catastrophic failures and the probability of those failures.  Had BP contemplated those risks seriously, proper risk assessments would have been performed and BP would have been better prepared with a variety of rapid emergency response spill responders, cleanup maneuvers and oil collection equipment. 

TYPE OF DAMAGE AND CLAIMS
The types of damages to the natural environment are catastrophic from the BP Oil Spill of 2010 and must be characterized. The claims relate to several types of damage. There are damages related to the explosion and associated injuries and wrongful deaths. There are damages associated with people whose livelihood and businesses have been destroyed, damaged and interrupted by the oil spill. These types of claims relate to the damage associated with not being able to use the Gulf of Mexico’s offshore and near shore resources for tourism, fishing, and oil drilling. All the workers who support these industries may also encounter diminished economic prospects directly to the BP Oil Spill. These businesses and employees are possible claimants and can be helped by properly trained legal experts. These types of damages and claims, while important and unfortunate, are well beyond the scope of this article.

Another type of damage relates to real property where the sales prices or rental income may diminish due to the residues of the oil spill. The cost is the assessment and cleanup of the free product or as dissolved hydrocarbons in the ocean and coastal water ways. Likewise, on the coast, the shallow sediments of beach front properties may contain tar balls and residuals of dissolved hydrocarbons in the saturated sediments. The hydrocarbons may exist in vapor form in the pore spaces. The odors and visual staining may be in evidence for many years. These effects are contribute to the diminishment of the enjoyment and value of the property, and what is referred to as the “stigma value”, the price of the property will be diminished even by the residual presence of the oil. Other environmental effects include lower counts of healthy wildlife which diminishes the value of the real property.

These claims will be difficult to prove without proper scientific documentation by a properly trained environmental expert. The assessment needed for these types of damage claims would require an evaluation of photos before April 20, 2010, collection of many photos showing the impacted sediments and waterways, interviews of knowledgeable persons, and use of historic aerial photographs to also document conditions from the air. In more industrial areas of the Gulf Coast, verification that the hydrocarbons detected and observed is related to the BP Oil Spill may be required by a laboratory technique known as gas chromatography to differentiate other hydrocarbons from other sources.

DISSOLVED CONTAMINATION
Although most of the media is concerned about the obvious floating free product associated with the BP Oil Spill, it is the dissolved contamination that will remain for a long period of time and continue to volatilize generating the crude oil odors, long after the free product has been mostly cleaned up from the surface of the air-sea interface. An interesting experiment known as DeepSpill in 2000 was performed off the coast of Norway and sponsored by 23 oil companies as well as the U.S. Mineral Management Service (MMS). In four different two hour tests, 60 cubic meters (15,850 gallons) of nitrogen gas, marine diesel oil, crude oil and natural gas were released at 844 meters (2,769 feet). For the diesel test, of the 60 cubic meters that were released into the ocean, only between 1 and 17 cubic meters, the lower and upper estimate ranges, were observed on the surface. The difference was ascribed to evaporation and natural dispersion. This also suggests a significant amount of hydrocarbons become dissolved in the ocean water. This is likely the case with the BP Oil Spill, and the ocean will have high levels of dissolved hydrocarbons in the water for many years, which will still impact beaches and property values, as well as the food chain and fishing industry for decades.

DOCUMENT CONTAMINATION
To document site damage and to substantiate environmental claims, discrete surface water or groundwater samples can be collected and analyzed for total petroleum hydrocarbons as crude oil using a modified EPA Method 8015 method, or similar analysis. In addition, beach or estuary sediment can be collected for verification sampling purposes. Although the crude oil from the BP Oil Spill has low volatility, as the hydrocarbons degrade and volatilize, some vapors or gas-phase hydrocarbons will be trapped in soil pore spaces in the sandy beach sediments and the clay-rich estuary sediments. This soil vapor can be analyzed as well. In some cases, vapor intrusion into buildings and living spaces can be a major health issue and exposure pathway for humans. All analysis must be done using state-certified laboratories using standard EPA or state approved analytical laboratory methods.

Laboratory analysis for petroleum hydrocarbons commonly has reporting levels in the parts per billion and with some analyses, parts per trillion levels. Consequently, small amounts of hydrocarbon contamination can be found and documented in the field. In the environmental field, small amounts of contamination can be related to adverse health effects if exposure pathways can be shown and documented. Sensitivity to chemicals, including those found in crude oil, varies significantly in the population. Some individuals are significantly more susceptible to the health effects of volatile organic compounds associated with crude oil.

COSTS OF DAMAGE AND RESTORATION
The restoration of a pristine estuary or beach can occur; however, the evidence for the BP Oil Spill, even with excellent cleanup efforts, will still be visible and known. The observations of subtle evidence and knowledge of the spill causes devaluations of real property.

Environmental scientists can assess the costs of cleanup and associated monitoring. The costs of damage are defined once the environmental damage has been documented using laboratory analysis and reports by geologists and engineers. The out of pocket costs for assessment, cleanup and monitoring can be substantial, well over a few thousand dollars. These costs are necessary to bring the property close to the pre-spill pristine condition. Given uncertainties and the limitations of using a small number of laboratory analyses on the property, the engineering costs can be evaluated as to the low, medium and high costs of cleanup and monitoring, with an average or most likely case being generated for settlement purposes. The estimated environmental assessment and remediation costs can be prepared by a properly trained environmental professional. Costs related to loss in value associated with loss of enjoyment, value of the property, “stigma costs”, should be performed by legal or other appraisal experts.

TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS
1) Environmental Assessment of sediments and water bodies
2) Evaluation of Exposure Pathways
3) Sampling of sediments, water or vapor
4) Wildlife inventory
5) Other specialized assessments
6) Cost Estimate of Remediation and Restoration

In summary, a land owner will need a multidisciplinary team to address environmental restoration costs associated with the BP Oil Spill or other spills. A full team of experts including the attorney, real estate appraiser and the environmental scientist should work together in the planning and strategy of data collection and cleanup implementation to provide the best value in cost recovery. The environmental experts will be able to address site assessment and remediation measures to restore the property and estimate costs of cleanup. 

UPDATES:  In updating the file in mid September 2010, it appears that fish kills associated with the BP Oil Spill of 2010 have not been observed.   Due to a variety of factors, on-shore contaminantion from the BP Oil Spill of 2010 is thought to have been less than originally estimated.  This may reflect the active use of the dispersants to break up the crude oil at the source, the robust cleanup activities on-shore and off-shore, as well as the natural near-shore and on-shore crude oil degradation processes.  Most recent chemical data appears to show that the dissolved plume at about 1,100 meters depth appears to have dissipated.  Deep ocean sediments in the vicinity of the spill area are being evaluated as to oil concentration, and the sediment layers are being examined for fish and other marine organisms that have died as a result of exposure to the crude oil spill.  Monitoring the health of the marine wildlife in the area will likely continue for many years to evaluate the long-term effects of the BP Oil Spill of 2010.

Questions or Comments: Jim Jacobs, P.G., C.H.G., Chief Hydrogeologist, Environmental Bio-Systems, Inc., jimjacobs@ebsinfo.com ; web site: www.ebsinfo.com  Tel: 415-381-5195

Several issues are associated with the migration of hydrocarbons in the environment: 1) Natural microbe (aerobes) using oxygen for respiration will eventually consume most of the crude oil released by the BP Oil Spill of 2010. 2) Without a ready source of oxygen, the crude oil will not naturally attenuate very quickly. 3) As the crude oil plume dissolves into the Gulf of Mexico waters, for every kg of crude oil present, approximately 3 kg of oxygen will be required for microbes to completely mineralize the crude oil dissolved in the ocean water into the end products carbon dioxide and water.

Oxygen in the atmosphere is 20.9%. The solubility of oxygen in fresh water at one atmosphere at 25°C is 8.2 mg/L. Sea water at the same temperature, due to high levels of dissolved salts, has even less carrying capacity for dissolved oxygen which is 7.1 mg/L. As the naturally occurring aerobic microbes consume the crude oil as food in sea water, the dissolved oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico will decrease based on the volume of hydrocarbons dissolved in sea water. Dissolved oxygen will be consumed by the aerobic microbes as part of the natural degradation process in sea water. When dissolved oxygen reaches less than 2 mg/L, major fish and coral kills will occur and “dead zones” will be more commonplace throughout the Gulf of Mexico.

Water salinity based on dissolved salts in parts per thousand (ppt)

WATER TYPE; SALINITY; DISSOLVED OXYGEN AT 25 DEG C
Freshwater; < 0.5 ppt; 8.2 mg/L Brackish water; 0.5 – 30 ppt; est. 7.3 – 7.9 mg/L Saline water; 30 – 50 ppt; 7.1 mg/L Brine; > 50 ppt; est. < 7.0 mg/L

DISSOLVED CONTAMINATION
Although most of the media is concerned about the obvious floating free product associated with the BP Oil Spill, it is the dissolved contamination that will remain for a long period of time and continue to volatilize generating the crude oil odors, long after the free product has been mostly cleaned up from the surface of the air-sea interface. An interesting experiment known as DeepSpill in 2000 was performed off the coast of Norway and sponsored by 23 oil companies as well as the U.S. Mineral Management Service (MMS). In four different two hour tests, 60 cubic meters (15,850 gallons) of nitrogen gas, marine diesel oil, crude oil and natural gas were released at 844 meters (2,769 feet). For the diesel test, of the 60 cubic meters that were released into the ocean, only between 1 and 17 cubic meters, the lower and upper estimate ranges, were observed on the surface. The difference was ascribed to evaporation and natural dispersion. This also suggests a significant amount of hydrocarbons become dissolved in the ocean water. This is likely the case with the BP Oil Spill, and the ocean will have high levels of dissolved hydrocarbons in the water for many years, which will still impact beaches and property values, as well as the food chain and fishing industry for decades.

LOW COST CLEANUPS
A triage system must be performed to evaluate the seriousness of the threat of the BP Oil Spill. Some properties, there will be no need for concern. Other sites, monitoring of groundwater or soil vapor might be appropriate to verify that there are limited exposure pathways. In other cases, crude oil as floating product may have impacted some coastal communities where sources of drinking water might be threatened.

Low cost cleanups use methods for remedial measures which eventually clean up from the BP Oil Spill. Crude oil contains a variety of toxic compounds, many carcinogenic. Therefore, if the concentrations of specific compounds are deemed to be hazardous or above regulatory accepted levels associated with protecting human health, wildlife and environmental resources, (including water supplies), cleanup of the crude oil is recommended.

For free product, sphagnum (peat moss) works reasonably well as a natural and inexpensive sorbent. Biosurfactants have been used successfully with soil washing of coarse grained sediments, such as on a beach.

Systems using low cost methods should be considered for cleanup. One method can use large-scale oxygen concentrators with mass transfer devices to sparge oxygen into surface waters or beach sands for rapid microbial degradation of crude oil. These methods are being proposed on a large scale for a California reservoir to reduce the effects of naturally high organic content in the reservoir water that creates eutrophication (removal of oxygen) behind reservoir dams.

Phytoremediation (using specific plants) can be planted to uptake the impacted groundwater. Phytoremediation has been demonstrated on numerous sites nationwide. The process is slow (several years), but the costs are relatively modest, and the end product is a forest of poplar trees or field with mustard grass.

Mychoremediation uses mushrooms to consume or breakdown the toxins in crude oil. More than 120 novel enzymes have been identified from mushroom-forming fungi and lower molecular weight hydrocarbons have been degraded using mushrooms. Although mychoremediation has not been used extensively in the past, a passive application in Gulf Coast communities may be appropriate.
Other more aggressive in-situ techniques can be used for cleanup as well, such as chemical oxidizers (Fenton’s Reagent, ozone, perozone, activated sodium persulfate, etc.) which degrade the crude oil into carbon dioxide and water. Active water pumping and soil washing with surfactants will probably be used for more aggressive cleanups in the more impacted areas.

The local regulators will define what is considered appropriate to clean up. Some concentrations of hydrocarbon contamination will be considered safe to monitor and allow natural attenuation be the main cleanup method. However, in areas where free product or high concentrations of dissolved crude oil exist near coastal drinking water supplies, if the contamination is not cleaned up, it may spread out over time, making future cleanups even more time consuming and costly.

Questions or Comments: Jim Jacobs, P.G., C.H.G., Chief Hydrogeologist, Environmental Bio-Systems, Inc., jimjacobs@ebsinfo.com ; web site: www.ebsinfo.com  Tel: 415-381-5195

Risk assessment in the oil industry is a potentially useful tool to minimize failures, both equipment and human, and combines methods to quantify the costs of those failures with the probability of the failures actually happening. I worked in the oil industry for almost a decade, exploring for oil on the North Slope of Alaska in the Beaufort Sea as well as in California. Even in the 1980s, oil companies realized that it was difficult to evaluate the risk of uncertainties associated with drilling the wildcat well, a well without nearby geologic control on which to base the interpretations. Due to the remoteness of the wildcat well in relation to known production, geologic risks associated with the existence of an adequate oil reservoir, the existence of the oil source rock, the generation and the timing of the migration of the oil, and other factors, oil exploration geologists and geophysicists would use techniques in risk assessment to evaluate these uncertainties. Computer analysis using a Monte Carlo simulation was performed prior to all Federal lease sales to better assess these unknowns posed by a costly exploration well with enormous uncertainties. Ironically, the risks and uncertainties associated with the drilling equipment, emergency procedures and safety methods were not apparently evaluated to the degree that would have been prudent, to the great regret of BP.

Oil spills happen when physical degradation of the facilities (pipes, pumps, wells, instrumentation, tanks and tankers) occurs due to a variety of physical factors, including but not limited to corrosion, puncture, earth movement) as well as human errors. Although the reason why complex systems fail is well beyond the scope of this article, we can nonetheless minimize the potential for failures and accidents by proper risk-based evaluations of complex systems so that labor and financial resources can be focused in the areas where the highest risk elements emerge. The risk-based assessment approach described below can address the physical condition of an asset, by examining the various consequences of failure and the likelihood or probability of failure within each component evaluated. The aspects of human error of oil spills can only be addressed through rigorous proper training and knowledge transfer.

COMPLEX SYSTEMS
The conflict for maintenance challenges relate to two the highly cherished American values of frugality and safety which are constantly at work in complex systems. The airlines have overcome this dilemma and have implemented risk reduction strategies related to regular inspections, required maintenance and replacement of key components before the parts wear out or fail due to fatigue. The airline industry knows that the consequences of failure are completely unacceptable. In addition, updating and training of personnel is also required in the airline maintenance departments.

Managing an oil or gas field requires that production and safety are maintained and leaks and spills are prevented. Should a gas leak or oil spill occur, effective safety management and employee training will contribute to the event being minimized, and that the spills are cleaned up quickly with minimal environmental damage. One of the issues in a complex system like an oil field is to know when the physical assets of the field, including wells, piping, pumps, alarms, instrumentation, tanks or other fixtures will fail catastrophically or degrade so slowly that the gradual decline in physical condition, service or safety goes unnoticed. Most oil and gas fields have plenty of safety notebook binders: injury illness prevention plans, emergency files, operations manuals, and OSHA documents on the proper and safe operations of the oil or gas field. The key is to be able to make sure that the procedures described are properly adhered to by the staff. Regular and ongoing training, and documentation of that training, is a key part of this challenge.

For an operating oil or gas producing field, or an exploration well, the capital budget must address updates in environmental regulations as well be large enough to maintain the existing infrastructure. Although exploration wells are only at a location for weeks to months, well infrastructure and equipment must be constantly inspected and evaluated, as conditions and objectives change. In some cases where the oil and gas fields predate 1980, the assets at many of these oil and gas producing facilities including pipes, wells, pumps and instrumentation are nearing the end of their useful lives, or at least should be carefully inspected so as to avoid an easily preventable leak or spill. The balance between frugality and safety becomes a real challenge as corporate management focuses on production, and in some companies, seems to avoid focusing on worker safety, environmental protection and risk aversion. One way to handle this issue of prioritizing capital improvement budgets of older producing fields and facilities is to focus on the most critical repairs and replacement of components by performing an overall assessment of the assets with the risk analysis of the costs and consequences of a potential failure. This can be done with producing oil and gas leases, but it could have easily been done with the infamous BP exploration Macado252 well which was being drilled by Transocean Deepwater Horizon drill ship.

The risk assessment of an asset or activity, such as drilling an exploration well or continuing to produce from an oil or gas field, weighs the consequences of failure on a 5-point scale, where 1 is no problem or negligible issues, 2 is minor, 3 is moderate, 4 is major and 5 is significant consequence. By rating each asset as to condition and each activity as to the risk of damage to equipment, the environment or potential injury to employees, the overall risk can be evaluated in a quantitative manner. A rating of 5 would indicate that if the failure in a particular category would occur, the consequences to the company would be severe. Each aspect of failure is evaluated and each point on the scale is given a description of the consequence of failure for a particular asset, such as a pump, a pipeline, a well, a blowout preventer, etc. The description of consequences include environmental compliance (ranging from compliance to excessive regulatory fines or violations), impact of a failure on the ongoing activities (ranging from continuing exploration drilling or producing crude oil to the cessation of all on-site activities), financial impact of possible failures (ranging from no problems to a complete loss of revenues, claims for environmental damage, loss of future opportunities, regulatory fines and legal actions), health and safety (ranging from no injuries and a safe work place to major injuries and deaths), and community public image (ranging from good relations to extensive community complaints and opposition). In the risk assessment, a full evaluation of the consequences of failure for each component or activity can be systematically evaluated by field workers and compiled into an accurate risk assessment of vulnerability assessment.

The probability of failure, another category, has a similar rating system (1-5) and all assets and systems can be evaluated as to the physical condition, performance, repair history, maintenance issues, expected remaining useful life, cost of new versus cost of repair, and other factors. Oil field activities can also be examined in the same way, to lower the risk of dangerous procedures. In this case, the activities could be evaluated as to the consistency of the procedure (such as tripping in the hole with a specific tool), the time it takes for the procedure, the number of injuries for each procedure, etc. After each of the aspects of potential asset or procedural failure are evaluated, they are weighted as to their total importance within each category. At the end of the risk-based assessment assets and procedures can be better evaluated based on the regular inspections and the knowledge that the consequences were linked to the risk and cost of failure, and the overall risk score was a weighted average of the consequence of failure times the probability of failure.

OIL AND GAS FIELD ASSESSMENTS
Accidents in oil and gas fields can be managed, just as airlines have managed the enormous safety risks in their industry. Part of the issue is proper regulations that enforce and mandate worker safety and environmental stewardship as well as maintaining engineering integrity of all operating systems. In addition, rigorous ongoing assessment of the individual components (pumps, pipelines, instrumentation, well facilities, and tanks) must examine both the consequences of failure, the probability of the failure as well as the costs from the small or negligible failures to the massive spill or event. The costs in dollars can be calculated as to the human, environmental, financial, and community losses should a massive spill or unpredicted event take place. These risk assessments will allow for calculating actual costs of damage or replacement on the spreadsheets for each risk category and the likelihood of occurrence so that replacement programs can be initiated or preventative or emergency preparation measures can be planned and implemented.

Why is risk assessment in the oil industry so important and overlooked? There seems to be a human bias to ignore the potentially high consequence, low probability event. The case in point is the BP Oil Spill of 2010. In this case, had BP done a risk assessment, they would have put together the consequence of failure and the probability of failure spreadsheets. They could have put costs into each of the categories, and it would have been obvious that although the probability may have seemed to BP as highly remote, the consequences such a blowout would have devastating effects not only to the drilling facility, but also to the environment and the way of life in the Gulf Coast. In addition, a catastrophic blowout might ruin the company’s finances for decades and might prevent future offshore drilling opportunities. Since the Santa Barbara Channel spill in 1969, the oil industry has been sensitive to public concerns generated by spilled oil. Other spills have occurred as well, and therefore, it was surprising that a consortium of oil companies holding leases near the BP lease, did not have several different emergency response tactics and oil skimming equipment just waiting for mobilization in a New Orleans warehouse. Our communities don’t purchase fire engines when we see the flames on the hills, but rather fire agencies have equipment and trained personnel prepared and ready to battle the next fire. It is a reasonable and methodical manner to avoid inevitable risks and uncertainties. It is a sad comment that BP had not evaluated their Gulf Coast oil exploration activities with an accurate risk assessment of the consequences and probabilities of a catastrophic failure, for if they had, they would have been prepared for the spill.

In summary, the damage from the BP Oil Spill of 2010 will be far reaching from the families of the rig workers who lost loved ones, to the many oil field workers who will be unemployed or underemployed as future projects may be delayed or canceled, to the innocent bystanders in the tourist industry and fishing industries to the businesses and government agencies that supported the main industries.  Beyond the human elements, the ecosystem with vibrant wildlife will be damaged and the recovery may be years or even decades for specific marine species.  It is for those reasons that BP should have performed a risk analysis and evaluation of the consequences of failure.  Those methodical tasks would have led BP to prepare various emergency responses for the worst accident possible, even though the risks of happening seemed remote at the time the well was spud. 

Questions or Comments: Jim Jacobs, P.G., C.H.G., Chief Hydrogeologist, Environmental Bio-Systems, Inc., jimjacobs@ebsinfo.com ; web site: www.ebsinfo.com  Tel: 415-381-5195

The BP Oil Spill of 2010 has brought attention to the human senses and smell.  In an ocean breeze blowing toward the shore, humans could easily smell the oil spill from shoreline locations, well before the oil was on the beach or even within view of the shore. 

Odors have long been associated with oil spills.  The volatile and semi-volatile compounds within the oil create a large variety of odors that are easy to recognize. The human nose can smell to levels approaching parts per billion or parts per trillion range.  This is the low end of human odor detection, and the highest concentrations that humans can smell are concentrations only ten to fifty times above the detection threshold level.  The maximum concentration that a human can smell is often the maximum intensity the humans can detect.  As toxicologists know, as humans are exposed and become accustomed to an odor, after a while the sensation dissappears or the smell becomes unnoticeable.  This is quite dangerous for highly toxic volatile chemicals.  As perceived by humans, odors have five basic properties that can be quantified: intensity, degree of offensiveness, character, frequency and duration.  Human sensitivity to odor is quite variable among the population and changes with age and other factors.  There are many animals, such as dogs and bears, with smell sensitivities that are many times greater than the human nose.          

ODORS

Some of specific odors are being identified associated with the BP Oil Spill:

“Rotten Egg” Odor

This odor is commonly associated with hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), a compound commonly found in association with crude oil and natural gas.  The levels of H₂S that have been reported to date may cause irritation, but as stated above, these effects should go away when H₂S levels go down, or when a person leaves the area.  While H₂S is associated with oil and natural gas extraction, it also comes from marshes and sewage treatment plants in anaerobic or reducing environments. According to the US EPA, because H₂S has only been seen at individual monitors on an infrequent basis, this indicates the H₂S is more likely from a local source near the monitor rather than from the oil spill. The US EPA does not know the exact source of H₂S in these areas.

“Gas Station-Like” Odor

The gas station odor indicates volatile organic compounds, or VOCs.  The odor is similar to the smell associated with filling up at a gasoline station.  The key toxic VOCs in most oils are benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and total xylenes.  Benzene has been identified as a carcinogen by some regulatory agencies.  Exposure to low levels of VOCs may cause temporary irritation of the eyes, nose, throat, and skin.  Health organizations such as the CDC note that people with asthma may be more sensitive to the effect of inhaled VOCs. According to the US EPA, the VOC smell may give someone a headache or upset stomach but is not expected to cause long term health effects.  The health effects relate to the specific compound and the concentration of the compound as well as the exposure pathways and sensitivity of certain individuals to these types of compounds. For those individuals sensitive to the smell of VOCs, they should stay indoors to limit exposure.  In addition, it is recommended to close windows and doors to minimize exposure.  Also set the air conditioner to a recirculation mode to limit exposure from outdoor air.  The smell may become stronger if the wind or weather changes.

Historical data on oil spills indicate that VOCs are likely to evaporate, disperse and/or react quickly after the oil reaches the surface of the water.  The US EPA is measuring very low levels of VOCs.

“Oily” or “Tar-Like” smell

Some chemicals in the weathered crude oil are known as semi-volatile organic compounds (or SVOCs), and they are primarily responsible for the “oily odors.”  Some of these chemicals are hazardous, depending on the concentration and specific composition. 

SUMMARY

There are odors that will be associated with the BP Oil Spill of 2010, and humans can differentiate odors down to the parts per billion and even parts per trillion range.  Over time, the spill-related odors will dissipate and become less noticeable.  But beyond the odors, there are likely to be environmental and societal damages associated with the BP Oil Spill of 2010.  The societal damages include the horrible loss of the rig workers and the destruction of the rig on April 20, 2010.  Moving closer to shore, the losses include the loss of a way of life, including business opportunities for those in the tourism industry, drilling industry and fishing industries, as well as countless of other businesses in supporting roles.  The environment may take significant long-term damage, as geochemical composition of sediments, marine and non-marine surface and groundwater will react with and change their chemistry as a result of the impact of the BP Oil Spill.  Those changes will impact everything living in the Gulf Coast shoreline and offshore areas, including the fish, corals, marine mammals, reptiles, birds and other wildlife.  In the BP Oil Spill case, BP, as a member of the resource extraction industry, is removing the natural riches off the Federal and state lands, and these lands, as well as private lands need to be protected so that the responsible removal of those important resources occurs in the most efficient and safe manner possible in order to protect all workers, the general public, wildlife and the environment.  

Questions or Comments: Jim Jacobs, P.G., C.H.G., Chief Hydrogeologist, Environmental Bio-Systems, Inc., jimjacobs@ebsinfo.com ; web site: www.ebsinfo.com  Tel: 415-381-5195

Questions or Comments: Jim Jacobs, P.G., C.H.G., Chief Hydrogeologist, Environmental Bio-Systems, Inc., jimjacobs@ebsinfo.com ; web site: www.ebsinfo.com  Tel: 415-381-5195