How long has Oil spills been a problem?

Answer 1

Large oil spills from wells and tankers have been a problem for at least 40 years (1970 - 2010). Certainly in the last 20 years, we have improved our ability to handle spills, but also face new problems with deep water and hostile environment drilling. Super tankers being common in the 1980's lead to spills. Large spills go as far back as 61 years.

Warfare produced the greatest oil spills, particularly the German attack on US tankers and bunkers (1939- 42) and the purposeful release of oil from Kuwait during the first Iraq War (1991).

The size of the problem is not always tied to the size of the spill. I've included a list of spills and some big ones that you probably never heard of, because they did not occur near a shore line.

One link shows graphically that oil spills from tankers reached a peak in the 1980's after which improved safety measures and vessel construction apparently reduced the number of accidents.

Answer:

Shortly after the first commercial oil well as drilled in North America in Oil Springs Ontario (James Miller Williams 1858) a gusher was drilled in 1862 by Hugh Nixon Shaw. The flow of oil reached what is now called Black Creek and Lake St. Clair.

Answer 2

The first oil spill in North America occurred in Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada in the mid-1800's. The London Free Press ran a column on February 6th, 1862, "The Oil Wells in Enniskillen" (the township where Oil Springs is situated)/ It read:

… shooting up a column of oil some 20 feet into the air…. hundreds of barrels of oil were flowing around the well, over the road and into the creek…. the waste was [eventually] stayed; but not until eighty or one hundred thousand gallons of oil were lost! I measured the depth of oil on the creek in many places, and found a varying deposit of from three to four inches, just as pure as when it flowed from the well.

Answer 3

The big Oil spill was on April 20 & it lasted for 80 Days.

Answer 4

When humans started transporting oil.

People need a specific answer like April 19 2010 (not exact date of anything)

Answer 5

the oil spill started at the Gulf of Mexico

Answer 6

I assume you mean the BP Oil Spill. It began on April 20, 2010, it resulted from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploding.

Answer 7

April 20th, 2010

Answer 8

April 20, 2010