How big a spill is a dangerous occurrence?

Answer 1

You have asked a very good question.

My answer is- it all depends where the spill has occurred. Oil spills, even small ones, impact marine life in the area which they occur. If an oil spill occurs in a lake, it can add dangerous chemicals to drinking water. This is particularly true if the spill is gasoline from a refinery or barge.

Oil is generally stored in large storage facilities and any leakage is considered dangerous as it could get worse. Similarly, pipeline and well head (top of the well) leaks, even if relatively small are considered hazards because they can get bigger.

Small spills from gas stations through leaks in their tanks can be very harmful, as the chemicals, particularly benezene can enter the drinking water. The spill may be less than 1,000 gallons and still be considered harmful. Offshore, a spill of 10- 20,000 gallons of crude oil may have only a slight impact on the environment if it occurs far from shore.

There are some large spills which occurred far from the coast line, which there was no clean up done, as the impact on the environment was not that great. However, when a tanker has an accident, then the crew of the tanker are in immediate danger of drowning.

To put some numbers to small and large accidents, the EPA has control in maintenance and spill reporting for owners of oil storage with an above ground capacity of 1320 gallons and a below ground capacity of 42,000 gallons.

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