Oil Spills

 

 

Oil spills destroy marine environments and wreak havoc on human population.  Oil spills are one of the worst environmental disasters causing both short-term and long-term pollutant side effects including dead and dying wildlife, tarred beaches, damaged fisheries and contaminated water supplies.   Toxic substances from oil spills can remain in land and water for years.   It takes only one quart of oil to pollute approximately 150,000 gallons of water.

Crude oil contains numerous materials that pose both short-term and long-term dangers to humans, including benzene and chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs.  Short-term exposure to benzene causes dizziness and nausea, and long-term exposure has been linked to leukemia and other maladies, according to the EPA.   The EPA says some PAH chemicals are carcinogens.

The demand for oil becomes greater and greater each day.   Oil is drilled from the ground, treated, transported and stored.   There are many steps in this process during which oil can spill from wellheads, drill rigs, tankers, pipelines and storage tanks.   Oil can leak from ocean-going ships during accidental and deliberate spills.

Oil spills can happen on land or water when oil is incorrectly handled, there are railway or truck accidents, tankers or barges collide, the insides of tankers are washed, and when natural oil deposits seep.   Additionally, when people change the oil in their cars, they dump the used, dirty oil on the ground or down the storm sewer.  When it rains the oil with the metals and particles from the car engine flows into streams and creeks.

CONTACT US
If you or your business has been affected by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, contact the oil rig spill lawyers at Davis & Crump, P. C. at 1-800-277-0300 or locally at 228-863-6000, or email us at info@daviscrump.com .  Davis & Crump, P. C. is actively handling claims for loss of income, damage to personal and real property, and injuries.