Abstract
Some of the most widely publicized pollution episodes occur following extraction, during fuel transportation and processing. A tanker spill or a pipeline break wastes oil to the environment rather than moving it to market for sale. Thus the artificial network for containing petroleum gets coupled to the wrong consuming ecosystem. The spill produces a growing pool of a “resource out of place.”
… as things stand, the petroleum industry sits on top of the world and likes the status quo very much, perhaps a little too much. And yet, it is to be hoped that in its collective wisdom the industry will reach the conclusion that ours is an interdependent world, and that none, not even those at the top, can long gain from policies that fall short of the maximum promotion of the common weal.
Erich Zimmermann, Conservation in the Production of Petroleum
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References
The chapter epigraph comes from p. 386 of the Zimmermann book (1957). The oil evaporation estimate at p. 94 is based on experiments by P. J. Kinney, D. K. Button, and D. M. Schell, reported as Contribution 61, Proceedings, University of Alaska Institute of Marine Sciences. The brine-disposal problem, with statistics, is covered in the Interstate Oil Compact Commission’s “Water Problems Associated With Oil Production in the United States” (Oklahoma City, n.d.).
Basic statistics are taken from “Crude Petroleum and Petroleum Products” reprinted from the 1969 Minerals Yearbook and from the Interior Department Mineral Industry Survey (December 1970). The API-sponsored study referenced at p. 96 was conducted by Crossley S-D Surveys, New York City. It is available under the title “Report on Air and Water Conservation Expenditures of the Petroleum Industry” (August 1968).
The computations at p. 96 are based on statistics from National Petroleum Council, I Environmental Conservation: The Oil and Gas Industries (June 1971), esp. p. 36. The Mead-Sorenson Santa Barbara cost estimates appear in Santa Barbara Oil Symposium (December 16–18, 1970), University of California at Santa Barbara. Also used in connection with the Santa Barbara spill:
M. Foster et al., The Santa Barbara Oil Spill, Parts I and II, FWPCA Research Series DZR #15080 (November 1970);
Thomas A. Murphy, “Environmental Effects of Oil Pollution,” Paper to American Society of Civil Engineers (July 18, 1970), Boston;
U.S. Geological Survey, Environmental Impact Statement (draft) on Federal Oil and Gas Leases in Santa Barbara Channel (May 10, 1971 ).
Gross tanker number, size, and spillage figures came from the November 8, 1970, New York Times. Coastal spillage estimates were furnished by the Coast Guard, as indicated in the Acknowledgments, and the data on off-shore oil venting and load-on-top deballasting came from Peter Hepple, ed., Pollution Prevention (1968), passim. See especially W. M. Kluss, “Prevention of Sea Pollution in Normal Tanker Operations,” pp. 101 ff., from which the oceangoing biodegradation estimates were taken. Also useful in connection with oil spills are:
Department of Interior-Department of Transportation, Oil Pollution: A Report to the President (February 1968)—also used for basic pipeline statistics; and
API-FWPCA Proceedings: Joint Conference on Prevention and Control of Oil Spills (December 15–17, 1969), New York City.
The latter report is rich in information on oil spill effects, clean-up costs, and biodegradation and was used to supplement the Woods Hole material—again, see the Acknowledgments. The coastal spill estimates are taken from the report by K. E. Biglane of FWPCA and J. S. Darrier, U. S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, in the conference report.
The Interior Department’s “Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline” (January 1971) and Questions and Answers a fact sheet from the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, furnished basic data for the pipeline section.
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© 1972 W. W. Norton & Company Inc.
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Garvey, G. (1972). Petroleum Out of Place. In: Energy, Ecology, Economy. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-02421-6_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-02421-6_5
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