Poor Animals

Effects of offshore drilling on animals

Offshore Oil Plan Risks Wildlife, Coasts Spills associated with offshore drilling can kill dolphins and other marine wildlife. Offshore drilling contaminates water, routinely spilling oil and toxic liquids into our oceans and releasing hazardous fumes into our air. Pollutants like mercury and persistent hydrocarbons contaminate important marine habitat near platforms. Seismic testing associated with drilling can cause dolphins, whales and other marine mammals to become disoriented and stranded and -- in some cases -- even die. Massive spills that can result from drilling and increased tanker traffic can kill dolphins, seabirds, sea turtles, fish and marine mammals.

How to Determine the location of a rig

In order for any drilling to take place, an offshore drilling rig must first be installed. These offshore platforms can be situated in water up to a several hundred meters in depth. But before any drilling takes place, an oil and gas "trap" must first be located in the ocean, and with the ocean floor being at such great depths, the visibility is often very poor. To locate potential traps, engineers use seismic surveying, and then analyze the data they receive to decide whether or not drilling in the area would have the chance of containing oil and/or gas. The engineers will not know whether their assumptions are true until they penetrate the trap with a drill bit. Due to the fact that the traps can sometimes be a great distance below the ocean, advanced computer technology is required to guide the drill bit to a fixed location. Installed above the drill bit is a navigation device, which sends back information to the controller, allowing them to locate the exact location that is presumed to have the oil and to measure and monitor the trap. Inside the drill pipe, there is a steerable motor that can be controlled to adjust the drill and the direction in which it is headed.

Offshore Drilling disaster

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdRcALtA8CE

What is it!?!?!??!

Typically refers to the act of extracting underground resources which lie underwater near the shoreline. Most commonly, the term is used to describe oil extraction off the coasts of continents, though the term can also apply to drilling in lakes and inland seas.