IMPACT OF OIL ON THE COASTAL ENVIRONMENT 

 Patrick L. Parker and J. Kenneth Winters 



The University of Texas Marine Laboratory 

 Port Aransas, Texas 78373 



It is generally recognized that petroleum and the activities that accompany the 

 petroleum sector are having a major impact on many portions of the world's coastal 

 environments. Certainly a similar impact is felt by noncoastal environments, but it 

 appears that a number of factors combine to focus the major impact on coastal 

 zones. Tor example, large amounts of petroleum are produced in coastal areas and 

 even larger amounts are transported on coastal waters. These activities in an envi- 

 ronment that is sensitive, yet harsh and unforgiving of mistakes, have made manage- 

 ment of the petroleum sector difficult. Petroleum, unlike other pollutants such as 

 radioactivity, heavy metals, and pesticides, can be seen, felt, and smelled. This fact 

 and the massive releases in some oil pollution incidents have further compounded 

 the problem in coastal environments. The sheer magnitude of the activities of the 

 petroleum sector and the complex chemical and biological properties of petroleum 

 have brought changes to affected portions of the coastal environment far greater 

 than to non-petroleum related areas. Petroleum may be thought of as a driving force 

 for many environmental modifications. 



Exploration, drilling, and production of oil in the coastal environment have 

 brought changes in the physical environment. Development of a major oil or gas 

 field may involve extensive on-shore activities such as shipyard, fabrication plant, 

 harbor, tank-farm, and pipeline construction. These projects may involve dredging 

 and filling of wetlands, alternate uses of coastal waters, competition with established 

 labor markets, and other social impacts. The coastal environment may be greatly 

 modified by the petroleum sector before a barrel of oil is produced, transported, or 

 refined. This modification of the physical environment may be viewed as a competi- 

 tion for the limited resources of the coastal zone. It can have far-reaching impacts on 

 the natural ecosystem. 



Offshore production and transportation of petroleum, river runoff, and municipal 

 and industrial wastes combine to inject millions of tons of petroleum and petroleum 

 products into the marine environment annually (Table I) (National Academy of 

 Science, 1975). The potential of these releases for damage to organisms and eco- 

 systems has been the central theme for most of the petroleum-related environmental 

 science studies for the past decade. The studies have been difficult for two major rea- 

 sons: petroleum is a complex substance not readily characterized, and effects of pe- 

 troleum on biota are highly variable and poorly understood. Since 1970 our knowl- 

 edge of baseline levels, transport mechanisms, weathering, and biological effects of 

 petroleum in the marine environment has increased dramatically. The balance of this 

 report describes some of the planned and unplanned studies of oil pollution. 



PETROLEUM AS A NATURAL SUBSTANCE 



Composition 



It is somewhat ironic that the coastal environment, the area most impacted by the 

 petroleum sector, is the environment in which most petroleum originated in earlier 



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