Oil Spill in Illinois Des Plaines River
Illinois Oil Spill: 65,000 Gallons of Oil Sludge, Caterpillar Plant
While initial reports say there should be no damage or harm to any human, there is significant risk to the wildlife of the river. Oil spills are a manmade disaster with a huge environmental impact. It has been more than 20 years since the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the environment in that area has yet to return to its natural state. Consider in addition to the wildlife damage, the amount of tax payer dollars spent investigating the Illinois oil spill, and the amount of time spent by the Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency assessing the damage to the area. Oil Spills of any size are costly in nature.
While the Caterpillar Des Plaines River oil spill likely won't be as costly as the Exxon Valdez spill, it begs the question as to how many accumulated gallons of oil sludge, oil products, or other environmentally harmful products should be allowed in such close proximity to a water source. In Dec 2008, a major reservoir break dumped more than 1 billion gallons of coal sludge from the Tennessee Valley Authority's power plant damaging 15 homes and leaving more than 25,000 residents with contaminated water. Events like this bring question to the amount of damage which can be done by just one leak.
As the US Coast Guard and the EPA work actively to contain the Des Plaines River oil spill from the Caterpillar holding tank, the amount of time it takes to clean the spill will determine the total cost, dollar wise as well as the long term environmental impact.
Sources
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/26/tennessee.sludge/index.html
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_oil_spill.html?source=rss
Published by Maggie Ray
Maggie Ray is a freelance writer with more than thirty years of experience in contract writing and program management. She experienced military life as an active duty member of the United States Air Force fo... View profile
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6 Comments
Post a CommentNicely written :)
I had not heard about that oil spill thanks for the article.
Wow! I hadn't yet heard about this. Thanks for the info.
Hope they can get it cleaned quickly.
Not a good thing for either the environment or Caterpillar.
oh this sucks ... man oh man