Health and environmental impact of the petroleum industry
Crude oil and natural gas are primary energy and raw material sources that enable numerous aspects of modern daily life and the world economy.
Their supply has grown quickly over the last 150 years to meet the demands of the rapidly increasing human population, creativity, knowledge, and consumerism.
[9] Among all human activities, fossil fuel combustion is the largest contributor to the ongoing buildup of carbon in the Earth's biosphere.
[19] Conservation, efficiency, and minimizing waste impacts of petroleum products are effective industry and consumer actions toward achieving better environmental sustainability.
[24] Despite varying levels of toxicity amongst different variants of oil, all petroleum -derived products have adverse impacts on human health and the ecosystem.
[28] The compound is also known to lower the white blood cell count in humans, which would leave people exposed to it more susceptible to infections.
Since the industrial age began circa 1750–1850 with growing wood and coal use, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and methane have increased about 50% and 150%, respectively, above their relatively stable levels of the prior 800,000+ years.
[32] [33] Each is currently increasing at a rate of about 1% every year, since about half of the added carbon has been absorbed by Earth's land vegetation and ocean sinks.
[10] Petroleum has enabled plastics to be used to create a wide range and massive quantity of consumer items at extremely low production costs.
In the extraction phase, gas venting and flaring release not only methane and carbon dioxide, but various other pollutants like nitrous oxides and aerosols.
Soot is cancer causing (carcinogenic)[23] Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are gases or vapours emitted by various solids and liquids.
[47] Petroleum hydrocarbons such as gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel intruding into indoor spaces from underground storage tanks or brownfields threaten safety (e.g., explosive potential) and causes adverse health effects from inhalation.
Data samples analyzed from the United States and Europe from the past 100 years and showed an increase in nitrous oxide emissions from combustion.
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially marine areas, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution.
Spilt oil penetrates into the structure of the plumage of birds and the fur of mammals, reducing its insulating ability, and making them more vulnerable to temperature fluctuations and much less buoyant in the water.
[54] PW discharge is the largest emission event in the marine environment world and it is a result of offshore oil and gas production.
[59] For example, surveys done in the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) found that PAHs released by PW were responsible for biological changes in mussel and Atlantic cod.
[61] Long term exposure to PAHs have been linked to a series of health problems such as lung, skin, bladder, gastrointestinal cancer.
[64] Furthermore, these emissions are at a record high[63] and the IPCC (2007) states that Earth's climate system will heat up by 3 degrees Celsius for a doubling of carbon dioxide.
[64] These numbers are troubling as the resulting climate change will cause more intense hurricanes and storms, increased droughts and heat waves, frequent flooding, and more severe wildfires.
As Earth's oceans continue to acidify there are less carbonate ions available for calcifying meaning that organisms have a hard time building and maintaining their shells and skeletons.
[67] Modern human societies utilize cheap and abundant energy to promote economic growth and maintain political stability.
[68] Government's and economic institutions around the world lower prices and increase supplies of fossil fuels for both consumers and producers by providing various forms of financial support to the industry.
These include such traditional subsidies as direct payments, tax preferences, depletion allowances, research & development grants, and the removal of existing environmental protections.
[69] Considering all forms of support, the largest assistance to fossil fuels arises from the failure of governments to pass along most costs from the environmental and human-health impacts of the waste.
[72] By comparison, a working group at the International Monetary Fund estimates that all support to the fossil-fuel industry totaled about $5.2 Trillion (6.4% of global gross domestic product) during year 2017.
[70] According to the theory of ideal market competition, accurate prices could act to drive more responsible industry and consumer choices that reduce waste and long-term scarcity.
Eliminating subsidies and implementing carbon fees to realize accurate prices would have their most direct effects from the supply side of the industry.
For example, in order to switch from crude oil to natural gas there are technical and network changes that need to occur before the implementation can be complete.
These include measures to reduce oil spills, false floors to prevent gasoline drips in the water table and double-hulled tanker ships.
