Oil Pollution

In this paper, we shall attempt to provide a concise history of the advent of the Oil industry in Nigeria in general and pay particular attention to the Oil producing area of Ogba/Egbema. Petroleum production and export is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, providing almost 90% of Nigeria's export earnings (NNPC 1993:1). Exploration and production of crude oil for export has put Nigeria in the comity of oil-rich nations. The steady increase in revenue accruing from this finite source has however dwarfed earnings from other products to turn Nigeria into a mono-product economy state. This makes historical scholarship in this sector stimulating and pertinent.

Ogba/Egbema area is the location of the first and second highest Oil producing communities in Nigeria, Obagi of Ogba being the first and Mgbede/Ebocha of Egbema being the second. It is the presence of these two oil-bearing communities that place Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area in the position of highest Oil-producing local government area in Nigeria; a position that is unenviable in view of the resultant environmental degradation, poverty and all the effects of the air, water and land pollution.

Ogba/Egbema is located north of Ahoada West local government area of Rivers State. The area lies within the Delta formation, covering an area of 237.5sq km. This area is situated within the Oil mining leases (OMLS) 58, 60 and 61 with mixed vegetation of freshwater swamp and rain forest (NNPC 1997:35).

Administratively, the area was designated a district until 1978 when it was assigned a divisional status. the division was later fragmented into two units; Omoku Urban and Ogba/Egbema district in 1980 before it became a part of ONELGA created in 1992 We shall trace the history of crude oil development in this great oil-bearing area and its contribution to the economy of the nation especially up to the peak of oil boom; 1979.

Keywords: Oil Exploration, Exploitation, Ogba/Egbema LGA, Oil Industry, Pollution, Degradation, Niger Delta

Contamination of soil and groundwater with mineral oil-based products is among the most common sources of pollution in Nigeria. This study evaluated the distribution of some heavy metals and hydrocarbon content in soil contaminated with waste-lubricating oil (spent oil), and the effectiveness of some abundantly available organic wastes from animal source as remediation alternative to the expensive chemical and physical methods. The main-plot treatments include control (C), cow dung (CD), poultry manure (PM) and pig waste (PW) applied at 10 Mg/ha each; while the sub-plot treatments were control (0%), 0.5%, 2.5% and 5% spent oil (SP) applied at 10, 50 and 100 Mg/ha, respectively arranged in a split-plot in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. These treatments were applied once each year for two consecutive years. Soil samples (0-20 cm) were collected at 3, 6 and 12 months each year and analyzed for Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn, while the residual total hydrocarbon content (THC) was determined at the end of the 2 years study. Results show significant (p < 0.05) accumulation of these metals with spent oil pollution following the sequence 5%SP > 2.5%SP > 0.5%SP, indicating higher metal pollution with increase in oil pollution. General distribution of Cr, Ni, Pb and Zn, relative to sampling periods, followed 3 months > 6 months > 12 months in the 1st year indicating reduction in metal levels with time. The trend for 2nd year indicated higher accumulation of Cr and Ni in 12 months, while Pb and Zn decreased with time of sampling. The results further showed higher accumulation of Cr followed by Zn, relative to other metals, with oil pollution. However, addition of organic wastes to the oil polluted soils significantly (p < 0.05) led to reduction in the levels of the metals and THC following the order PM > PW > CD.

Mangroves commonly found along tropical and subtropical coastlines are susceptible to oil pollution. In December 2000, around 500 1 m tall Kandelia candel saplings at the age of 3-5 years old located at the foreshore region of Sheung Pak Nai swamp, Hong Kong SAR, were found to be damaged by oil pollution. More than 80% of the saplings were either dead or washed away and leaving less than 5% healthy saplings with dense green leaves. Elevated concentrations of light n-alkanes (ranging from n-C 14 to n-C 20), pristane and phytane were recorded in surface sediments collected in December 2000. The ratio between light and total n-alkanes was 0.4. The total petroleum hydrocarbons (60-80 lg g À1 TPH) and unresolved complex mixtures (60-70 lg g À1 UCM) were higher than the background values of other mangrove sediments in Hong Kong, which were 40 and 20 lg g À1 , respectively. In certain root zone sediments, TPH concentrations were above 1000 lg g À1. These results suggest that surface sediments in Sheung Pak Nai were contaminated by petroleum oil, most likely by illegal discharge of fuel oil which occurred between 1998 and 2002. One year later, in December 2001, unhealthy saplings had recovered and re-grown. The concentrations of TPH and UCM in sediments declined to around 40 lg g À1 , pristane and phytane dropped by 80%, and the ratio of light to total n-alkanes was 0.15, suggesting that residual oil in sediments was weathered leading to a remarkable recovery of the unhealthy saplings.

This paper reviews our knowledge of 011-pollution effects on coral-reef communities, concentrating on research done since the last review on this subject by . The review focusses on crude-oil effects on scleractinian corals and octocorals and summarizes the small amount of work conducted on other reef organisms, as well as on the reef flora. Until 1975 there appeared to be no conclusive evidence that oil floating above the reef damages the corals. Although conflicting reports continue to appear in the literature, growing evidence indicates a detrimental influence of oil pollution on coral-reef communities. Laboratory experiments and long-term field studies in the Red Sea witness detrimental effects of oil pollution on reef corals, such as complete lack of colonization by hermatypic corals in reef areas chronically polluted by oil, decrease in colony viability, damage to the reproductive system of corals (smaller number of breeding colonies, decrease in number of ovaria per polyp, fewer planulae per coral head and premature planulae shedding), lower life expectancy of planulae and abnormal behavioural responses of planulae and corals. Other detrimental effects on reef corals caused by crude oil, mainly reported from the Caribbean, include lower growth rates, direct damage to tissues, thinning of cell layers and disruption of cell structure. damage to tactile stimuli and normal feeding mechanisms, excessive mucus secretion leading to enhanced bacterial growth and eventual coral destruction. All investigators studying effects of crude-oil emulcifiers on reef areas polluted by oil conclude that these enhance the damage; hence mechanical oil removal is recommended. There IS urgent need for more field and laboratory research on long-term oil-pollution effects on coral-reef communities. Suggestions are made as to the type of studies required for a better understanding of the problem.

With the introduction of the Formal Safety Assessment in the International Maritime Organisation decision making process regarding new regulations, and the recent tanker disasters resulting in extensive oil pollution, the public and political pressure to improve safety in ports and the Ž . shipping industry has increased. Considering that some kind of Safety Report case regulations related to marine operations have not been established, and that the ports and shipping industry are at the onset of safety regimes utilised in other industries, a step wise methodology for safety improvements in ports has been developed. In the first step, the hazard identification and the qualitative risk assessment is carried out to establish hazard barriers which are or should be in place to prevent hazards from being released; the controls for managing these hazards are then Ž . developed and integrated into the Safety Management System SMS . In the second and optional step, the areas of high risk are investigated in detail and the approach for risk quantification discussed. The use of the quantitative risk assessment results is illustrated in two examples. q $ -see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Surfactants are widely used for various purposes in industry, but for many years were mainly chemically synthesized. It has only been in the past few decades that biological surface-active compounds (biosurfactants) have been described. Biosurfactants are gaining prominence and have already taken over for a number of important industrial uses, due to their advantages of biodegradability, production on renewable resources and functionality under extreme conditions; particularly those pertaining during tertiary crude-oil recovery. Conflicting reports exist concerning their efficacy and the economics of both their production and application. At present, their uses are mainly in the oil and petroleum industries, where they are employed primarily for their emulsification capacity in both tertiary recovery and polluted-sites remediation. However, caution is frequently exercised with respect to their use because of possible subsequent microbial contamination of either underground oil reservoirs or products. The limited successes and applications for biosurfactants' production, recovery, use in oil pollution control, oil storage tank clean-up and enhanced oil-recovery are reviewed from the technological point of view.

Examples are presented of different techniques which are in use, or could be used, to monitor the fate and effects of oil pollution in Dutch marine waters by oil spills and chronic contamination by rivers, processing water from the oil industry, etc.

Most of the world’s natural resources can be found on the territories of indigenous peoples. This puts indigenous peoples in a position where they are not only subjected to environmental hazards, as a result of the mining and exploitation of these resources, but are also denied the use and control of these resources. In addition, the proximity to such commodities makes indigenous peoples the subject of widespread human rights violations. This article discusses the indigenous peoples’ situation in light of Garret Hardin’s theoretical “Tragedy of the Commons” concept of the correlation between shared resources and their depletion before the reality of the major role Multinational Corporations (MNCs) play in the abuse of indigenous peoples’ rights. At the international level, we find a progressive consensus in recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples with regard to the management of their lands and natural resources. We argue that the absence of an international and permanent mecha...

In this paper we argue that the Exxon Valdez oil spill gained so much attention because of its setting in Alaska. Alaska symbolizes for many Americans the wilderness or frontier that has long been part of American thought. At the same time, American national development has largely depended on the discovery and use of the nation’s abundant natural resources. The setting of the Valdez spill in the seemingly pristine waters of Prince William Sound brought the tension between our national identification with wilderness and our national need for further natural resource exploitation into sharp focus. In the aftermath of the spill, a legislative deadlock was passed and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 was passed. The Valdez accident had longer-term consequences as well, most prominent of which is related to the ongoing debate over whether to open up the coastal plain in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to further development.

In this work, in four chapters, it is argued about the potential of becoming risk areas that have land whose substrates tend to be destabilized when they are saturated; as well as water sources and wetlands (and in general those aquatic systems that support them). The topic is approached from a very broad perspective, which recognizes these environments in their role as service delivery areas for the improvement of our quality of life; and as safe living areas in the perimeters of cities. Here we emphasize, the water hazards that occur when these environments are altered, ignoring their characteristics, their propensity for instability, their operating mechanisms, their hydrological behavior, their physical and chemical properties, and their role in the development of pathogenic biological agents, or habitat for organisms capable of transmitting them. At the end an outline is made about the impact that the increase of the coastal risk zones would have, and its increasing occupation, in the global economy.
RESUMEN En este trabajo, en cuatro capítulos, se  argumenta sobre la potencialidad de  convertirse en zonas de riesgo que tienen los terrenos cuyos sustratos tienden a desestabilizarse cuando se saturan; así como fuentes de agua y  humedales (y en general aquellos sistemas acuáticos que los soportan).  El tópico se aborda desde una perspectiva muy amplia y  distinta, a la que reconoce esos ambientes en su papel  de áreas de prestación de servicios para el mejoramiento de nuestra calidad de vida; y como áreas habitables seguras en los perímetros de  las ciudades.  Aquí se subrayan, los riesgos hídricos sobrevenidos cuando se alteran esos entornos, desconociendo sus características, su propensión a la inestabilidad, sus mecanismos de funcionamiento, sus comportamientos hidrológicos, sus propiedades físicas y químicas,  y su papel en el desarrollo de agentes biológicos patógenos, o de hábitat para organismos capaces de trasmitirlos. Al final se hace un esbozo sobre del impacto que tendría el aumento de las zonas de riesgo costeras, y su creciente ocupación, en el desempeño económico global.

Oil pollution is without a doubt a serious issue in Nigeria today. Since Nigeria discovered the ‘black gold’ in Oloibiri, Bayelsa state in 1956,  the environment has been wrought with oil spills which have caused the degradation of farmland and gradual destruction of aquatic life through the exploration and exploitation of crude oil. This is even more depressing considering that the general environment where these oil spills occur – the Niger Delta – is an area where the mainstay of the local environment is farming and fishing. This has caused a halt in the peoples’ occupation and more or less destroyed the local economy. This paper seeks to highlight the various legislations that have been enacted by the federal government to arrest this unfortunate reality. It will also look at the effect these laws have had on oil pollution and if they have succeeded in addressing this burning issue. Lastly, it will highlight cases that have been brought against oil companies by individuals and communities that have been severely affected by oil spills in their immediate environment.

The southern coastal plain of Iran at the Persian Gulf encounters oil pollution due to the historical oil exploitation, related tanker navigations and accidents, and petrochemical industrial expansions in the recent years. Therefore, it is important to investigate the geochemical properties of oil-contaminated coastal soils and sediments for engineering and environmental purposes. Here, an extensive laboratory testing program was carried out to determine the effects of crude oil contamination on some of the geotechnical properties of clayey and sandy soils such as CL, SM and SP sampled from the coastal soils from this area. The testing included basic properties, Atterberg limits, compaction, direct shear, uniaxial compression and permeability tests on clean and contaminated soil samples at the same densities. The contaminated samples were prepared by mixing the soils with crude oil in the amount of 2%, 4%, 8%, 12%, and 16% by dry weight. The results indicated a decrease in strength, permeability, maximum dry density, optimum water content and Atterberg limits. Knowledge of these effects of oil contamination is important in coastal engineering and environmental remediation activities of the studied coastal plain.

In an increasingly environmentally conscious world, ship-source marine pollution has, for a long time, been singled out for special attention. While large oil pollution incidents have reduced both in number and in size over recent decades, the potential threat of environmental damage and economic loss associated with the carriage of oil remains disconcerting. In the last century the world experienced some major oil spills of the time with catastrophic effects to marine environment. Responding to such unfortunate events, among other things, enacted liability and compensation conventions to ensure timely and adequate compensation to victims of oil pollution. Even so, the application of such conventions raised some questions.This paper focuses on the international legal framework for prevention of vessel-source oil pollution. Regulatory international law regarding prevention of vessel-source 0il pollution is discussed within the framework.This paper examined the role of oil pollution liability conventions in the protection of marine environment through compensation and challenges facing the conventions in the process of application in relevant oil pollution incidents. The relevant issues have, therefore, been discussed and analyzed.

This article examines the use of foreign direct liability suits, including the ones currently in the Dutch court system by Nigerian plaintiffs against Shell Petroleum, to protect environmental and economic interests in oil-producing communities. The paper suggests that while these suits are a valuable tool in advancing the cause of a clean environment, they fall short in accomplishing the goal. Additional tools, such as an international insurance scheme, may need to be introduced to create a more effective framework.

Existing environmental liability regimes in Europe deal with traditional types of damage, such as personal injury or property damage that are are caused via the environment, rather than with environmental damage (e.g. damages to biodiversity) as such. Therefore, the public interest in the preservation of ecologically valuable natural resources is taken into account incompletely by existing environmental liability law. In order to fill this gap, the European Commission has recently adopted a proposal for a EU Directive on Environmental Liability. One crucial aspect of the consideration of the public interest in natural resources in a liability regime is the assessment of the damage and the regulations providing for compensation. Only if damages are quantifiable liability parties can be forced to pay for compensation. In this case, the European Commission proposes an approach which is similar to the regulations in the US environmental liability law, namely the provisions for natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) based on the Oil Pollution Act (OPA).

Biosurfactants containing rhamnose and β-hydroxydecanoic acid and called rhamnolipids are reviewed with respect to microbial producers, their physiological role, biosynthesis and genetics, and especially their microbial overproduction, physicochemical properties and potential applications. With Pseudomonas species, more than 100 g l−1 rhamnolipids were produced from 160 g l−1 soybean oil at a volumetric productivity of 0.4 g l−1 h−1. The individual rhamnolipids are able to lower the surface tension of water from 72 mN m−1 to 25–30 mN m−1 at concentrations of 10–200 mg l−1. After initial testing, rhamnolipids seem to have potential applications in combating marine oil pollution, removing oil from sand and in combating zoosporic phytopathogens. Rhamnolipids are also a source of l-rhamnose, which is already used for the industrial production of high-quality flavor components.

A comprehensive field study of the levels of aromatic petroleum hydrocarbons in water was conducted throughout the coastal areas of Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf. Fifty monitoring stations were established, and each station was visited twice during the investigation. Monitoring stations included industrial, ports, marinas and mooring stations, public beaches and residential stations, domestic outfall stations, and remote ‘background’ stations. The results of the survey revealed marked temporal and spatial variations in petroleum hydrocarbons concentrations in the sea water analyzed. The highest overall mean value was 88.5 μg/L measured in industrial areas and the lowest was 16.1 μg/L chrysene equivalent at remote stations. Generally, levels of petroleum hydrocarbons were high in all stations compared to other coastal areas in the Gulf, indicating a chronic oil pollution problem. The results revealed significant temporal variations, however, no specific patterns could be identified. The total land-based oil inputs to the coastal waters is estimated to be 31 metric tonnes/year measured as aromatic petroleum hydrocarbons.

This article focuses on the International Salvage Convention and the protection of the environment in salvage operations. The article traces the evolution and history of the law of Salvage to its present status by using the UK as a case study. In essence, the article seeks to ascertain the extent of current international regime on salvage in protecting the environment. The question that this article poses is: Does the International Salvage Convention 1989 accord enough protection to the environment against the backdrop of global efforts to promote environmental protection and sustainable development? The article begins with a brief synopsis of the underlying principles of salvage including the rule of 'no cure-no pay' followed by an appraisal of the events that culminated arguably in the development of the International Salvage Convention 1989 to safeguard the environment in the course of salvage operations. A systematic analysis of the defects inherent in the International Salvage Convention 1989 vis-à-vis protection of the environment are analysed and a number of reforms are highlighted.

Most of the world’s natural resources can be found on the territories of indigenous peoples. This puts indigenous peoples in a position where they are not only subjected to environmental hazards as a result of the mining and exploitation of these resources, but are also denied the use and control of these resources. In addition, the proximity to such commodities makes indigenous peoples the subject of widespread human rights violations. This article discusses the indigenous peoples’ situation in light of Garret Hardin’s theoretical “Tragedy of the Commons” concept of the correlation between shared resources and their depletion before the reality of the major role Multinational Corporations (MNCs) play in the abuse of indigenous peoples’ rights. At the international level, we find a progressive consensus in recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples with regard to the management of their lands and natural resources. We argue that the absence of an international and permanent mechan...

The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance level of two advanced oil spill software systems in early transport and fate of oil spill through algorithms accepted in oil spill literature. To do this, the performance level of software systems mostly used in real cases have been compared. OILMAP (the oil spill prediction modeling system) and PISCES 2 (potential incident simulation, control and evaluation system) have been used for spill trajectory in the light of four spill scenarios. The findings reveal that the OILMAP has predicted a relatively larger area of spill. In addition, OILMAP has achieved closer results to the calculations of approaches adopted in the literature for evaporation calculations. Besides, OILMAP software has provided highly reliable results in the evaporation rates of oil compared to the calculations of PISCES 2. On the other hand, as for the determination of the risky area, both software systems have yielded results with high reliability values, which could be used in taking precautions against oil spill in such areas.

The Semi-enclosed Mediterranean Sea records various signals of high anthropic pressures from surrounding countries and the industrialized European countries. This is particularly true for oil pollution. Although accounting for 1% of the worldÕs ocean surface, it receives about 25% of the petroleum inputs to the ocean. To achieve a global budget we need to collect information from different parts of the Mediterranean. Particularly, we focus in this paper on the Southern Mediterranean, where data are presently very scarce. In this context, the University of Sfax has undertaken an estimation of hydrocarbon pollution along the coasts of Sfax and Gabès Gulf. Non-aromatic hydrocarbons were analysed in 8 surface sediments by FT/IR and GC/MS. Non-aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations vary in the range 310-1406 lg g À1 sediments dry weight, which is high, compared to other Mediterranean sites. GC/MS data indicate a large group of unresolved compounds suggesting a petroleum contamination, confirmed by the identification of hopanes with predominant C 29 and C 30 a,b compounds and steranes with predominance of C 27 over C 28 and C 29 compounds.

Oil spills are one of major pollution concerns in coastal and marine environment. The most important sources are from human activities including coastal facilities, shipping activities, and offshore exploration and production. This study aims to evaluate risk of oil spills from shipping activities and provide strategies for oil spill management in Thailand. To investigate causes of oil spills, information related to oil spill incidents and shipping activities have been collected and modify for 23 coastal provinces along the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea. The Principal Component Analysis is used to explore the data and identify main sources of oil spill incidents. To classify risk levels for each province, monthly oil spill impact to marine resources are predicted by OILMAP model. Afterward, Hierarchical Cluster Analysis is used to assess risk areas. The result shows that main sources of oil spill incidents in Thailand are ports and international ships. The high risk areas for oil spill effects are in the east of the Upper Gulf of Thailand and the south of Andaman Sea especially in June and July. The strategy of oil pollution management is proposed according to critical oil spill sources and priority risk areas.

Accidental pollution at sea can be reduced but never completely eliminated; however, deliberate illegal discharges from ships can indeed be reduced by the strict enforcement of existing regulations and the control, monitoring and surveillance of maritime traffic. Despite this, operational oil discharges are common and represent the main source of marine pollution from ships. To analyse this problem, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission has focused its attention on the need to monitor in the long term sea-based oil pollution. This research aims, in particular, to map the oil spills, to identify the hot spots and to define the trends in all European seas. For this reason, JRC has collected all relevant data concerning sea-based oil pollution from different actors and archives. For the North and Baltic seas, data from aerial surveillance were used and, for this reason, all oil spills are real and confirmed. Conversely, the data for the Mediterranean and the Black Sea derive from oil spills detected by JRC in low resolution SAR (Synthertic Aperture Radar) satellite images from archives. For the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, these data represent the only source to draw some preliminary conclusions on marine oil pollution. This paper presents for the first time a comprehensive view of the long term monitoring of sea-based oil pollution in all the seas around Europe. The key conclusion of this study is that, if the data analysed are not homogenous, operational pollution in the seas around Europe seems to be slightly decreasing.

Taxonomic survey of the intertidal seaweeds of the rocky shores near the oil terminal Almirante Maximiano Fonseca, Ilha Grande Bay, RJ The oil terminal &quot;Almirante Maximiano Fonseca&quot; is a potential source of oil contamination to Ilha Grande Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Knowledge of the marine communities around the oil terminal is essential for monitoring purposes. A taxonomic survey of

Since the discovery of oil in Oloibiri Bayelsa state, southern Nigeria in 1956, the oil and gas industry has been the main stay of the Nigerian economy. Ever after, extensive crude oil exploration has led to environmental pollution that has rendered the Niger Delta an ecological disaster. Means of livelihood of have been destroyed and arable land for cultivation polluted. Hence social vices amongst the vulnerable local populace has become the order of the day, progressing from militant agitations for social justice and economic emancipation to now a predominant occurrence of pipeline vandalization, bunkering and crude oil theft-a subtle deterioration, further plunging the Niger Delta into a compounded state of environmental degradation.
Based on the aforementioned premise, the research was conducted to ascertain the potentials of ecological modernization as an environmental and sustainable development reform policy. The concept was questioned from several perspectives and school of thoughts to establish reasonable justifications and adaptability of the frameworks to tackle the problem of widespread oil pollution in the Niger Delta.
The approach adopted in the study was secondary research into literatures-journal articles, news reports, company reports, environmental science journals and other independent sources of knowledge which explored different facets of ecological modernization. These sources were systematically and critically reviewed in order to draw independent deductions from primary sources.
Findings revealed that the concept of ecological modernization, though originated from the European continent, has great potentials and suitable areas that could be tailored to address the socio economic and environmental challenges of the Niger Delta, especially in the area of oil pollution control and management.
Not only does this research add to the body of knowledge on adaptations from the concept ecological modernization from an environmental management point of view, it also presents key information resourceful for the government authorities and multinational oil companies operating in Nigeria to review and act on accordingly. The roles of key stakeholders were explored to compel greater sense of responsibility and decisive course of action

The East Mediterranean is an area of high oil traffic because it is an important transit centre between Middle Eastern/Russian oil and the western European countries/USA. Recent traffic developments show that the importance of this centre is expected to increase. ITOPF and REMPEC carried out a joint risk assessment study of the area. For the purpose of this paper the “East Mediterranean” includes the Adriatic Sea and the East Mediterranean Basin; this was necessary to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the issue, as the oil traffic in the Adriatic is strictly linked with the activities occurring in the East Mediterranean basin. The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that the East Mediterranean is a high risk area for oil spills. For this analysis the ITOPF oil spill data set was used (1974 to 2003). Results show that the majority of spills involving a quantity of less than 7 tonnes are operational, whereas medium and major spills result from accidents. Crude oil spills a...

The direct physical, chemical and biotic impacts on Australian coastal waters due to recreational boating 1 2 3 Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer Science+Business Media B.V.. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be selfarchived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your work, please use the accepted author's version for posting to your own website or your institution's repository. You may further deposit the accepted author's version on a funder's repository at a funder's request, provided it is not made publicly available until 12 months after publication.

Existing environmental liability regimes in Europe deal with traditional types of damage, such as personal injury or property damage that are are caused via the environment, rather than with environmental damage (e.g. damages to biodiversity) as such. Therefore, the public interest in the preservation of ecologically valuable natural resources is taken into account incompletely by existing environmental liability law. In order to fill this gap, the European Commission has recently adopted a proposal for a EU Directive on Environmental Liability. One crucial aspect of the consideration of the public interest in natural resources in a liability regime is the assessment of the damage and the regulations providing for compensation. Only if damages are quantifiable liability parties can be forced to pay for compensation. In this case, the European Commission proposes an approach which is similar to the regulations in the US environmental liability law, namely the provisions for natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) based on the Oil Pollution Act (OPA).

... state control regulations. Unfortunately, other European waters have suffered massive oil pollution,ie the recent tanker breakups during stormy weather conditions of Erika in the ... particularly in bad weather conditions, ie ropes caught in propellers, vessel detached ...

Fifteen stations (st) were selected along Dubai coastal region to delineate the distribution and the source of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH), total organic carbon (TOC), total Kjeldhal nitrogen (TKN), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls. The concentrations of TPH fluctuated between 2 μg g −1 and 48018 μg g −1 and the values of TOC were in the range of 0.16–5.9 wt%, while TPAHs ranged from 0.09 μg g −1 to 161.72 μg g −1. On the other hand, TPCBs showed values between 0.8 μg kg−1 and 93.3 μg kg−1 and TKN values varied from 218 μg g−1 to 2457 μg g −1. Distribution of oil and organic compounds in Dubai sediments are safe compared with previous studies except for limited areas at the northeastern offshore. These readings are probably due to: (1) presence of commercial or industrial ports, dry docks and fishing harbours and (2) population centers mainly concentrated at the northern part of the study area. Results indicate that TOC can be used as indicator of oil pollution only in heavily oiled sediments. The highest values of TOC, TPH, TPAHs and TPCBs corresponded to the stations covered with fine sand, due to adsorption properties and larger surface area. The evaporation of low boiling point compounds from surface layers led to enrichment of sediments with the thick residual. Al-Hamriya St 3 exhibited the highest values of TPH, TOC, TPAHs and TPCBs and the second highest value of TKN.

Microalgae composition, abundance, diversity and biomass of the Qua Iboe Estuary mangrove swamp were studied. The results revealed the rich assemblage of the brackish ecosystem. Six major taxanomic classes were encountered. These were the Bacillariophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Chlorophyceae, Chrysophyceae, Euglenophyceae and Phaeophyceae. Their composition, abundance and diversity exhibits strong seasonal variation. Variations between pelagic and sedimentary habitats were also noticed. The diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) dominated the habitats. Actinoptychus undalatus, Navicula radiosa and Amphora ovalis co-dominated the pelagic water column; while the epipellic (intertidal) and benthic (subtidal) sediments were co-dominated by A. ovalis and Actinoptychus undulatus. Analyses of the Shannon's index of general diversity (H 1 ), McArthur-Terborgh species equitability index (E) and Simpson's index of dominance (D) of the microalgae communities revealed that A. ovalis with a mean H 1 -value of 0.25, E-value of 0.08 and D-value of 0.05 was the most prevalent genus in the mangrove ecosystem despite its uneven distribution. The densities of the microalgae communities corresponded with their biomass statuses and were seriously impacted by oil spillage. This forms the basis of concern because the estuary is associated with a high probability of major oil pollution with serious consequences for ecological stability and fisheries.

Lung cancer is a serious health problem in China, as in the rest of the world. Many studies have already proved that air pollution as well as other environmental factors can increase the risk of lung cancer. Based on epidemiological studies carried out in China, this paper proposes odds ratios (OR) to evaluate the risk of lung cancer from indoor air pollution for the Chinese population by applying the method of meta-analysis. For domestic coal use for heating and cooking, the pooled OR values are 1.83 (95% CI: 0.62-5.41) and 2.66 (1.39-5.07) for women and both sexes, respectively. For indoor exposure to coal dust, the OR values are 2.52 (95% CI: 1.94-3.28) and 2.42 (1.62-3.63) for women and both sexes, respectively. Cooking oil vapor is another factor increasing lung cancer risk. The OR values are 2.12 (95%CI: 1.81-2.47), 1.78 (1.50-2.12) and 6.20 (2.88-13.32) for nonsmoking women, women, and both sexes, respectively. Regarding environmental tobacco smoke, the pooled OR values are 1.70 (95% CI: 1.32-2.18) and 1.64 (1.29-2.07) for nonsmoking women and both sexes, respectively. Funnel plots with statistical test have been applied to examine the publication bias, and the results implied that the analysis of coal consumption and cooking oil pollution might be affected by publication bias. The meta-analysis results confirm the association between lung cancer and indoor air pollution for the Chinese population.

Observation of the process of assessing and compensating damages caused by oil spills at sea shows that in most cases, it is difficult to establish a single global estimate of their social cost. Three categories of numbers regarding the costs of pollution are usually encountered following spills: (i) estimates by experts; (ii) compensation claims; and (iii) compensation eventually paid to claimants.

Shallow water bays located in the western Arabian Gulf experience harsh environmental conditions. Some of these bays, including Manifa-Tanajib Bay System (MTBS), were also exposed to the 1991 oil pollution event. This study investigates the status of the macrobenthos in MTBS during 2006. This bay system is characterized by very shallow inner bays with elevated salinity and temperature compared to the rest of the bay area. As a result mainly of the hyper salinity, the inner bay communities are distinct from the outer bay communities. Overall, fairly high species richness with several rare species was observed. High Shannon-Wiener diversity values and ABC plots indicated the healthy status of the polychaete communities, while BOPA index indicated slightly polluted status in 20% of the stations. The oil sensitive amphipods were not completely re-colonized in 20% of the stations, even after 15 years of recovery from the 1991 oil spill.

Magellanic penguins migrate from Patagonia reaching northern Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil on their winter migration, in parallel with the seasonal pulse of anchovy spawning. In 2008, Magellanic penguins went further north than usual. Many died and a few swam nearly to the Equator. Twelve groups surveyed 5000 km of coastline encountering 3371 penguins along the coast. Most penguins arrived in northern Brazil (68.4%) without petroleum (2933, 87%). Almost all penguins without petroleum were juveniles (2915, 99%) and 55% were alive when found. Penguins were dehydrated, anemic, hypothermic, and emaciated. Of the penguins with petroleum, 13% arrived in the southern half of Brazil, showing that petroleum pollution remains a problem along the SW Atlantic coast. The mortality occurred in the winter of 2008 when sea surface temperature were unusually cold perhaps reducing the prey for penguins.