Rick Hoos (Vancouver-based Principal Consultant in the Environmental Practice) turned a major concern over an oil spill into a marvel of Beaufort Sea biology. Rick received a call from his client, Shell Exploration & Production, reporting an oily sheen around their drilling rig being moved in Herschel Basin. Shell went into spill response mode and deployed sorbant pads to mop up the sheen and were ready to report a spill to regulatory authorities. But they couldn't determine where it was coming from and no other ships in the area were reporting any kind of discharge.
After a few probing questions, Rick determined that the oily sheen was probably caused by a natural phenomenon, which goes something like this. When the sun returns to the arctic in spring, algae grows on the underside of sea ice. This algae is food for copepods, amphipods, marine worms and other critters. This under-ice community is called epontic life. Many of these marine animals are rich in natural oils and are in turn fed upon by fish, birds and seals before and when the sea ice breaks up. Not all of the oils are digested and it finds its way back to the sea - if you get my drift - and can leave an oily sheen.
So in the end, Shell had a super spill response drill for an entirely natural event. Rick commended Shell on their sincere concern, interest and responsible actions undertaken. And much to their relief, they did not have to deal with a man-made hydrocarbon spill event.
Jeff Matheson
Vancouver
This page was last updated on: 7/9/2008 11:27:00 AM
