Environmental Effects from Arctic Oil Spills

In the event of an oil spill, there are always major concerns about the severity of environmental effects. In the Arctic, this concern is even higher because of the assumption that Arctic areas are more sensitive.

Whether these areas are indeed fragile depends on many factors: how the oil behaves in varying ice concentrations, how species react to and interact with oil, their environments, and stressors as individual organisms, populations, and communities.

Assessing the environmental effects of an Arctic oil spill and deciding on the proper response technique is not straightforward and should be done on a case-by-case basis. Net Environmental Benefit Analysis (NEBA) is a process tool that formalises the evaluation of response options and compares the expected response effectiveness versus the potential environmental impacts of the oil spill, as well as impacts from response activities (vessels, aircraft, waste disposal etc.). Knowledge of the biology and ecology of the specific region is key to the application of a NEBA in a meaningful and rigorous manner.

The optimal spill response technique is defined as the one that minimises the potential adverse effect(s) of a spill on the habitat of the region and its biological resources. Responders also need to be mindful that the subsistence lifestyle in the Arctic is inextricably linked to the ecological condition of the natural resources as well as the traditional cultural practices of Arctic residents and that these issues need to be considered in parallel with the NEBA.

The output from a NEBA process (also known as Spill Impact Mitigation Analysis or SIMA) is the selection of response technique(s) that minimise the overall impacts of a potential spill on the environment, and promote the most rapid recovery and restoration of the affected area

Research Reports

The phase one comprehensive report and reference databases are housed within a ‘NEBA information and support tool’ hosted on a dedicated microsite, accessible from the programme’s website and openly available to all visitors: http://neba.arcticresponsetechnology.org.

Project Reports

Unique Arctic Communities and Oil Spill Response Consequences

The overall goals of JIP research into the environmental effects of Arctic oil spills and the tools used to mitigate impacts were to improve industry response preparedness while gaining increased stakeholder acceptance of the role of environmental impact assessment in oil spill response planning and operations. In achieving these goals, the JIP aimed to improve the available knowledge base for using Net Environmental Benefit Analysis (NEBA) in oil spill response decision-making.

The Environmental Effects research projects were aimed to improve the ability to efficiently access the available, already extensive scientific literature needed to conduct a NEBA, while at the same time collecting new data on the sensitivity and resiliency of sea ice biota, an important area receiving limited study in the past.

The Environmental Effects work took place in three project areas:

  1. Reviewing the available NEBA science base,
  2. Collecting new field data along with related modelling and laboratory studies, and
  3. Creating a web-based NEBA information and support tool.
The JIP’s activities in this area reviewed and extended the available science base on oil spill impacts in an Arctic environment, and produced a web-based literature access (NEBA support) tool where this information is stored and easily retrieved.

The new literature navigation portal directs response managers and planners to the most relevant literature needed to assess specific environmental effects of an Arctic oil spill when using different response strategies, including natural attenuation. The NEBA support tool organises 3,500 references using a framework based on NEBA principles such as: Valued Ecosystem Components (VEC) exposure, sensitivity and resiliency in different environmental compartments (water surface, atmosphere, and water column).

Over the course of the environmental effects research programme, the JIP greatly advanced the ability to apply NEBA at both a planning/assessment and operational decision-making level by:

  1. Performing a comprehensive review of the environmental impacts arising from both the oil spill itself and the countermeasures activities and identifying a number of research activities to improve the knowledge base for using NEBA in the Arctic,
  2. Conducting a series of modelling and laboratory studies and field data collection programmes aimed at reducing remaining uncertainties on sensitivity and resiliency of sea ice communities and oil biodegradation, and
  3. Producing a NEBA information and support tool that identifies and summarizes crucial data for evaluating the ecological consequences of oil spill response options.

Results and findings from the field experiments suggest that:

  • Arctic bacterial populations are dominated by a few species that rapidly shift to hydrocarbon degraders when presented with oil,
  • Oil degrading organisms are more abundant in the oil contaminated ice samples than in the controls, particularly with the addition of dispersant to the oil,
  • Hydrocarbon levels in the water under the ice appear close to background when oil, oil and dispersants or remains of burned oil become frozen into the ice surface, and
  • These trace hydrocarbon levels under the ice will have a limited effect on zooplankton reproduction.

In summary, the JIP’s activities in this area successfully collected, reviewed and extended the science available for Arctic NEBAs and produced a structure where this information is stored and easily retrieved. Results from the field studies and the additional modelling activities have improved the understanding of what happens to oil once frozen into ice, how microbiology is reacting to oil in ice and what the exposure potential is of the ecology associated with the ice. This information and the developed systems will help the response community in selecting a combination of response strategies that minimises the effects to people and the environment.