Impacts of an oil well blowout near Trecate, Italy on ecological resources
Conference
·
OSTI ID:455334
- Pacific Northwest National Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
An ecological risk assessment (ERA) was conducted after the February 1995 blowout of an oil well near Trecate, Italy to quantify injuries to terrestrial and aquatic biological resources from effects of oil and habitat changes. Avian surveys were conducted on a surrogate area near Varallino to estimate species and numbers potentially exposed to oil and displaced by habitat alteration in the affected area. Of the 43 avian species observed, 20 are considered protected by European Community laws. The most abundant species were passero domestico, fringuello, cornacchia grigia, rondine, piccione torraiolo, and cardellino. These species likely suffered the greatest losses due to inhalation of volatile aromatics, dermal loading of oil, and/or habitat loss in the affected area. Based on CHARM model outputs, inhalation exposures to volatile aromatics and oil aerosols occurred above LOELs for all receptors within 2 km of the blowout. The most significant exposure pathway to large birds was dermal loading, which likely exceeded LC50 levels within 900m of the well. Terrestrial insects seldom contained detectable levels of PAHs, consistent with their shorter life span and residence time in the contaminated area. The highest concentrations of PAHs were found in dike vegetation, frogs, and benthic invertebrates. Ingestion exposures of woodmice to PAHs exceeded toxic reference levels at one site and mice had EHQ = >1 at soil PAH concentrations >4.2 mg/kg. Based on known body burdens causing narcotic response, neither fish nor benthic invertebrates experienced toxic consequences from exposure to PAHs in irrigation canal sediments.
- OSTI ID:
- 455334
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-961149--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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