Jobs & Education0 min ago
Why is crude oil a pollutant when it is naturally occuring?
Why is crude oil that is extracted from the ground considered a pollutant when spilled? It is after all created naturally and it must leak out all over the world espcially during earthquakes.
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No best answer has yet been selected by dave50. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.I don't see why its natural provenance should make it less of a pollutant. If a pollutant is something in the wrong place and which is causing damage to that place (poisoning sealife; smearing and suffocating shore life, etc.) then what does it matter whether it is naturally-occurring or not?
Arsenic and many other poisons occur naturally but I reckon that you'd consider them pollutants if they got into your water supply.
Arsenic and many other poisons occur naturally but I reckon that you'd consider them pollutants if they got into your water supply.
I don't believe it often 'leaks' thru earthquakes dave. Over the many many millions of years it takes from carbon life to turn into petroleum and the heat and pressures required, it would have leaked out of cracks well before it is considered crude oil.
Earthquakes mostly happen on predefined existing fault lines in the plates so the carbon deposits are rarely affected.
Earthquakes mostly happen on predefined existing fault lines in the plates so the carbon deposits are rarely affected.
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