Environmental impacts Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Environmental impacts - Coursework Example While oil shale offers an important source of energy, the processing should comply with the regulations of Energy Information Administration and appropriate measures should be undertaken to combat the impacts. The conventional habitats of the living creatures are encroached upon and this adversely affects the biodiversity in a region. The variety in the species begin to shrink owing to unfavorable living conditions. (Kattel 2003). The gaseous, solid and liquid wastes emitted as a result of the extraction process interact with each other to produce more toxic and carcinogenic effects (Molder 2004). This causes immense harm to the health and habitats of all living creatures, including humans. Due to loss of habitat and a source of food, many species become rare and at times extinct from the earth. Also the extraction site has to be evacuated which leads to loss of homes for the inhabiting populations. Huge amounts of water are required during the extraction process and for cooling down the effluents. The discharged wastes run off into the local water bodies, causing water pollution. This harms the aquatic animals and plants. The discharged water laden with waste products like tar, phenol, etc. often seeps into the soil through a process called leaching and then comes in contact with underground water and other potable water sources. Consumption of such water by plants, animals and humans have serious aftereffects (Tuvikene 1999). The open dumping of solid wastes can create the risks of a fire or an accident owing to the self-ignition of some inflammable solids when they come into contact with certain atmospheric gases (Petts 2009). Few of the gases that are released as a result of the thermal processing of compounds and the combustion of wastes cause a rise in global temperature and lead to an irreversible damage to the protective ozone layer. The above figure shows that the temperatures in the Colorado Basin estimated on average over