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3 Surprising Sources of Oil Pollution in the Ocean


March 26, 2014

Obvious oil spills, like the 168,000 gallons (635,000 liters) of oil that leaked into Galveston Bay on Saturday, usually make national news, accompanied by pictures of oil-blackened wildlife.
 
But such publicized events account for only a small part of the total amount of oil pollution in the oceans—and many of the other sources, such as automobile oil, go largely unnoticed, scientists say.
 
In fact, of the tens of millions of gallons of oil that enter North American oceans each year due to human activities, only 8 percent comes from tanker or oil pipeline spills, according to the 2003 book Oil in the Sea III by the U.S. National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, which is still considered the authority on oil-spill data.
 

Exxon Valdez 25th Anniversary: 5 Facts About the Historic Spill


March 26, 2014

Monday (March 24) marked the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which spewed 11 million gallons (40 million liters) of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound.
 
The disaster was the worst oil spill in U.S. history until the Deepwater Horizon spill surpassed it in terms of volume in 2011. Today, it's still possible to dig holes in beaches along the Prince William Sound and find pockets of oil left over from 1989.
 
As Exxon Valdez's legacy lives on and some of its environmental impacts still linger, Live Science brings you five facts about the historic spill:
 

Saving United Sound: Legendary Detroit studio set stage for Motown


Marine Pollution Control founder David Usher talks about the history of the legendary studio.
 
March 11, 2014
 
When Motown stripped the recording equipment out of its legendary Studio A at 2648 W. Grand Blvd. in the mid-’70s, it broke the hearts of musicians like Peter Frampton, who longed to record in one of the world’s great temples of sound.
 
And yet, an older studio at 5840 Second that served as a cradle for the Motown Sound has been ready and available for recording since 1933.
 
Because Berry Gordy learned how to produce and mix there, and recorded his earliest sessions at United Sound Systems, it has an integral role in the Motown story. (It’s also been incorrectly labeled a “Motown studio” because of that history.)
 
The walls of United Sound ooze with soul and an authenticity that served not only early Motown, but all genres of Detroit music: jazz, rock, R&B and country. This is where John Lee Hooker cut “Boogie, Chillen”; where young turks of jazz including John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie and Kenny Burrell cut sides; where George Clinton practically lived when it was P-Funk’s home studio; and where Detroit’s rock elite, including the Rationals and Bob Seger, put down sweat-soaked tracks (Seger recorded his early singles there).
 

Marine Pollution Control Corporation Co-Hosts Detroit Science Fair Mentoring Event

March 24, 2014

Marine Pollution Control Corporation (MPC), a member of the Environmental Management Association (EMA), co-hosted the EMA's annual Science Fair Mentoring event.  This is an event for students in the Metro-Detroit area to better themselves as Detroit Science Fair Participants, improving their chances as Detroit Science Fair Scholarship recipients. The EMA Science and Education Committee Chairs, EMA Secretary Elizabeth Gibbons of MPC and EMA President Kevin O’Mara of Midwest Analytical, facilitated a day at Sam’s Club where students from Metro-Detroit had opportunities to brainstorm and improve their science projects by interacting face to face with environmental scientists and professionals. The EMA worked with Sam’s Club to provide each student with free materials and a potential $25 gift certificate for tools to use in their science project creation.

This year for the first time in EMA history, transportation for both the Detroit and Hamtramck Public School districts were provided, allowing more students the opportunity to attend the Science Fair Mentoring Event. MPC not only sponsored a significant portion of the transportation costs, but was able to bring the metro-Detroit environmental community together to obtain additional sponsorship for this effort (additional sponsors included: Midwest Analytical, EnviroSolids, ERG, Disposal Management, and Inland Industrial). As a direct result of these efforts, one of the students that attended the Mentoring Event, after asking questions and getting ideas, went home and updated their science fair project. As a 6th grader, who did his project on sound proofing, he became a JUNIOR GRAND AWARD WINNER.

Marine Pollution Control Corporation's involvement in the scientific and environmental community is and always has been strong; we are honored to put our resources toward future generations, motivating any aspiring environmental scientists. We are an active and distinguished part of our environmental community.

‘Slick’ Operators

 
3/6/2014
 
DETROIT’S MARINE POLLUTION CONTROL IS ON THE FRONT LINE AT OIL SPILLS AROUND THE WORLD.
 
From the outside, amid a row of non-descript brick buildings on the banks of the Rouge River in Detroit, the Marine Pollution Control corporate offices belie their importance. When an oil-spill disaster happens anywhere in the world, MPC will most likely get involved to clean it up.
 
Although Charles “Charlie” Usher, MPC president, said they are the oldest and most established oil-spill response company in the Great Lakes, their reach is worldwide.
 
Among other spills great and small, MPC has helped clean up the 1976 Amoco Cadiz oil spill in France, assisted Hurricane Sandy cleanup efforts, served on an assessment team during Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf and rented out equipment to companies cleaning up the 2010 Gulf of Mexico BP Oil Spill, the worst in U.S. history.
 
When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska in 1989 dumping 10 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound, MPC was called to transfer the lion’s share of the remaining 40 million gallons on board into other vessels.

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