I am a Californian now, but I was born a child of the desert. My parents raised me in Arizona, where my father worked as an archaeologist, and my mother took me to wander the scrubby ravines near our home. She saw beauty everywhere. As a small boy I just saw great opportunities for hide and seek.
Once a year, for our summer vacation, we would drive to the beach. I still remember the great anticipation I felt as our station wagon crested the last mild incline that would give us a view of the Pacific Ocean. It filled me with an awe I still feel today, and as an adult I've always lived a window away from its expanses.
But my appreciation for the ocean is complicated by the knowledge that we risk it everyday for oil. Last year's Gulf of Mexico oil disaster was a bellwether tragedy for the oceans. We know less about the deep sea than we do about the surface of Mars -- just as we still don't know the true cost of the worst oil disaster in U.S. history a year later.
Recent reports have called attention to an "unusual mortality event" among bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf as scores of dead newborn or stillborn calves have been found since January. Fishermen who made their living shrimping -- and then working for the BP cleanup crews -- are still struggling to reclaim their piece of the Gulf, an industry that was worth $367 million and provided three-quarters of America's shrimp. The tourism industry, worth $20 billion across five states, took a terrible blow as Americans abandoned beaches, some of which were blackened and others which never even saw a single tarball.
The report issued in January by the president's National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon and Offshore Drilling was damning stuff. The commission cited a lack of safety culture at BP and in the oil industry at large, and called for "changes in safety and environmental practices, safety training, drilling technology, containment and clean-up technology, preparedness, corporate culture and management behavior."
That about covers it, right?
The report added, "Maintaining the public trust and earning the privilege of drilling on the outer continental shelf requires no less." And yet the government is already issuing drilling permits as if the industry's problems have been solved.
The commission's recommendation is for an industry-led institute to set safety standards. By now, of course, we should have learned that leaving the oil industry in charge of drilling safety is a deadly mistake.
President Obama's proposal to close the Atlantic and eastern Gulf to drilling for at least five years was a good one, but it didn't go far enough. The especially-vulnerable Arctic Ocean is still on the table. Last year I went to Barrow, the northernmost city in America, and had the honor of meeting the Inupiat people. Many native Alaskans still live a subsistence existence tied closely to the Arctic Ocean, a great gray and blue expanse that defines life there.
We worry about prices at the pump today, but native Alaskans and Arctic wildlife are the ones who will pay the price for offshore drilling when an accident occurs. And it will happen. In the Gulf, we had emergency resources and personnel who could show up in hours and scatter to shore when a storm rolled in, only to be back on the job as soon as weather cleared; in the Arctic, you have none of those abilities.
We should not just close some of our coasts to drilling. We should close all of them. Offshore drilling will always result in another disaster. Gas prices at the pump are a politically volatile thing, but they aren't determined by domestic drilling; they are driven by global demand in a global market. Gas prices were halved in the second half of 2008 because demand dropped for purely economic reasons, and they dropped 30 cents in the months immediately following the Deepwater Horizon blowout. We need to focus on a clean energy future that doesn't leave us hostage to seesawing daily gas prices.
I've been an ocean lover since those early childhood vacations, and I want future generations to experience that same sense of awe and wonder. With careful stewardship I know we can make this a reality.
Ted Danson stars in "Bored to Death" and "Damages." He is the co-author of "Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them."
Mark Tercek: Cheers to Oceans: Ted Danson's Role as Conservationist
We also need to get over the "mining for green stuff is bad" mentality.
I would rather see a few ugly pit mines (for lithium, strategic metals and rare earths) in "my back yard" than see these inevitable devastations from (the wrong nuclear) and FF's placed upon any backyard. Millions of wind turbines and at least 20,000 square miles of solar for each large country is mandatory if we wish to keep energy prices and enviro damage at bay. It will only be financially possible on such the large scale!
Besides, excess CO2 is already in everybody's backyard...
Imagine, if you could see CO2, the very air would be almost 50% "darker" now than just a geological blink ago (from 600,000 to just 100 years ago).
Perhaps requiring all off-shore drilling wells to come equipped with an acoustic trigger?
But oh no! That would be requiring too much of business as poor as the oil industry to simply ask it to take responsibility for what they are doing.
We learned that multinationals are above the law of the republics, and that our GOP corporatist think we should apologize to BP for embarrassing them and dissing them.
We learned that the DLC democracts and Obama are corporatist accommodators.
Vote for the Kucinich Progressive Caucus folks for all offices but pres. Stop being charmed by the professionally sold GOP and DLC. I hope we are learning that.
Like you, i marvel at the grandeur and power of the Pacific, and all water ways; even the little lake where my brother's cabin sits and plays host to loons.
Now when I hear that new drilling permits are being issued, without any apparent improvements to prior regulations and proof of an oil companies ability to comply with current ones. It provokes an inchoate anger, and then depression, because i no longer believe that any part of this government is up to the task of respected and respectful watchmen of our most valuable resource, our waters.
There is a peace, that calms the soul, when I am near the ocean or a lake or river. The sounds and smells enrich the mind and body. The Ganges is revered in India, and because of this the people approach it with awe and respect. We should do no less with our oceans, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi, et al. Our estuaries are miracles of life. The oil/gas industries spell doom to all these.
Eleven men died in the explosion and fire that resulted, it is thought, from corner cutting by BP and its associates. Countless lives have been have been impacted if not destroyed by this travesty and the economic loss to the Gulf region is likely beyond repayment.
The effects on environment and the wildlife of the area will haunt us for a decade or more.
And for what? Why would we risk so much, to drill 15,000 feet below the ocean floor in 5000 feet of water?
110 Million barrels of oil. That's about what we use in one week in the US.
Two of Obama's bundlers are top executives at oil companies and are listed on his Web site as raising between $50,000 and $100,000 for the presidential hopeful.
BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Senator Blanche Lincoln, Democrat of Arkansas and chairwoman of the Agriculture Committee, leads all candidates with $286,000 in donations from oil and gas companies.
Officials like Senator Mary L. Landrieu and Representative Charlie Melancon, both Democrats of Louisiana, have demanded accountability for BP, For her campaigns, Ms. Landrieu has taken in $751,000 since 1996, while Mr. Melancon has received $312,000 since 2004.
I haven't crunched the numbers in a few years but I'd be willing to bet what I'm about to say still holds true. If we look at the earth as a whole and wish to reduce oil related polluting, the most reasonable steps we could take is to do what can be done to reduce usage and reduce the transportation of oil and especially refined oil products.
Refined products are a MUCH worse form of pollution than crude oil is. Neither is in the least bit desirable but refined products bring about a lot more damage.
I believe it's still true (need to verify) that the majority of oil and refined oil products that end up polluting the earth are the result of shipping accidents. Here's the short version of my position:
Drill at home = ship less = spill less = cleaner earth.
Bonus = Drill at home = more good paying jobs here instead of overseas. (No, it's not a cure-all for the economy but it would help a little bit.)
The thousands of oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico make the worlds largest man-made artificial reef system and provide a "home" for innumerable tons of bio-mass that otherwise wouldn't exist in the region.
Your attitude about alternatives is just more of the same old line the oil companies have been serving up for decades, now. Alternatives are here now. What's been stopping their comprehensive development and implementation are the big energy corporations vested in the status quo, the corrupt politicans bought off by those corporations, and folks with notably outdated perceptions of the world, attitudes just like yours. You, Grumpy, are part of the problem, and that baloney up there you work so hard to present as a reasonable argument for "drill, baby, drill" doesn't help with the solution one iota. Could it be that you have your very own investment in big oil to "protect"?
And, Grumpy, that "artificial reef thing' you dare to sell in the aftermath of Deepwater Horizon, well, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.
I'm aware that the oil we drill at home oil goes into the international mix. Increase our refining capacity so more CAN stay home.
I'm also aware that the incomes earned by the workers and the incomes and profits that are earned by the oil field support industry stay here at home. We're talking about billions in economic impact. Billions.
You're comment about the pollution that stays in the good ole U.S.A. is the typical NIMBY stance. I prefer to look at the big picture which is why I specifically spoke of pollution on a world-wide scale. Transportation of refined products is worse.
The artificial reef argument stands true today even after the DWH. Disprove it if you can. You may find it repugnant but facts are facts. I'm don't love with the oil industry. I hold them responsible for the grotesque amount of erosion Louisiana suffers. I want them to fix it. The issue angers me greatly.
I've been hearing about this conspiracy to keep us on oil for decades. In the 70's people whined that oil companies bought the patents to carburetors that would double gas mileage while not harming performance. I'm not convinced. If a viable, reliable, affordable alternative existed, they couldn't stop it's popularization. It might have to begin elsewhere but surely it would spread as it's developers and controllers would soon become equally as wealthy and influential as our corrupt oil corporations.
One will lose an incredible amount of excess lard, improve cardio, enjoy cleaner air, and save a bundle - now that big V12 only gets fired up occasionally - its a no-brainer folks
Take care
See Moving Beyond Oil at www.aesopinstitute.org
We can leave all fossil fuels behind much faster than is generally realized.
Green Light on the same website suggests why and how.
Cheap green power is happening now. See Cold Fusion on that website for a new path to low cost electricity.
No matter what is done
With just one exception
Alternative energy exploitation !
Thanks be for those individuals who strive to make renewables and alternatives a place in our future, no nimby here!
Solar energy alone will power all things (except ~10% like steel, trucking and airline industries) in less than 35 years if it keeps ups its growth rate. Thus we need "oil like" giant corporations to "do it all", that is to make it CHEAP enough to compete with $7 or $8 gasoline.
Yep, no matter what, gasoline WILL be that much pretty soon because that is what the going rate will be for refined tar sands (and the last of easy oil).
Why can't we just all agree to become or mandate that corporation, prepare, and actually compete with the coming high FF prices? Why can't we become that corporation that also robotically mass produces the BEST battery, the LiFePO4 (not li-ion) for electric cars. Tthere is NO REASON WHATSOEVER that the Amp hour has to be ten times more expensive than it should be... seriously (robotic manufacture is like free).
Oil is (supposed to be) so last century...
http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/04/05/jesse-ventura-were-still-in-afghanistan-because-we-want-their/
Conquering a country for oil is so old school Republican. Conquer them for their green resources is so the NOW liberal thing to do.
In the Morning, everybody.
What's liberal is the amount of raw materials in this large country, unfortunately, nimbies and excess regulatory costs prevent such strategic mining.
It should be considered a national emergency, complete with subsidies (and quit with the offensive war efforts to pay) for this next, better than oil, electric infrastructure.
That Simple!
http://ecocosmology.blogspot.com/2011/04/someone-figured-it-out.html