Orange Pancakes
The situation status map of the Gulf Coast spill refers to the things pictured here as “orange pancakes”. And that map shows the line of “orange pancakes”, “silver sheen”, “brown oil” and “tar balls” pushing closer to landfall than indicated yesterday, which was closer still than 48 hours ago.
Yesterday, BP also released 30 seconds of video depicting the “[o]il and gas stream from the riser of the Deepwater Horizon well May 11, 2010. This video is from the larger of two existing leaks on the riser. This leak is located approximately 460 feet from the top of the blowout preventer and rests on the sea floor at a depth of about 5,000 feet”.
It sickens me to think that our Virginia policy makers support drilling off our coast. A spill even a small fraction of the size of this Gulf Coast spill occurring off our Virginia coast would devastate our coastal economy. It is so not worth the risk! These policy makers are in complete denial to a number of things: 1) spills still occur despite all the technological advances (look to the Australian spill as another example of this failure – 3 month long blowout before it could be controlled, a spill almost the footprint size of Virginia, a rig built in 2007); 2) spill response is inadequate and adds insult to injury; and 3) 8 years of oilies controlling the Bush administration has resulted in slipshod Federal regulation and oversight of drilling operations.
A moratorium on new drilling must be enacted!
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May 13th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Think about all that environmental damage you are doing to the world as you put that fuel into the tank of your vehicle or even ride mass transit. Even if offshore oil exploration is outlawed here in America that does not mean the global environment is going to be saved. Within the past week on NPR I heard reports of the great damage being done to the Nigerian environment from land based oil extraction; in the example they gave, the poorest are paying the heaviest price.
If YOU are going to continue to consume products (like gasoline) that come from crude oil then YOU should be willing to shoulder the environmental consequences and stop forcing these consequences only on the poor citizens of third world countries who do not have the resources available to fight back. These poor citizens of other nations are forced to deal with the consequences of making sure there is enough gasoline available at the pump when it is convenient for you to fill up your tank.
We are facing peak oil. If the global economy picks up, demand is going to pick up for the dwindling supply. Alternatives are in the future. Taking out my crystal ball I predict electric powered vehicles with the electricity coming from fusion. However this future is not going to come about overnight. In the mean time we have to deal with peak oil. While the average citizen has some measure of concern for the environment in his blood, that measure is going to be tested when he forced to be late showing up for work because the lines at the gas station were so long. The average citizen is rather selfish and is environmentally concerned up until the concern is inconvenient.
Relying on my crystal ball I will warn environmentalists to strike the best deal they can on offshore oil extraction. Demand safe extraction. You can delay it but you can not stop it. Once peak oil starts making life inconvenient for the average citizen they are going to overwhelm your concerns and your votes. I applaud environmentalists for their concern for future generations, however evolution has developed us for self interest. By greater personal welfare, the average human was better able to spread his/her genes around into the gene pool; the longer he existed the more often he could breed. Concern for the village was bred in, but so was selfishness.
January 17th, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Pretty much as good as you’re at covering this you will prepare your self to write a guide on the topic… and I will be your first buyer.