Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Accident
An anonymous source provided me with the following PDF, containing some fairly gripping photographs of the accident at Deepwater Horizon.
Interesting stuff. Quite tragic, in fact. But is it really a good reason to halt all new offshore drilling projects?
Margaret Said,
April 30, 2010 @ 2:32 pm
you’re kidding, right? in another week or month or even 3 months, as the oil keeps spilling, I suspect you’ll feel quite foolish for making that remark. how many living things need to die, how many livelihoods destroyed, before we reconsider the risks involved?
there were 172 spills in the Gulf of >2,100 gallons in the last 10 years, 65 workers killed.
http://www.healthygulf.org/blog/bp-s-oil-drilling-disaster-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/oil-spills-in-the-gulf-not-the-first-not-the-last?dsq=47679913#comment-47679913
It’s a good enough reason to reconsider our addiction to fossil fuel, let alone drilling. never mind that we’re killing life on the planet through ocean acidification and irreversibly destabilizing our climate.
David Mays Said,
April 30, 2010 @ 3:11 pm
Margaret,
I appreciate your comments and the linked statistical information. However, I’m not so sure things are as black-and-white as you seem to think, based on the chiding tone of your comment.
People like to make strident claims about our “addiction to oil” and so forth, but don’t often have realistic proposals for alternatives. I don’t claim to know everything, or even very much, about energy policy. However, it seems clear to me that if we stop drilling, that isn’t going to mean much in the scheme of things. Other nations will continue to use the resource, regardless of our actions. By taking ourselves out of that picture, we are guaranteed to put our nation at a competitive disadvantage economically.
As far as the tragic loss of life is concerned, I definitely feel for the families of those who were lost in this and other accidents of its kind. Again though, relative to other professions or ordinary activities, it’s fairly safe. Consider the number of deaths due to drunk driving in the US every year, which in 2008 was over 13,000. Compare that to 65 people who died on oil rigs in the last ten years, and the level of hand-wringing seems disproportionate to me.
Joe Campbell Said,
April 30, 2010 @ 3:12 pm
Hmmm, it might be a good reason to reconsider our addiction to fossil fuel but its not going to change until there are enough more economical ways to get energy out of renewable resources.
Money drives most things, drilling and oil are no exception.