Gulf Oil Spill

I went to Venice, Louisiana yesterday just to see what's going on over there. I spoke with a few shrimp fishermen who were preparing their boats for the clean-up efforts. Most boats were parked in the bayous instead of being out there, though.
There wasn't much to photograph and I hope there won't be with time, but I'm afraid this will not be the case. It's depressing.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
my wife and i enjoy new orleans a great deal and travel there as much as we can. all i can say is that we'll do our best to be there even more as our admittedly small but personal "tourist" support for the local way of life and economy.

otherwise, i don't know that talking about blame makes any sense. army corp of engineers, BP, contractors and subcontractors, politicians, you, me, we're all in it, katrina or the oil rig explosion. i know i haven't slowed down my trips to the gas station ...
 
Last edited:
Hopefully, as a positive, this will be a wakeup call for the US to become more aggressive about minimizing our use of dirty, disgusting, and dangerous fossil fuels. It's an old technology, it's non-renewable, it's horrible for the environment, supply is running out, and prices will therefore rise... Even if you're not a climate change advocate ( - which I am, since the evidence clearly supports it, in spite of what noted armchair climatologists like, "Rush Limbaugh", have to say about it...) there are 100 other good reasons to move forward much more aggressively in minimizing fossil fuel use... Still, we have short memories, are a change adversive lot, and sad pictures of oiled water fowl and dead marine life, and the spectacle of satellite pictures of Puerto Rico-sized oil slicks headed for the coast doesn't have nearly as much impact on us, collectively, as a spike of $0.50 at the pumps... Won't be long before we're hearing "drill, baby, drill" again and outright lies about how drilling in ecologically sensitive areas will eliminate the US dependence on foreign oil, and how safe said drilling is...
 
"It's sad especially because it's not sudden. You can see it coming. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion."

it is estimated that between the late 60's and present day upwards of 100 million barrels of oil have been spilt in the Niger Delta.

BP (now a Shell subsidiary) reported over 3.5 billion dollars in profits for the 3rd quarter of 2009.
 
Well, the Wingers are either saying that it's no big deal and that oil spills are "natural", or else they're saying that it's some kind of a left-wing plot and such ... :(

It's amazing how some try to spin this for political gain! :(
 
Last edited by a moderator:
MatthewThompson said:
Out of sight, out of mind, eh?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I suppose so. I don't mean to underestimate what's happening in the gulf. Merely wish to point out that BP puts on a great facade when it happens in our own back yard buy could care less when it's going on for decades elsewhere.
 
thanx for the info Fred.

i am also thinking of Royal Dutch Shell and BP jointly working as SPDC in Nigeria. Subsidiary was an incorrect choice of words.

it's an interesting, albeit vapid bit of PR work. "sabotage and theft" is indeed an issue when one is speaking from a profit minded perspective. it sadly ignores the serious issues of environmental impact, corruption, profiteering, looming civil war etc. etc. etc. it is a statement that relies on the insinuation that the peoples behind the "sabotage and theft" are merely criminals with no greater interest than making a quick buck.

it's a tragedy and it pisses me off (the gulf). sadly when one digs a little deeper these events have been occurring on an epic scale elsewhere.
 
emraphoto said:
it is estimated that between the late 60's and present day upwards of 100 million barrels of oil have been spilt in the Niger Delta.
Click to expand...

Which seems a huge number until one realizes that we have probably extracted over 50 billion barrels from Nigerian reserves (say 50% of non-Arab OPEC member production). Less than .2% spillage. World-wide I think that last 40 years have seen nearly 1 trillion barrels of production.

We are insatiable in our demand for oil products.
 
it also fails to take into account flaring in the Delta which is a whole other disaster in itself.

we are insatiable and sadly we rarely see the impact of our thirst.
 
Gosh, still no photos of anyone living in the area?

Well, just read today about BP wanting to clog the leaking well with "garbage"... yep, those high-paid engineers have a really good backup plan and using high-tech materials and techniques...

Just the negative PR alone is worth the price of admission to watch THIS comedy!:eek:
 
If companies drilling for oil in the USA were required to have a relief well drilled in the same season as the original well was done do you think that the spill would be this far along now. If I understand correctly they are in the process of drilling one now.

Bob
 
MCTuomey said:
Which seems a huge number until one realizes that we have probably extracted over 50 billion barrels from Nigerian reserves (say 50% of non-Arab OPEC member production). Less than .2% spillage. World-wide I think that last 40 years have seen nearly 1 trillion barrels of production.

We are insatiable in our demand for oil products.
Click to expand...

Many people use statistics and what appear to be vanishingly small percentages such as the one highlighted above to diminish such events and realities. (I'm not accusing you, Mike.) As Mark Twain said, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."

Only when there is an accurate and scientifically sound understanding of the real effect of that .2%, is the data meaningful.

What is happening in the Gulf of Mexico has the potential to create species collapse(s) that could trigger ecological collapse of truly tragic proportion. I hope it isn't so. But when we sell our planet for a mess of pottage, stuff like this is inevitable.

How many sea creatures, water fowl and sensitive estuary environments will that relief well save now? Just a tad late, but hey, they didn't need it as the risk was vanishingly small.
 
We're trying to clean up this spill with technology that is 40 years old...because we, our government and our energy companies, decided that spills were few and far between.

Crude oil is biodegradable. The problem with a spill is that it overwhelms nature's ability to consume it. Canadian company and a company in Florida have come up with solutions to "eat" crude oil, but we ignore them and continue to spray more chemicals into the water to disperse it. Or, we burn it. We can drill, but we need technology to clean up disasters such as this. We also need to curb our arrogance that we can design something and that nothing will go wrong. More oil is spilled every year from the transportation of crude than is spilled from all rigs collectively, for a period of about five years or more (I can't remember the exact number). Yet, this is a media event and as such garners more attention than what happens every day. Weeks after this oil rig blew up, we are now just reaching the level of oil spilled of the Exxon Valdez.

And, before you think I'm some right wing apologist, I've been advocating the banning of gas powered autos (as well as other societal changes) for over 25 years. The ability of the public to purchase such vehicles, if not banned, should at least limited to around 5,000 miles per year. Any travel of greater distance than to work or a store can be through limited vehicle rentals.

I use a bicycle or walk for a majority of my travel. I moved closer to my last job to do so. I drive a car less than 3,000 miles per year.
 
UPDATE!

The BP bozo's are amazing...now they can't even insert a tube in a pipe after first failing to realize that the ice crystals would form and make the first "box" buoyant! And now a professor has calculated (and probably correctly) that the oil spill is 10 TIMES the amount stated by BP.

And the beat goes on...
 
It's a good thing none of our photo equipment is constructed of petroleum products or we might considered part of the fossil fuel consumption problem:eek:
 
Ummm....anyone in the area have any photos to post yet?

Just noticed the CNN reports with heavy oil in the marshes...like chocolate syrup. Now, there are reports that the oil contaminants will likely reach the Arctic and Europe!:mad:

That's enough to keep me from buying BP products forever...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom