Manufacturers and consumers have played their role as well. Oil is still a critical product. Ethanol and other alternatives have their own sets of problems.//Consider a breakdown of the electrical grid or water purity as future shocks.//There is enough blame to go around for the degradation of the environment beyond BP.
On Jul 4, 11:33 pm, gruff <[email protected]> wrote: > The lunacy lies in big oil's complete lack of regard for the > environment and complete capitulation to record profits at any cost to > others. > > I was flabbergasted when BP first started trying to fix the Gulf > leak. Every time something failed their excuse was that they had > never done that in water this deep before. That they had begun deep > water drilling in such a confined area as the Gulf apparently without > knowing what they were doing or how to do it seems beyond absurd. It > seems pure insanity. > > However, the Gulf is far from the largest oil spill in the world. Not > counting Deepwater Horizon, the ten largest oil spills in the world > are as follows: > > 1. Kuwait - 1991 - 520 million gallons. Iraqi forces opened the > valves of several oil tankers in order to slow the invasion of > American troops. The oil slick was four inches thick and covered 4000 > square miles of ocean. > > 2. Mexico - 1980 - 100 million gallons. An accident in an oil well > caused an explosion which then caused the well to collapse. The well > remained open, spilling 30,000 gallons a day into the ocean for a full > year. > > 3. Trinidad and Tobago - 1979 - 90 million. During a tropical > storm off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago, a Greek oil tanker > collided with another ship, and lost nearly its entire cargo. > > 4. Russia - 1994 - 84 million gallons. A broken pipeline in Russia > leaked for eight months before it was noticed and repaired. > > 5. Persian Gulf - 1983 - 80 million gallons. A tanker collided > with a drilling platform which, eventually, collapsed into the sea. > The well continued to spill oil into the ocean for seven months before > it was repaired. > > 6. South Africa - 1983 - 79 million gallons. A tanker cought fire > and was abandoned before sinking 25 miles off the coast of Saldanha > Bay. > > 7. France - 1978 - 69 million gallons. A tanker's rudder was > broken in a severe storm, despite several ships responding to its > distress call, the ship ran aground and broke in two. It's entire > payload was dumped into the English Channel. > > 8. Angola - 1991 - more than 51 million gallons. The tanker > expolded, exact quantity of spill unknown > > 9. Italy - 1991 - 45 million gallons. The tanker exploded and sank > off the coast of Italy and continued leaking it's oil into the ocean > for 12 years. > > 10. Odyssey Oil Spill - 1988 - 40 million gallons. 700 nautical > miles off the cost of Nova Scotia. > > Which puts the Deepwater Horizon spill between number four and five at > the present time. The total amount of oil spilled just in the ten > largest is more than a BILLION gallons of oil between 1978 and 1991 > dumped into the oceans. I'm not being an apologist for BP but just > trying to put 84 million gallons in perspective. It's a horrific > disaster, no doubt. But we will get past it and recover from it. > > I was also taken aback by the rest of big oil's attitude. Each said > they'd never have done it the way BP did it yet they are all > conducting deepwater drilling and even more dangerous drilling in > highly sensitive areas in much the same way BP conducts its drilling > operations. Full speed ahead and damn the consequences. > > It seems to me the best answer is to get our well-oiled asses out of > oil as fast as we can. Like the ethanol ads say, 100 million gallons > and no one injured, none spilled and the environment is cleaner for > it. > > /e
