Posted on 07/24/2008 6:30:34 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
NEW YORK -- Painfully high vehicle- and jet-fuel prices are propelling popular demands for extracting the estimated 18 billion barrels of petroleum that rest beneath America's coastal waters.
After rescinding previous executive-branch objections, President Bush said July 14, "the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress." Capitol Hill Democrats claim offshore drilling poses unacceptable ecological risks. This is yet another overblown worry.
Democrats and other environmental naysayers cite the 80,000 barrels that spilled six miles off of Santa Barbara, Calif., inundating beaches and aquatic life. This hydrocarbon Hindenburg haunts the memories of those who witnessed it.
But this genuine catastrophe occurred in January 1969 -- nearly 40 years ago. That era's drilling technology has gone the way of Flower Power and black-and-white TV. Innovation has boosted the safety and environmental reliability of offshore drilling.
The Santa Barbara spill accelerated oil companies' efforts to prevent such disasters. Beyond compliance with 17 major permits and 90 different federal regulations, offshore operators frequently conduct accident training and safety exercises. Sensors and other instruments now help platform personnel monitor and handle temperatures and pressures of subsea oil, even as drill bits whirl.
Hurricanes are manageable, since oil lines are capped not at the surface, but at or beneath the ocean floor. Even if oil platforms snapped loose and blew away, industrial seals restrain potentially destructive petroleum hundreds or even thousands of feet below the waves. Thus, 3,050 offshore structures endured Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in August and September 2005 without environmentally damaging petroleum spills. While 168 platforms and 55 rigs were destroyed or seriously damaged, the oil they pumped remained safely entombed, thanks to heavy underwater machinery.
As the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) concluded, "due to the prompt evacuation and shut-in preparations made by operating and service personnel, there was no loss of life and no major oil spills attributed to either storm."
"The technology of the drilling industry may have improved, but offshore drilling is a dirty business, and it still leads to oil spills due to failed equipment, aberrant weather, or human error on a frequent basis," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said in July 19's Houston Chronicle.
Feinstein is correct. U.S. offshore oil drilling is not perfectly tidy. It's only 99.999 percent clean. Indeed, since 1980 -- as MMS figures indicate -- 101,997 barrels spilled from among the 11.855 billion barrels of American oil extracted offshore. This is a 0.001 percent pollution rate. While offshore drilling is not 100.00 percent spotless, this record should satisfy all but the terminally fastidious.
Ironically, in terms of oil contamination, Mother Nature is 95 times dirtier than Man. Some 620,500 barrels of oil ooze organically from North America's ocean floors each year. Compare this to the average 6,555 barrels that oil companies have spilled annually since 1998, according to MMS.
Thanks to Earth's curvature, these operations can stay out of sight. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., proposes new drilling, but at least 50 miles offshore, well past the 12-miles beyond which the horizon hides oil equipment from the eyes of surfers and beachcombers.
Critics also dismiss offshore development since its benefits supposedly would take ages.
"You wouldn't see any full production out of any oil drilling off the coasts until 2030," presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama claimed June 20 in Jacksonville, Fla. The Illinois senator added: "It will take a generation to reach full production."
Currently mired in red tape, Chevron's Destin Dome field off Florida could produce within four years. Southern California deposits could yield within five to 10 years. Besides, as Confucius said: "The best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago. The second best time is now."
America is like a vagrant who shakes a tin cup, pleads for change, and yet refuses to touch his $1 million trust fund. Before President Bush flies back to Saudi Arabia to beg sheiks to open their spigots, the United States should rely on our own offshore oil and gas. The fact we can do so more safely than ever leaves the Democratic Congress no excuse not to stand aside -- now!
I remember a caller telling Mark Levin that a few nights ago, and some lib tried to discredit Levin for showing such deference to an anonymous caller.
“Ironically, in terms of oil contamination, Mother Nature is 95 times dirtier than Man. Some 620,500 barrels of oil ooze organically from North America’s ocean floors each year.”
Super bump! Awesome little opinion piece.
America is like a vagrant who shakes a tin cup, pleads for change, and yet refuses to touch his $1 million trust fund.
Fixed it.
Bump.
Why keep them out of sight from the shore.
Thats like saying that ships can only come within sight of land in the middle of the night without lights.
I’ve lived in So. Cal. all my 71 years and don’t find anything unsightly about oil platforms.
I really hated the tar on the beaches that was sto[ped by the drilling from oil platforms.
IOW, if the "care" about the planet, shouldn't they "care" about the entire planet?
Tar balls washing up on beaches doesn't usually come from oil rigs, it comes from oil tankers.
Of course,
The tanker and barge collision in the Mississippi River this week will be counted as an oil-well spill, and the MSM will accord all the RAT horror of the Oil Companies driving us to our depth of pollution. ??And the public wants to expand oil production??
Of course, once the real word gets out to the real cause of the tanker/barge ramming (also totally stupid), we’ll be moving onto how the Chinese Olympics is pumping untold billions of tons of CO2 into our dying planet atmosphere.
The RAT aganda is so predictible!
In the 1940s there were no tankers shipping oil, it was all natural.
The Spanish used to beach their ships at golita to tar the bottoms with the tar from the beach.
When I was going with my wife when she attended Slough U (UCSB) in 1957-58 the beach had so much tar on it it was unusable, all natural.
There wasn’t a beach in so. Cal. from above Santa Barbara to Mexico that wasn’t covered with tar from natural seepage.
The oil platforms and the island at Long Beach relieved the gas pressure and greatly reduced the natural flow of oil so that by the 70s the beaches had pretty well cleaned themselves up.
Maybe elsewhere, but in California most of it comes from natural oil seepage. The Chumash Indians used natural oil tar from beach locations as long as 5,000 years ago to waterproof their boats and wicker pots. They had a name for the tar and tar balls: Pismu, for which Pismo Beach near San Luis Obispo is named. Pumping oil and releasing natural gas pressure from offshore deposits greatly reduces oil seepage.
We need to present this as an environmental problem - we have to recover those 18 billion barrels before they rust and pollute the ocean!
BTTT
ping
While oil spills from ships are the most well-known problem with oil, more oil actually gets into water from natural oil seeps coming from the ocean floor. Or, from leaks that happen when we use petroleum products on land. For example, gasoline that sometimes drips onto the ground when people are filling their gas tanks, motor oil that gets thrown away after an oil change, or fuel that escapes from a leaky storage tank. When it rains, the spilled products get washed into the gutter and eventually go to rivers and the ocean. Another way that oil sometimes gets into water is when fuel is leaked from motorboats and jet skis.
Energy Kid's Page, How Does Oil Impact The Environment?
http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/non-renewable/oil.html#Environment
I stand corrected. BUT, I used to work on oil tankers so I do know a little about the process. The beaches around Houston used to have tar wash up constantly, and I kinda doubt it was natural seepage, but I’ve been wrong before!
I believe Galveston had some tar on the beaches long before any drilling rig showed up.
I found a couple of references that helps:
The Coastal Indians of Texas
Karankawa Culture:
14: odd, distinctive pottery with inside coating of asphaltum, a natural tar that washes onto Gulf beaches
http://www.angelfire.com/tx2/ecc/karankawa.html
The Handbook of Texas Online
KARANKAWA INDIANS.
Karankawas crafted baskets and pottery, both of which were often lined with asphaltum, a natural tar substance found on Gulf Coast beaches.
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/KK/bmk5.html
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