Well, so much for the total nonsense that offshore drilling is now so high-tech and safe that we”ll never again have to worry about another Santa Barbara spill. As I write this the Deepwater Horizon drill rig just sank, two days after it blew up in the Gulf of Mexico.
The latest word is that 11 workers are missing; presumed dead and seven more are in critical condition. The Coast Guard estimates that oil leaked at the rate of 8,000 barrels per day or about 13,000 gallons per hour and another 350,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled from the rig”s fuel tanks. In comparison, the rig that caused the infamous Santa Barbara spill in 1969 spilled a grand total of just 200,000 gallons. Deepwater Horizon spilled that much oil in about the first 15 hours. As of Monday, the news is that there are still two leaks on the seabed that are leaking about 42,000 gallons per day, no timetable for a fix.
Deepwater Horizon was a fifth-generation drill rig built with all the latest technology and safety features. It had recently set a new world record for deepwater drilling, bringing in a well just over 35,000 feet deep at another site in the Gulf last September.
How could this catastrophe happen after all of the assurances that such a spill could never again occur given all the new technology? We”ve been told that all we need to do is “Drill baby Drill!” and to “Drill here, drill now!” by all the politicians of the right wing, haven”t we?
Sadly, the truth is that offshore drilling is and always will be more risky than drilling on land and even that creates real danger to the environment. Storms, earthquakes, human error and explosions are all part of the operation and no technology can ever change that. Offshore oil spills are a continual occurrence that simply cannot be taken out of the equation. As long as we drill for and depend upon oil, this risk will be a factor, though many would lead you to believe otherwise.
Environmental damage is not the only risk associated with oil. We also risk our economy”s health by continuing to depend upon oil since 70 percent of the world”s oil reserves are held by countries who would celebrate our demise. According to Greg Mortensen, foremost American authority on Afghanistan and Pakistan (his books are required reading by all U.S. officers in that theater by Gen. Stanley McChrystal), it is a daily event to have young Saudis arrive with trunks full of cash to finance extremist Madrassas. Graduates are then paid $300 per month to fight against us. Much of this cash came from America.
Even if our own money wasn”t funding the wars we”re now fighting, there are other risks to our economy posed by oil since its price can be and is “gamed” by finance markets around the world. In 1972 oil sold for $2 or $3 per barrel, then after the embargo in 1973 it shot up to around $20 per barrel, which caused a decade of turmoil and inflation here verging on chaos. Interest rates spiked to nearly 20 percent; imagine what that would do to our economy today. Here we are, after two years of little to no growth in the world”s economy, demand is way down, storage facilities filled, supertankers being used for excess storage and yet we are still paying well over $80 per barrel. What will the price be when the economy of the world actually does recover and demand for oil with it?
The price of solar rays and the wind can”t be manipulated; neither can the oceans” waves or tides coming through the Golden Gate 22 hours of every day, which can spin turbines. The cost of building a green infrastructure is higher at first, but the fuel is then free forever, our environment safer too. Solar panels don”t explode or cause massive spills that degrade the environment, the profits will stay here. Oil has been subsidized since 1916, nuclear since the 1950s; why not green energy subsidies instead? As they say, “Green energy is national security!”
Lowell Grant is a weekly columnist for the Record-Bee. E-mail him at c21vintage@aol.com.
