Image via NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team
In 1969, a major offshore oil spill occurred off the Santa Barbara Channel. The environmental disaster off California’s coastline prompted a series of state and federal environmental laws to be passed (via the County of Santa Barbara Planning and Development):
On January 28, 1969, Union Oil’s Platform A experienced an uncontrolled blowout in the Dos Cuadras field that lasted for approximately eight days. The spill of approximately 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of crude oil affected over forty miles of coastline. Several environmental laws were passed at the federal and state levels following the blowout, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Future OCS and state tideland leasing would require a formalized environmental review process.
Fast forward to today: Soon after the Obama Administration announced plans to expand offshore drilling, an oil rig, owned by BP, in the Gulf of Mexico caught fire and sank, prompting the release of thousands of barrels of oil a day. According to the “National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)[,] experts now estimate that 5,000 barrels a day of oil are spilling into the gulf – far more than the previous estimate of 1,000 barrels a day.” Consequently, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been characterized as being “equal or even eclips[ing] the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill off the southern coast of Alaska, the worst oil spill in U.S. history and one of the worst environmental disasters in decades.” In fact, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could be worse than Valdez and Katrina. According to the Associated Press, “Oil from a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico was starting to ooze ashore, threatening migrating birds, nesting pelicans and even river otters and mink along Louisiana’s fragile islands and barrier marshes.” Furthermore, wildlife are already being affected.
Given the environmental impacts, the Gulf of Mexico spill will negatively impact fisheries, local economies, local livelihoods, and the health of local populations. In fact, local shrimpers have already filed a lawsuit seeking damages caused by the spill. More from the Houma Courier:
Two shrimpers from Louisiana are among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in connection with the oil spill related to the sunken oil rig Deepwater Horizon.
Acy J. Cooper Jr. anmd Ronnie Louis Anderson are among the litigants. Cooper is from the Venice area and Anderson is from Montegut.
The class action suit filed in New Orleans federal court seeks $5 million in specific damages and an unspecified amount for punitive damages against Transocean, which owned the ill-fated platform, BP, for whom exploration was being done off the Louisiana coast, and Halliburton Energy Services Inc. and Cameron International Corp., who performed contract work for the rig.
In order to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the U.S. Coast Guard is poised to burn off the oil slick–if it hasn’t started already, and BP “is [also] constructing a 100-tonne steel funnel but warns the technology has never been tried below a few hundred metres – the Deepwater well is 1,500m down.” Also, “emergency workers in the Gulf will use booms to contain the oil spill and tow it away to a remote area.”
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is reminicient of the Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill–another costly environmental disaster. While the coal industry was peddling coal as a clean energy source, over one billion gallons of fly ash spilled over Roane County, Tennessee. The Kingston fly ash spill was “100 times bigger than the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989[, and] the cleanup of the river, which will take years to complete, is expected to cost as much as $1 billion.”
As a nation, we must realize that relying on fossil fuels isn’t prudent energy policy, especially since alternatives exist. Furthermore, fossil fuels aren’t cheap, since significant costs, associated with environmental damage and public health, are passed off to consumers and governments. These externalities aren’t immediately reflected in the price we pay at the pump. Consequently, the “Drill, Baby, Drill” philosophy is shortsigted and reckless or not completely thought out. Bill Maher put it best: “Every asshole who ever chanted ‘Drill baby drill’ should have to report to the Gulf coast today for cleanup duty.”
Video: Oil spill reaches Gulf Coast, threat of worst US environmental disaster
Video: The Legacy Of Exxon Valdez
CBS News Video: Oil Spill Creeping Toward U.S. Coast
On the Net:
- Looming Disaster? Gulf Oil Spill FAQ
- Alabama coast worried over incoming oil spill
- Gulf of Mexico oil spill washes ashore; 40% of U.S. fragile wetlands threatened
- Disaster washes ashore; oil slick out of control
- The Oil Spill: Wildlife at Risk
- Oil Spill Impact Could Be Worse Than Valdez and Katrina
- Gulf oil spill: the lawsuits are piling up
- Louisiana rig gushing 200,000 gallons of oil a day
- Weighing Risks of Coastal Oil and Cleanups
- First bird caught in Gulf of Mexico oil spill being cared for at Fort Jackson
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