May 2012
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
« Oct
	1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

Oil Told You So …

Posted by Cynical Sarah on April 30, 2010

I hate to say “I told you so,” but … I told you so. (Ok, maybe I do like saying it.) Offshore drilling isn’t worth the risk it poses to the environment. Our time and efforts are better spent finding alternative, clean energy sources instead of wasting time allowing more off-shore drilling as part of President Obama’s economic and environmental plans.

The disaster on Deepwater Horizon and the resulting oil leak pretty much made the point clear for me and any other environmentally conscious person who was objecting to allowing more drilling. The initial explosion on the oil rig was a tragedy. The resulting 5,000 barrel-per-day leakage of oil into the Gulf of Mexico is an environmental disaster.

The timing is terrible considering that it happened less than a month after President Obama released information on his economic/environmental plan that included more offshore drilling.

The good part of that at least is that no new drilling had been approved yet. Plus President Obama stepped up and announced today that no drilling will be approved either until they’ve figured out what caused the explosion on Deepwater Horizon.

This isn’t a complete 180 on his policy though. In his official statement, the president also said “So, let me be clear. I continue to believe that domestic oil production is an important part of our overall strategy for energy security, but I’ve always said it must be done responsibly, for the safety of our workers and our environment. The local economies and livelihoods of the people of the Gulf Coast as well as the ecology of the region are at stake.”

So, what we can hope for is more precautions and additional technology required from companies who sign leases with the United States in the future to do offshore drilling. But there’s still going to be increased drilling.

What kind of disaster is it going to take to see that this isn’t a good plan? Opening a can of oily sardines? Spending millions or even billions on cleanup when that oil slick hits the coast and wildlife preserve areas? Pictures of dead and dying oil-covered animals hitting the news?

Sure there will be public outrage even bigger than there already is, but we need political outrage to actually get a change made.

Like It? Pass It On!