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July 16, 2008
Drill Here….Drill NOW!
It was 1969 and the Santa Barbara oil spill that started the whole never-drill-again-movement also known as G.O.O. [get oil out] happened.
As a native Californian that has spent most of her life living in coastal areas of course I was concerned. Even though at that time I was only thirteen I was already doing wildlife rescue and learning everything I could from my mentors on the subject Mrs. Terwilliger and, of course, my dad.
Since my aunt and uncle lived in Newport Beach and my grandmother lived in Laguna Beach I spent most summers down south with them at the beach surfing and just generally laying the groundwork for the skin cancer that I was going to get later.
Ah well….hindsight and all that……….
But it was the sun that got me…not the oil. We should all take a deep breath and start doing some research before we do the Chicken Little dance about the perils of drilling.
First of all….how many of you know this little fact:
“Between 11 and 160 barrels of oil are released into the water from a natural seep on the ocean floor in the Coal Point area.”
That’s from just one seep kids….one.
And this has been going on for eons. It’s a natural occurrence, as is petroleum.
And we are all supposed to like natural right?
Then there is this gem of information:
Since offshore drilling began the actual amount of oil seeping into the water naturally has declined…because of the drilling.
So there you have it….not only is drilling necessary for us humans it also helps restrict how much oil is naturally seeping into the ocean.
And by the way….G.O.O. ,the organization that started the whole never-drill-again movement is now for, yup you read it right, for drilling offshore.
Read about it here
An excerpt from the article:
Houston-based Plains Exploration and Production Company proposed drilling 22 wells from a platform 4.7 miles from land. It made many concessions to the local environmental groups, and in the end even the adamantly "no-drilling" crowd agreed that the deal was beneficial for everyone. The Environmental Defense Center, a nonprofit environmental law firm, endorsed the plan. Abe Powell, president of GOO!, told the Los Angeles Times it was "good for the community." Terry Leftgoff, a former GOO! executive director, wrote in the Santa Barbara Independent the deal was "a brilliant proposal that finally gives the public something back: the certain removal of four offshore oil platforms, the decommissioning of a notorious industrial plant, and the reversion of rural land subjugated into oil development back into the public trust as parkland."
When an environmental group formed for the sole purpose of opposing offshore oil drilling warmly embraces a plan to drill off its own coast, you know something important has changed in our culture: Americans have recognized that offshore oil drilling is largely safe.
Since 1975, drilling in the Exclusive Economic Zone (within 200 miles of the U.S. coast) has had a 99.999 percent safety record, according to the Energy Information Administration, which reports that "only .001 percent of the oil produced has been spilled."
That’s right…a safety record of 99.999%
Name one other industry that gives us all so much and yet has a safety record that good.
I dare you.
A lot of things have changed since 1969…technology for instance. The only things that don’t seem to have changed are the “activists”. But then you can’t have everything. As I have said many times in the past how can you please a group of people that , if you saved a man from a burning building they would point out “yeah, but his shoes are untied…”
Well, nature is ever changing as are most things in this life so I guess,*snark*, it’s “good” to have at least one constant we can always count on. Even if it’s only the constant whine of the human no no’s………
Remember....feelings are for Hallmark cards, facts are for thinking adults..........
Nan and Harry are you paying attention?
Posted by ChristmasGhost at July 16, 2008 03:53 PM
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