The linked information is worth the read, but this one graphic tells the story. It compares the availability of oil spill-response resources in the Arctic region to what was available in the Gulf of Mexico where one blown-out well needed containment, then a clean-up - - and where sea ice was not a factor:
Drill baby Drill! There is no such thing as zero risk and if it breaks, we will fix it. Remember the greatest ecological disaster of all time which happened in the gulf less than a couple of years ago? Probably not since it is no longer an issue, the same as will happen if a spill happens elsewhere. It is only temporary and we fix it and nature heals.
ReplyDeleteANON: really? nature will heal itself? Did you ever see a Stage 2 breast cancer patient heal herself. You retort -" well humans aren't nature." got news for you buddy we are nature. Take a look at the beaches in Alaska- there's still evidence of the oil spill on the beaches. Just in case you aren't expanding your narrow view of beyond Fox news here's a little tidbit about the devastation still going on in the gulf. What bothers me most about your statement is how dismissive you are of this rape of our environment, that you would be wiling to risk it all again. Eyeless shrimp and fish with lesions are becoming common, with BP oil pollution believed to be the likely cause.New Orleans, LA - "The fishermen have never seen anything like this," Dr Jim Cowan told Al Jazeera. "And in my 20 years working on red snapper, looking at somewhere between 20 and 30,000 fish, I've never seen anything like this either."Dr Cowan, with Louisiana State University's Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences started hearing about fish with sores and lesions from fishermen in November 2010.Cowan's findings replicate those of others living along vast areas of the Gulf Coast that have been impacted by BP's oil and dispersants.Gulf of Mexico fishermen, scientists and seafood processors have told Al Jazeera they are finding disturbing numbers of mutated shrimp, crab and fish that they believe are deformed by chemicals released during BP's 2010 oil disaster.Along with collapsing fisheries, signs of malignant impact on the regional ecosystem are ominous: horribly mutated shrimp, fish with oozing sores, underdeveloped blue crabs lacking claws, eyeless crabs and shrimp - and interviewees' fingers point towards BP's oil pollution disaster as being the cause.Eyeless shrimpTracy Kuhns and her husband Mike Roberts, commercial fishers from Barataria, Louisiana, are finding eyeless shrimp."At the height of the last white shrimp season, in September, one of our friends caught 400 pounds of these," Kuhns told Al Jazeera while showing a sample of the eyeless shrimp.According to Kuhns, at least 50 per cent of the shrimp caught in that period in Barataria Bay, a popular shrimping area that was heavily impacted by BP's oil and dispersants, were eyeless. Kuhns added: "Disturbingly, not only do the shrimp lack eyes, they even lack eye sockets."Eyeless shrimp, from a catch of 400 pounds of eyeless shrimp, said to be caught September 22, 2011, in Barataria Bay, Louisiana [Erika Blumenfeld/Al Jazeera]"Some shrimpers are catching these out in the open Gulf [of Mexico]," she added, "They are also catching them in Alabama and Mississippi. We are also finding eyeless crabs, crabs with their shells soft instead of hard, full grown crabs that are one-fifth their normal size, clawless crabs, and crabs with shells that don't have their usual spikes … they look like they've been burned off by chemicals."On April 20, 2010, BP's Deepwater Horizon oilrig exploded, and began the release of at least 4.9 million barrels of oil. BP then used at least 1.9 million gallons of toxic Corexit dispersants to sink the oil. Ladner, a third generation seafood processor in Hancock County, Mississippi, is also disturbed by what he is seeing."I've seen the brown shrimp catch drop by two-thirds, and so far the white shrimp have been wiped out," Ladner told Al Jazeera. "The shrimp are immune compromised. We are finding shrimp with tumors on their heads, and are seeing this everyday.
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