BP Celebrates Earth Day with Bonfire, Oil Spill

[Toruk Makto]

 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/4/27/155237/567


...

Spill, Baby, Spill
The oil industry and its supporters routinely assert that offshore drilling is "safe" and "environmentally friendly" and that offshore rigs and hurricanes coexist amicably. During the 2008 campaign and every chance she's gotten since, Sarah Palin has shrilled, "Drill, Baby, Drill!" Samuel Bodman, former energy secretary in the Bush administration, claimed in 2008 that "there was not one case where we had a situation with oil or gas being spilled in the environment" during hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a falsehood peddled to anyone with a microphone. Sadly, not true. Those two hurricanes within a month in August and September 2005 caused 595 different oil spills, totaling 9 million gallons. The Minerals Management Service documents that Katrina and Rita totally destroyed 113 oil drilling platforms, and according to press reports at the time, the hurricanes ruptured pipelines and set rigs adrift. One rig drifted 66 miles before running aground.

We are not opposed to some oil drilling, but, as with the wars the U.S. wages to secure access to global oil supplies, we want this practice to be winding down, not escalating. Levees Not War has been calling for increased federal investment in public transportation because the U.S. must reduce its dependence on automobiles and on importing foreign oil (and extracting it from off the Gulf Coast). Here's why: carbon emissions aggravate global warming, which intensifies hurricanes and raises sea levels. That, along with the 10,000 miles of oil industry pipelines through the Louisiana wetlands, hurts New Orleans, Louisiana, and other precious places. In addition, investment in public transportation and other infrastructure also gives more "bang for the buck" in creating jobs and providing public works of lasting value that help support the economy in a sustainable way. President Obama has often spoken of the need to shift gears toward sustainable green energy programs, but his recent decision to open formerly protected areas of the coastal United States to oil exploration is change we cannot believe in. His recent announcement with "Amtrak Joe" Biden of $8 billion in stimulus funding for 13 high-speed rail projects, however, is what America needs more of. So far, these are very modest steps. (The war in Afghanistan eats up that $8 billion every two or three months, and for what?)

Stressing Out the Planet
Coming just weeks after the Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster in West Virginia took 29 lives, the worst in four decades, the Deepwater Horizon calamity reinforces the message that the environmental consequences of harvesting fossil fuels are as unsustainable as the price paid for burning these fuels. Other nations are doing much more than the United States to shift from carbon-based fuels to reyclable, sustainable energy sources; thousands, even millions of new jobs could grow if our business leaders and elected officials would Give Green a Chance. Read these previous Levees Not War posts about the ecological effects of global warming, including the rising sea levels and the warmer sea waters that intensify hurricanes.

[Rain]

Amen, ma tsmukan, amen. I cried a little when I heard about the oil spill.

"Drill, Baby, Drill!" <--I despise Sara Palin for that reason.

[Eyamsiyu]

"Drill, Baby, Drill!" <--I despise Sara Palin for that reason.

That's a general Republican thing.  Personally I don't just hate Palin for saying that, but anyone who agrees with her (which I will say is members of BOTH parties.  There are those on both parties that disagree with the statement as well).

I could go into why I find most of Obama's plans to be good or bad, but I can sum up how I feel in one sentence: I've always wanted to ride a train... 

[Rain]

Off topic: I can't find any reason for me to like Sara Palin anyway. There, I said it.

Anyhoo, I still need to FINISH reading your link so I'll get back to you with something intelligent soon. Besides, when it comes to politics, I'm probably Independent. Or Green, but most likely independent. Back to topic....

[Kayrìlien]

Sigh...and even here in California, where everyone seems to think that people take solar-powered bicycles to their job at the rainbow marijuana factory, the IDIOTS in the state legislature want to reconsider their stance on additional offshore oil platforms. Because, of course, California's economy has nothing whatsoever with beach-based tourism, we have absolutely no endangered species of note, and, of course, since there's already naturally-occurring oil on most of the beaches anyway, what harm could a little more do? It just makes the snowy plovers' wings shinier, right? Right?

(For people who don't understand dry humor, that entire last paragraph was literally dripping with sarcasm...I don't want people to take it seriously and think I'm a skxawng...)

I really WISH California as a whole was as progressive as the rest of the country seems to think we are.

"Drill, Baby, Drill!" <--I despise Sara Palin for that reason.

Perhaps we can use the $25,000 worth of clothes she received from the Republican Party to wipe off the oil that will inevitably be strewn across a thousand miles of beaches. Oh wait, sorry, I forgot...oil is a perfectly safe form of energy, right Sarah? Care to put your money where your Gulf Coast Mansion is?

Kayrìlien

[Rain]

Kayrìlien lu eyawr. Poe rä'ä kame; poe lu apxa skxawng.

We need a sarcasm inflection...
...solar powered bicycles? Isn't that redundant?
...rainbow pot factory? sheesh...
I promise I'll have an intelligent response soon.

[Toruk Makto]

Rainbow pot factory is brilliant. I love a good bite of sarcasm every now and then! :-)