No more offshore drilling!

[escorts_lover]

Sign the petition urging the U.S. to stop offshore drilling and invest instead in clean renewable energy -- the signatures will be delivered to the White House in Washington DC when we reach 500,000! Click to sign on now and spread the word:
The BP disaster is bringing catastrophe to the land, water, animals, and people in the gulf. The oil has already reached land, contaminating wildlife sanctuaries. Authorities are so concerned about the impacts of more oil reaching land that they prefer to set the gulf on fire, burning as much of the oil as possible.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_offshore_drilling/98.php?cl_taf_sign=60R63B3x

 

[seth gecko]

Nice idea, but (dare I say it???) it's a bit of a pipe dream.
Instead of drilling offshore, maybe they should perfect the art of......DRAAAINAGE!!! (2:04)
[video=google;8320478653659989939]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8320478653659989939#[/video]

 

[Aardvark154]

Sign the petition urging the U.S. to stop offshore drilling and invest instead in clean renewable energy

Do you have a petition urging Canada to stop offshore drilling? If so, what do you think Newfoundland would have to say about the same.

 

[Master_Bates]

Nice idea, but (dare I say it???) it's a bit of a pipe dream.
Instead of drilling offshore, maybe they should perfect the art of......DRAAAINAGE!!! (2:04)
[video=google;8320478653659989939]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8320478653659989939#[/video]

This really is the attitude that stifles change...

 

[HOF]

2012, it's all over anyway!

 

[james t kirk]

Are we going to ban cars because people get killed by them?

Are we going to run every time we fall down rather than learn from it?

Make it safer, legislate better environmental controls, regulate it, ENFORCE the regulations, but don't end it. Doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[james t kirk]

Based on news reports, it is becoming more and more obvious that BP failed to follow even the minimum safety rules or heed warninsg form experiences oil men. In fact, one of BP's own engineers replied "So what? We're probably safe anyways" to a complaint about violations by outside engineers.

Hence the need for enforcement.

Cheating goes on every minute of every hour of every day in industry I can assure you. Without a Regulatory Agency with a budget and teeth it will continue on forever.

 

[seth gecko]

This really is the attitude that stifles change...

Buddy, no offense meant here and hopefully none taken by anybody....it's the Lounge - the place to be easy, breezy and carefree. To soothe over anyones feathers my attempt at humour may have ruffled, I've gone and signed the petition. Hopefully my signature will be the one that will end the evils of offshore drilling forever!! I've also donated $100 to a foundation that combats SOHD*, as well as one that supports OMGTSIFI*. That should cover all the angles!!!

My point? The oil spill is a big freakin' fiasco, but there've been others much worse and somehow we've survived. Now matter what legislative or technological solutions this disaster yields, some other shit will happen eventually. I can't control it, so I don't worry too much over it. But thats just me - if you think losing sleep over the situation will help, or a petition will end offshore oil exploration, please go right ahead.

Accept my apologies for any discomfort my comments may have caused you.



*SOHD= Sense of Humour deficiency
*OMGTSIFI= Oh My God the sky is falling-itis

 

[C Dick]

Sometimes when you ban something, the alternative is worse. I could believe that if they banned offshore drilling, it would immediately mean way more oil-sands development. And I could also believe that on average, oil sand production could be worse environmentally than off-shore drilling, even when the odd giant spill is taken into account.

To me, the right solution is energy taxes that reflect at least the full cost of the likely harm, such as a taxing petroleum products enough to cover the full costs of the spills. That would be the right way to drive a good combination of conservation and clean energy.

 

[flubadub]

Sure, they should ban offsore drilling. We don't have the technology to do it safely yet, and probably never will.
At most, offshore drilling is only going to delay the big decline from peak oil by a handful of years anyways. It'll be better for the planet if we figure out how to do without sooner, much as I'm going to hate to give up salad in January, central heating and cheap foreign vacations.

 

[Master_Bates]

My point? The oil spill is a big freakin' fiasco, but there've been others much worse and somehow we've survived. Now matter what legislative or technological solutions this disaster yields, some other shit will happen eventually. I can't control it, so I don't worry too much over it. But thats just me - if you think losing sleep over the situation will help, or a petition will end offshore oil exploration, please go right ahead.

Maybe we should all take up your "shit happens" attitude and see what happens.

I won't worry about any rapists out there, and what's the point in making rape illegal anyway, because I'm sure its going to keep happening....

Just because 'shit will happen', doesn't mean we shouldn't try to avoid or prepare for it at the very least... They could have clearly had better procedures/strategies in place for such an event, but there weren't.

 

[james t kirk]

Sometimes when you ban something, the alternative is worse. I could believe that if they banned offshore drilling, it would immediately mean way more oil-sands development. And I could also believe that on average, oil sand production could be worse environmentally than off-shore drilling, even when the odd giant spill is taken into account.

To me, the right solution is energy taxes that reflect at least the full cost of the likely harm, such as a taxing petroleum products enough to cover the full costs of the spills. That would be the right way to drive a good combination of conservation and clean energy.

Agree.

 

[rafterman]

They should be spending more on the oilsands if they want to lower the risk profile of oil production on a global basis.

There are certainly ecological issues with water use and pollution in the oilsands but they pale compared to BP's gulf blowout.

Instead of passing lameass city bylaws like Bellingham, WA. against synthetic oil, which are meaningless in the big scheme, focus on producing oil from the oilsands with minimum footprint because the world is going to need and use that oil. No doubt about it.

Of course if the U.S. was really serious about reducing consumption they would levy taxes accordingly like all the european countires but we know how successful that would be.

 

[Yoga Face]

Why is there no international trillion(s) dollar Manhattan project on affordable green energy ???

Every country could contribute because every country would benefit

The bigger price of oil will be oil wars ( Iraq?)

The cost of one good oil war is trillions so there is a strong economic incentive to replace oil but business cannot do it alone

 

[oldjones]

As many have said, we're addicted to cheap oil. Most of what we eat, shelter under and wear has huge cheap oil content, and not just in transport. Nobody's drilling miles underwater for the sheer joy of it. They do it because there's a guaranteed market of addicts, and that's all the supply that's left. We gotta get into rehab folks.

But while we struggle w/ that, we should have the balls to make the pushers fund the process out of what we pay. Conventionally that would mean taxing their sales to us to pay for 100% certain well capping technology, in place and standing by before drilling, instant clean ups, and research on more efficient extraction, use, and byproduct processing of oil as well as other green technologies to replace it. I'd suggest European level gas taxes—$3-4/litre—as an easy start. Heck if Euro weenies can vacation in Bali and pay those prices we can too. Double and triple that within a decade.

That'd get us into rehab. Or are we just 'gotta have it cheap and easy' whiners?

Meantime, for all the Con Canucks. Our Louisiana spill sits in tailings ponds fouling the landscape around the tarsands. What's the cleanup funding plan? Shutting down Newfoundland's offshore's been mentioned; if we're part of the solution, we have to close the tar sands too. Like Suncor, BP didn't do anything their cheering squad wasn't urging them to do.

 

[james t kirk]

Truth be told - there is no way of producing energy that doesn't come with Environmental Impacts.

Everything has an impact.

 

[Aardvark154]

Truth be told - there is no way of producing energy that doesn't come with Environmental Impacts.

Everything has an impact.

Entirely true!

 

[red]

Truth be told - there is no way of producing energy that doesn't come with Environmental Impacts.

Everything has an impact.

especially meteors

 

[great bear]

especially meteors

Your mercury level is too high.

 

[Insidious Von]

Truth be told - there is no way of producing energy that doesn't come with Environmental Impacts.

Everything has an impact.

This is partially true but we've become so addicted to oil that we are unwilling to make sacrifices for the greater good. The consumer society has to be upheld at all cost.

Well that cost is going to go nuclear within the next decade, we are running out of fresh water faster than we are running out of oil.