ShareThisNEW YORK -- Painfully high vehicle- and jet-fuel prices are propelling popular demands for extracting the estimated 18 billion barrels of petroleum that rest beneath America's coastal waters.After rescinding previous executive-branch objections, President Bush said July 14, "the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress." Capitol Hill Democrats claim offshore drilling poses unacceptable ecological risks. This is yet another overblown worry.Democrats and other environmental naysayers cite the 80,000 barrels that spilled six miles off of Santa Barbara, Calif., inundating beaches and aquatic life. This hydrocarbon Hindenburg haunts the memories of those who witnessed it.But this genuine catastrophe occurred in January 1969 -- nearly 40 years ago. That era's drilling technology has gone the way of Flower Power and black-and-white TV. Innovation has boosted the safety and environmental reliability of offshore drilling.The Santa Barbara spill accelerated oil companies' efforts to prevent such disasters. Beyond compliance with 17 major permits and 90 different federal regulations, offshore operators frequently conduct accident training and safety exercises. Sensors and other instruments now help platform personnel monitor and handle temperatures and pressures of subsea oil, even as drill bits whirl.Hurricanes are manageable, since oil lines are capped not at the surface, but at or beneath the ocean floor. Even if oil platforms snapped loose and blew away, industrial seals restrain potentially destructive petroleum hundreds or even thousands of feet below the waves. Thus, 3,050 offshore structures endured Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in August and September 2005 without environmentally damaging petroleum spills. While 168 platforms and 55 rigs were destroyed or seriously damaged, the oil they pumped remained safely entombed, thanks to heavy underwater machinery.As the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) concluded, "due to the prompt evacuation and shut-in preparations made by operating and service personnel, there was no loss of life and no major oil spills attributed to either storm.""The technology of the drilling industry may have improved, but offshore drilling is a dirty business, and it still leads to oil spills due to failed equipment, aberrant weather, or human error on a frequent basis," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said in July 19's Houston Chronicle.Feinstein is correct. U.S. offshore oil drilling is not perfectly tidy. It's only 99.999 percent clean. Indeed, since 1980 -- as MMS figures indicate -- 101,997 barrels spilled from among the 11.855 billion barrels of American oil extracted offshore. This is a 0.001 percent pollution rate. While offshore drilling is not 100.00 percent spotless, this record should satisfy all but the terminally fastidious.Ironically, in terms of oil contamination, Mother Nature is 95 times dirtier than Man. Some 620,500 barrels of oil ooze organically from North America's ocean floors each year. Compare this to the average 6,555 barrels that oil companies have spilled annually since 1998, according to MMS.Thanks to Earth's curvature, these operations can stay out of sight. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., proposes new drilling, but at least 50 miles offshore, well past the 12-miles beyond which the horizon hides oil equipment from the eyes of surfers and beachcombers.Critics also dismiss offshore development since its benefits supposedly would take ages."You wouldn't see any full production out of any oil drilling off the coasts until 2030," presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama claimed June 20 in Jacksonville, Fla. The Illinois senator added: "It will take a generation to reach full production."Currently mired in red tape, Chevron's Destin Dome field off Florida could produce within four years. Southern California deposits could yield within five to 10 years. Besides, as Confucius said: "The best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago. The second best time is now."America is like a vagrant who shakes a tin cup, pleads for change, and yet refuses to touch his $1 million trust fund. Before President Bush flies back to Saudi Arabia to beg sheiks to open their spigots, the United States should rely on our own offshore oil and gas. The fact we can do so more safely than ever leaves the Democratic Congress no excuse not to stand aside -- now!(Deroy Murdock is a columnist with Scripps Howard News Service and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. E-mail him at deroy.Murdock(at)gmail.com)
Offshore oil drilling: cleaner than Mother Nature
Submitted by SHNS on Thu, 07/24/2008 - 16:13
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Murdock Misses the Big Picture
Like clockwork each week, one or two columnists or politicians in my local papaer make a failed attempt to convince Americans that our only hope for a more comfortable and safe future is to allow multi-national energy companies to drill for every last drop of oil in areas previously set aside for environmental preservation. Promises of negligible environmental impact, lower fuel costs, and threats of a lessening of national security if we don’t drill right away are common arguments.
The fact is worldwide oil production has peaked, is now in decline and most extractible oil will be depleted in the next 40 years. It won’t be depleted, however, before the price skyrockets and the cost of everything associated with it goes up as well – ultimately leading to a global economic depression, or worse. Are we going to use up all the reserves to quench our thirst for liquid energy? Shouldn’t we be setting aside a reserve for the manufacture of plastics, solvents, lubricants, medicines, and some 500,000 by-products -- many of which are common materials we take for granted? Shouldn’t we take into account the added impact on global warming caused by the rapid increase in burning what remains of this fossil fuel?
While important issues, we should not get caught up in a near-sighted debate about how many gallons of oil might be spilled on our coast or which dictator benefits most from our oil purchases. Instead, we should become informed readers and learn about the overwhelming long-term advantages of a robust, renewable energy independence program. It may take 10 to 20 years to achieve – and there will be sacrifices along the way. Technologies to produce renewable, alternative energy exist today and costs drop as demand increases. Can we say the same for fossil fuels or uranium?
Ultimately, we must take personal responsibility and not allow any political mindset to dissuade us. Vote out politicians who refuse to act immediately. Ignore the empty words of columnists like Deroy Murdock. They are pawns for the fossil fuel industry and philosophical prisoners of the neo-conservative and free-market movements. They would rather inflate their claims for short-term profit and political gain than commit to a serious course of action that would rid us of our addiction to fossil and other non-renewable fuels. Their voices have become irrelevant.
Yes. Drill, baby, drill!
I agree. Drill, baby, drill, and Obama must produce a birth certificate. At least Republicans know this simple fact: It's the White house, not the Kenyan house. BO better confess where he's from, because if he had a birth certificate, he would have shown it by now and not spend 33 million dollars on legal fees hiding his past.
What?1?
This is rich... I bet all the shrimpers out in the Gulf are just thrilled that drilling has resumed. Livelihoods are being lost, and who knows how much damage is being done to the environment.
My heart goes out to those 11 families who are now missing their family members. But whoever the idiot who said "Drill, Baby, Drill!" is a flippin' tool!
Oh yeah, every Rethuglican dittohead! I love these Birther types... They keep me entertained.