Gulf Coast Oil Spill

[Scott L]

So are you FOR the environment or against it? Offshore drilling does have the POTENTIAL for severe environmental consequences in case of an accident. Just because this spill was small doesn't mean next time it will be the same size. Given that the environment is under so much pressure already do we need to get into endeavors that risk it further just because you want cheap oil in your V8 truck? That is not the solution, it's time we used alternative energy sources but nobody wants to make that switch due to costs which is understandable. It is the government's responsibility to take that first major step by subsidizing alternative energy so people will adopt it. Instead of that they are going down the same foolish unsustainable path by wanting to drill more.

Simply throwing money at a problem does not always lead to a remedy. If so, cancer would have been cured long ago. Gulf oil production is here to stay until other options are secured down the road. Hopefully, we will learn from this mistake and minimize the probability of it being repeated in the future.

By the way, you are the only voice I hear proclaiming this event to be small in scope...

 

[Wookie]

It is the government's responsibility to take that first major step by subsidizing alternative energy so people will adopt it. Instead of that they are going down the same foolish unsustainable path by wanting to drill more.

Just out of curiosity, which sector shall we raise taxes on so that the government can subsidize this "alternative energy" of which you speak? I don't think a special tax on Scuba Diving will cover the bill.

 

[dmoore19]

So are you FOR the environment or against it? Offshore drilling does have the POTENTIAL for severe environmental consequences in case of an accident. Just because this spill was small doesn't mean next time it will be the same size. Given that the environment is under so much pressure already do we need to get into endeavors that risk it further just because you want cheap oil in your V8 truck? That is not the solution, it's time we used alternative energy sources but nobody wants to make that switch due to costs which is understandable. It is the government's responsibility to take that first major step by subsidizing alternative energy so people will adopt it. Instead of that they are going down the same foolish unsustainable path by wanting to drill more.

The change from oil to an alternate energy is going to take a while. Look how long it took for our current form of transportation to replace the horse and buggy. The technology for alternate energy forms just isn't there right now. The electric grid and the infrastructure for generating and delivering electricity needs to be completely rebuilt. The technology for nuclear power is proven yet we sit on our hands and do nothing. When was the last time a nuclear power plant permit was approved? Of course there is potential for environmental diasaster there too. Solar and wind power are still in their infancy and while the technology has made giant strides in the direction of being viable, they still have a long way to go. Ethanol, well that isn't exactly the cure all either, never was even though some still think differently. We may not even know what the next energy source is. There is no simple answer to the problem. Throwing insults and accusing someone of being anti environment doesn't serve any purpose. We're all on this planet and in the same boat. Using an incident like this can be used for improving things in the future or it can be used to set back an entire nation. I am positive there is not one single person on this earth that is glad to see what happened. Fact is it may be impossible to please everyone at this point. Everyone screams for energy independence. The technology for energy independence has not yet been discovered. More drilling may not be the long term answer but until the technology for another source of energy is developed, it may be the only answer.

 

[Scott L]

I can never top post #73. Excellent!

 

[The Chairman]

here ya go...

 

[ScubaFeenD]

here ya go...

LOL nice; does it make coffee too?

 

[Scott L]

here ya go...

Yes, it served the Flux Capacitor quite well...

 

[knowone]

here ya go...

Who are BP leasing the rig from. Oils is oils Sol. More coffee for me. Sxxt. I just fell out of my chair, I think I'll soo too.

 

[elmer fudd]

The change from oil to an alternate energy is going to take a while. Look how long it took for our current form of transportation to replace the horse and buggy. The technology for alternate energy forms just isn't there right now. The electric grid and the infrastructure for generating and delivering electricity needs to be completely rebuilt. The technology for nuclear power is proven yet we sit on our hands and do nothing. When was the last time a nuclear power plant permit was approved? Of course there is potential for environmental diasaster there too. Solar and wind power are still in their infancy and while the technology has made giant strides in the direction of being viable, they still have a long way to go. Ethanol, well that isn't exactly the cure all either, never was even though some still think differently. We may not even know what the next energy source is. There is no simple answer to the problem. Throwing insults and accusing someone of being anti environment doesn't serve any purpose. We're all on this planet and in the same boat. Using an incident like this can be used for improving things in the future or it can be used to set back an entire nation. I am positive there is not one single person on this earth that is glad to see what happened. Fact is it may be impossible to please everyone at this point. Everyone screams for energy independence. The technology for energy independence has not yet been discovered. More drilling may not be the long term answer but until the technology for another source of energy is developed, it may be the only answer.

Exactly. Every viable form of energy production we know of has it's environmental consequences. Even clean sources like hydroelectric disrupt fish runs and the natural ecology of rivers. Nuclear has gone nowhere since Three Mile Island. Solar power isn't quite there yet, while wind power is only viable in certain areas when the wind blows and people criticize it too on environmental grounds.

Electric cars still rely on power plants to produce the power to charge them, most of which are coal powered. Then you have all the environmental issues associated with their batteries. What do you suppose will happen when there are millions of very large lithium and cadmium based batteries to dispose of? Most will probably be properly recycled, (which likely won't be harmless to the environment), but hundreds of thousands of them will end up dumped somewhere out in the woods or the desert or the local lake or bay. Ethanol will require clearing millions of acres of land for farming and the use of millions of tons of fertilizers and pesticides.

There's not any magic clean energy source out there and there's not some giant conspiracy to keep us from it. As our technology advances we'll get much better at producing more energy while causing less damage to the environment, but it's going to take a long time and a lot of money.

 

[The Chairman]

What do you suppose will happen when there are millions of very large lithium and cadmium based batteries to recycle [-]dispose of[/-]?

I fixed it for you.

We really need to move from using dumps to dispose and turn to recycling more and more.