Offshore Drilling is Eco-Friendly? Gulf of Mexico Disaster Proves Otherwise

Oil companies have been advertising offshore drilling as a safe and even nature-friendly way to mine oil reserves and bolster American energy independence. Even president Obama recently called for an acceleration in efforts to extract oceanic oil, likely as a compromise to get a clean energy bill passed through Congress. But, as ongoing Earth Day festivities continue this week, a catastrophic reminder of our dangerous and toxic dependence on fossil fuels was exposed when an oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast.

That explosion sent thousands of gallons of oil spewing into the water, and to make matters worse, on Earth Day’s 40th birthday no less, the jeopardized burning oil rig has officially sunk, reports CNN. A five-square-mile coating of oil now engulfs the area surrounding the rig, and crude oil continues to leak at a rate of 8,000 barrels per day. 17 workers have been injured, including three critically, and 11 more remain missing.

While this latest blast added human tragedy to the equation, spills from offshore and coastal oil rigs are not uncommon, despite what high-dollar ad campaigns would have us think. In 2008, Hurricane Ike caused 500,000 gallons (12,000 barrels) of oil to be spilled, and earlier Hurricanes Katrina and Rita sent another 734,400 gallons into the water and wildlife.

This only makes more urgent our need to get that fossil fuel monkey off our backs. Political efforts to get votes here and there or keep this or that big business (and donor) happy can only result in more tragedies such as we’re witnessing in the Gulf of Mexico today (not to mention a Gulf half a world away). Politics is politics and I know a transition to renewable sources of energy will take time, but ridiculous contentions that offshore drilling is safe and environmentally sound must stop.

And yes, such spills may be relatively rare, considering the number of oil wells, offshore rigs and crude oil transports in use today, but the effects of even a single spill are long-lasting. So why not wholeheartedly embrace energy sources that last indefinitely and pollute very little if at all? So let’s harvest solar energy. Let’s turn old oil wells into geothermal wells, turn petroleum-based plastics into plant-based, limit our offshore energy into unlimited wind energy, put turbines, not oil fires, in our waves and put biofuels into our cars and trucks.

But first, let’s find those 11 workers still missing in the Gulf of Mexico. And perhaps someday soon we’ll celebrate an Earth Day upon which there is no toxic harm done to the earth.

Photo Credit: More Minimal & MotherProof

Posted on April 23rd in Solar Politics by Dan.