Dying, dead marine wildlife paint dark, morbid picture of Gulf Coast following oil spill (how much, government)
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Donate & Help GRN Protect Wetlands and Wildlife | BP's Oil Drilling Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico | Blog (http://www.healthygulf.org/201005051248/blog/bp-s-oil-drilling-disaster-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/donate-help-grn-protect-wetlands-and-wildlife - broken link)
Ethanol is abject failure both economically and environmentally.
The reason alternative fuels have not taken off is because of their enormous cost, it's plain and simple. Being able to produce cheap energy that can compete with fossil fuels is an enormous plum to pick, why would you think no one is trying to achieve that?
Yes sir. It's an enormous "plum to pick".... but, we've seen what the consequences are for not doing anything and staying dependent upon foreign oil.
This is not the first oil disaster... And, what otherprice have we paid for our dependence on foreign oil???
So then, doing nothing is not "cost effective", either.... is it????
We've had more than 30 years to work on alternative energy and to develop engines that will run on them but we've not done it.
And, BTW, I grew up in an area that is known for "high sulfur coal".
I also know something about the coal dilemma.
Last edited by World Citizen; 06-04-2010 at 12:12 PM..
Environmentalists contributed to make this catastrophe possible by lobbying against drilling in shallow water where it was safer, thus pushing drilling way offshore. The government gave in to the lobbyists when they should have known better.
So this is the environmentalists fault? I have to ask what are you smoking? I have not met a single environmentalist who supports any domestic offshore drilling at all. So no environmentalists are probably the only group in America with zero blame for this since if it had been up to them there would have been no offshore drilling period and thus no oil gushing holes in the bottom of the sea.
In fact lets do a comparison shall we. In California where environmentalists won the drilling debate how much land/sea has been ruined by oil well leaks. Then compare that Louisiana where the drill baby drill crowd runs the show. If anything the blame for this spill rests solely on the drill operators, the regulators and the people who let oil companies drill off their coasts in the first place.
Last edited by Randomstudent; 06-04-2010 at 12:25 PM..
The devistation and destruction this oil spill is creating is absolutely tearing me apart...my beautiful state of Florida is doomed as it will eventually make it's way clear around the entire state...give it 100 more days...the white sandy beaches...gone...the delicate Florida Keys along with all the beautiful coral islands...gone...the precious wildlife and sea life...gone...all the pristine estuaries...gone...life as we've known it...gone...
A month ago!!! the Louisiana Lawmaker's begged!!! the bureaucratic-powers-that-be to allow them to build up berms (protective sand dunes) to surround the delicate estuaries surrounding the Louisiana coast...which is very expensive to do, which means they NEED GOVERNMENT FUNDS to do what needs to be done....ships...tankers...machinery...man-power...equipment...............................et c..etc...etc!...
AND IT STILL HAS NOT BEEN O.K.'d BY BARACK OBAMA and ALL those who suppossedly HAVE EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL!!!!!!!
MY GOD PEOPLE!!!! PRECIOUS LIFE IS SUFFOCATING TO A SLOW MISERABLE DEATH!!!!...ALL YOU CAN SEE IS A LITTLE EYE BLINKING SILENTLY BENEATH THICK BLACK SLUDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....:c rying:.....A TINY LITTLE HEAD STICKING OUT OF THE MUD OF OIL JUST TO GET A LAST BREATH!!!!!!!!!!....:cryin g:
Ethanol is abject failure both economically and environmentally.
The reason alternative fuels have not taken off is because of their enormous cost, it's plain and simple. Being able to produce cheap energy that can compete with fossil fuels is an enormous plum to pick, why would you think no one is trying to achieve that?
The reason ethanol is an abject failure is because of the idiots running farm policy. Corn ethanol is expensive, but cane sugar based ethanol is effective. Much of Brazil already runs on the stuff. The problem is the sugar and corn lobbies got together to hugely tax imported sugar and subsidize corn. If we could acquire cane sugar at the global market price in the US and produce ethanol that way it would be cheap and effective.
The reason ethanol is an abject failure is because of the idiots running farm policy. Corn ethanol is expensive, but cane sugar based ethanol is effective. Much of Brazil already runs on the stuff. The problem is the sugar and corn lobbies got together to hugely tax imported sugar and subsidize corn. If we could acquire cane sugar at the global market price in the US and produce ethanol that way it would be cheap and effective.
It's understood it's more effective, how much more is debatable. Regardless the underlying problem is very few places in the US you can grow cane.
What happens to the Florida power plants that rely on ocean water for cooling ?
Once the oil hits the shores I can only assume they have to shut them down....
Yes sir. It's an enormous "plum to pick".... but, we've seen what the consequences are for not doing anything and staying dependent upon foreign oil.
We're "dependent" because it's cheap and governement interference in the market place. Take for example all the subsidies the current renewable energies receive, why would anyone in their right mind pursue alternatives to them? Why even bother making them cheaper if they will lose the subsidies?
There is a lot of good ideas out there but as long as the market is being manipulated by the government by subsidizing production of very expensive renewables they'll never get anywhere.
Don't be so short-sighted. All that the environmental groups accomplished (in this case) was to push the drilling into areas that are much more difficult to manage should a catastrophe occur... which places us exactly where we are right now with a huge leak and no way to plug it. They inadvertently allowed the greater of two evils.
You can't be serious. It's time to admit that the environmental groups were right. No environmental group supports deep water drilling. No environmental group would support BP's decisions to drill without the appropriate control measures in place, such as relief wells.
By the way - if I remember correctly, many republican gulf state politicians don't want shallow water drilling, such as Jeb Bush. And, Bobby Jindal just asked Obama to rescind the moratorium on deep-water drilling!
Let's place blame where it should be. First - BP. BP caused this crisis. They made the horrible decisions that led to what will most likely be the biggest environmental disaster in US history. Next up is the government. If our government had strict regulations on deep water drilling and enforced them, this might have prevented.
Then, while all Americans share the blame for being huge consumers of oil, the "Drill Baby Drill" crowd actively works against transitioning to alternate forms of energy. Who supports transitioning to alternate forms of energy so we can get off our addiction to oil? Environmentalists!
Environmental groups should be the last ones to be blamed for this crisis.
The rhetoric from Limbaugh and Palin is just horrible. It's time for them to admit that they were wrong. Drilling for oil is very risky. We need to do as much as possible to find alternative, clean energies. And, until then, we need our government to be strict watchdogs over the oil industry.
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The cost of doing nothing....
