Posted on 07/29/2008 10:35:03 AM PDT by Donald Rumsfeld Fan
Opponents of drilling offshore raise the environmental issue. Actually, more oil is spilled from tankers bringing imported oil into the U.S. than is spilled from oil production and drilling platforms.
According to the Minerals Management Service and the U.S. Coast Guard, 45 percent of oil spilled comes from ships and only 3 percent comes from drilling rigs and platforms.
Additionally, the MMS noted that during hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which destroyed hundreds of offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, there were no major oil spills.
The last major oil spill in the U.S. from a drilling platform was off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1969.
Improvements in technology have made drilling and production much safer for people and the environment. The bottom line is U.S. energy policy must increase domestic supplies while using energy as efficiently as possible.
(Excerpt) Read more at jacksboronewspapers.com ...
“Don’t confuse us with the facts.”
Great article! There was however a major spill in the Gulf Of Mexico in the 80’s or late 70’s. I remember it.
A few tar balls came ashore in Galveston.The natural process of bio-degradation cleaned up most of the oil.
Great article....but makes me wonder that the Globalist Free Traders are probably just as upset with this as the Enviro-Extremists.....dare anyone say that foreign products cause more problems than domestic!
I am sure the Anti-American Collective of Communists (AKA US Chamber of Commerce) probably hates the foreign trade link as much as the enviros
Correct. Facts do not matter, appearances, motives, and feelings are all that matter.
I remember a pretty big slick that they were trying to contain with the floating booms and stuff.
I was pretty young so it’s hard to remember all the details. I thought it was an American rig but you are very likely correct.
In other words, I wonder if some drilling results in a net REDUCTION in the amount of crude in the water???
But that would be...crude.<rimshot>
It was in the Bay of Campeche and it is still touted as the world’s worst spill. http://topix-trivia.blogspot.com/2008/06/june-3-1979-campeche-oil-spill-off.html
I lived in Corpus Christi, Texas then and recall that the beach was covered with oil from it.
The thing that I recall most vividly was the federal govt coming in with hordes of “workers” who took off an inch or two of the entire beach (miles long) that was oil soaked. What did they do with all that sand? They piled it into large oil-soaked sand dunes away from the beach. The times I went back to the beach afterwards I found that most of the shore birds had built their nests in these dunes and were happily raising families in all that “pollution”.
Yes. Drilling well lessen pressure and that will reduce seepage.
And in addition the 4% leakage from shipping and tankering operations should go down also. Especially if they run underwater pipelines from the offshore rigs to storage tanks on land.
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