Posted on 08/04/2008 6:59:05 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
UCSB Press Release: OIL AND GAS SEEPAGE FROM OCEAN FLOOR REDUCED BY OIL PRODUCTION
(Santa Barbara, Calif.) Next time you step on a glob of tar on a beach in Santa Barbara County, you can thank the oil companies that it isnt a bigger glob.
The same is true around the world, on other beaches where off-shore oil drilling occurs, say scientists, although Santa Barbaras oil seeps are thought to be among the leakiest.
Natural seepage of hydrocarbons from the ocean floor in the northern Santa Barbara Channel has been significantly reduced by oil production, according to two recently published peer-reviewed articles, one in Novembers Geology Magazine, the other in the Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans.
The Santa Barbara Channel provides an excellent natural laboratory, as it is among the areas with the highest levels of seepage in the world, said co-author Bruce P. Luyendyk, professor and chair of the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
The studies were not funded by oil companies, but rather by the University of California Energy Institute and the U.S. Minerals Management Service, states Luyendyk, responding to the fact that the results favor off-shore oil production and are opposed by some environmentalists.
http://www.mms.gov/stats/PDFs/2002_OilSpillFacts.pdf
One can argue that not drilling for oil is environmentally irresponsible.
I wonder how fast Greenpeace can create a spin to trash this.
IOW, Atlantic offshore drilling in Florida could actually IMPROVE the East Coast Central Florida beach conditions, where beachside residents must stock mineral spirits to clean their feet after a walk on the beach. How about them apples!!!
Grosly understated!
In the 40s when there wasn’t any off shore drilling or tanker movement of oil there wasn’t a beach from the Channel Islands to the Mexican border that wasn’t covered with tar.
I’m a personal witness due to more trips than I can count to the washtub and a scrubing with kerosene for tar removal before I was allowed in the house.
So... Stop ‘Global Warming’ by Drilling? I love it! LOL.
http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=412
Most of the seepage is methane, a potent greenhouse gas which escapes into the atmosphere, said Luyendyk. About 10 percent of the seepage is composed of “higher hydrocarbons,” or reactive organic gases which interact with tailpipe emissions and sunlight, creating air pollution.
The researchers state that the production rate of these naturally-occurring reactive organic gases is equal to twice the emission rate from all the on-road vehicle traffic in Santa Barbara County in 1990.
Seriously, I thought this methane generator was the source of the seepage and globs of tar washing up on the West Coast beaches.
BS generator? Sure.
But, please! - do NOT associate her with gobs of tar.
(It gives the tar gobs a bad name.)
They’ll have to spin it,
because the issue isn’t truly about the environment,
it’s about curbing America’s use of energy, and thereby curbing America and Americans’ freedom.
So more drilling means more fish and less fouled beaches. Time to drill for the Earth.
If you like $4/gal, Thank Nazi Nancy.
Pray for W and Our Troops
ping
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