First let me say it has been a while since I have blogged. I have had a health issue and have not felt like blogging til now. But, I cannot sit idly by without ranting on this. I have ranted on this before, too! But the situation is not only not going away, it is getting worse by the day. By now, you must know I am referring to the BP Gulf Oil disaster.
This "accident" in the Gulf of Mexico could turn out to be the costliest, deadliest, and most destructive disaster the world has known if it is not brought under control soon. Nobody seems to be talking about the long range environmental implications of this oil spill. Water is a liquid and the sheer volume of water that has so far been affected by the oil cannot be contained. Maybe the Gulf Stream will keep a lot of the tainted water inside the Gulf of Mexico. But we do have hurricanes, and windy storms. Water moves all over the globe. This greasy oily water could end up at all ends of the earth. Think about the message in a bottle that is put out to sea from a beach and ends up on another continent years later. Now picture little balls of tar like oil rolling all over the world. I believe that is what we are facing and nobody is talking about that because the idea is just too depressing.
Then there are the possible health considerations. Countless fish and crustaceans will undoubtedly be affected by the oil and so will we if we eat fish or seafood. How will we know where it is safe to fish, and if we deem an area to be safe to fish, how will we know that the fish that is caught in the safe area was not lurking in dangerous waters before being caught in the "safe" waters?
I believe it is possible that a whole new series of illnesses will be brought about by this disaster. There will be people that will have skin contact with the oil by virtue of evaporation, rain, storms, cleanup efforts. Those could result in skin rashes, or systemic illnesses. Then there will be the people that eat food tainted somewhere along the food chain by the oil. That will result in gastric illness and possibly systemic illnesses as well. Then there are the people who live and work those Gulf waters. They will be the ones with the most exposure. As I said before, this is a major major disaster unfolding and nobody seems to be alarmed enough.
Our government has dragged its feet in getting involved in this mess. If tar balls were washing up on the shores of the Potomac River maybe some in Congress and in the White House would be more concerned and proactive. But the Gulf is a distance away from Washington, both in miles and in lifestyle. Maybe the government feels a kind of "burn out" in dealing with the Gulf Region due to having to clean up from the Katrina disaster. If we put more resources into drilling the (2) relief wells that are not due to be completed until August or September, could it go faster? How about doubling the personnel and equipment? or about tripling it? Is that not reasonable under the circumstances? I may be naive and not understand how these things work, but I just have the feeling that those in power both governmental and corporate are not as concerned as they should be.
I am also feeling really sad about all of this. I was thinking back to the vacations of my youth spent on beaches in the North and South. We visited Myrtle Beach, St. Petersburg,FL, Cape Cod, Wildwood, NJ, The Hamptons, Virginia Beach,and grew up on Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk, CT. It is possible that all of these beaches could be affected and someday not be usable or swimable. That makes me sad for my kids, and all the other kids who have not experienced these wonderful places. It is positively unacceptable to me that our government and BP are not doing everything humanly possible to stop and reverse this curse.
The images we have seen so far are devastating. Blades of sea grass coated in oil, seabirds that look like they have been chocolate dipped. I feel so bad for the wildlife. They have no chance to save themselves; a large number will die. There are beaches with lines of reddish black tar, fishermen and resort owners going bankrupt a day at a time. This tragedy will have a profound effect on our overall economy, and economy that is fragile at best right now.
What about the future of drilling? I am not sure. I know this, until we can be 100% sure that this can't happen to any other drilling platforms around the world, no other new wells should be commissioned. All of the existing wells need to be inspected for the problem that existed at this one. And they need to make sure that all operational wells have or build a remote shut off that this well was lacking.
This oil spill situation is a wake up call of the first magnitude for the US and the world at large. We need desperately to investigate and invest in clean renewable sources of energy. So, if windmills can only provide 10% of our energy needs, let's still do it. They are clean, they don't pollute, if they break down they just stop turning, they will not cause a natural disaster. Solar power is low key too. No pollution given off, if they stop working, no disaster happens. There needs to be a national or international focus on new energy sources. Maybe this is the "next big thing" that will pull the globe out of a recession too.
How many of us that were considering vacationing this summer at some beach on the Gulf Coast or East Coast have changed our plans?
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