Coastal Drilling - For or Against?

[Matt J]

Umm I thought they proved that the moon was responsible for tides. Say cheese. :Biggrin:

Seriously though I don't doubt that removing huge masses of liquid and not replacing it would probably cause problems. However, I believe that oil is replaced with sand or water or something, otherwise the middle east would have caved in ages ago.

 

[Beach Runner]

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"Even one accident related to oil and gas exploration or production could prove catastrophic, not only to the coastal resources that make Florida special, but also to our state's vital tourism and fishing industries ... For Florida, drilling in the Gulf of Mexico presents economic as well as environmental dangers." CHARLIE CRIST, 2006
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CHARLIE CRIST 2008:
"Really Billy, the fact that you'll be scraping black oil tar off your feet and swimming among dead fish is a small price to pay so that your Daddy can tool around in his Hummer all day long."

What? Have you ever been to Bermuda? I don't know how it is now, but the last time we went, the water was full of tar from ships discarding oil into the Atlantic. We'd literally get covered with tar and have to clean up at one of the turpentine stands before leaving the beach. The tar wouldn't come off our swimsuits. We went to Bermuda several times in the 1990's, but stopped going because it was a pain to deal with the tar.

Offshore drilling is just a bandaid that could fall off and cause oil to bleed into the Gulf of Mexico. We need to look for alternatives.

 

[traderx]

Umm I thought they proved that the moon was responsible for tides. Say cheese. :Biggrin:.

Well, Einstein defined gravity as the unseen curvature of space caused by the presence of matter. Until he redefined it, gravity did not have the tidal effect it now has.

 

[elgordoboy]

What? Have you ever been to Bermuda? I don't know how it is now, but the last time we went, the water was full of tar from ships discarding oil into the Atlantic. We'd literally get covered with tar and have to clean up at one of the turpentine stands before leaving the beach. The tar wouldn't come off our swimsuits. We went to Bermuda several times in the 1990's, but stopped going because it was a pain to deal with the tar.

Offshore drilling is just a bandaid that could fall off and cause oil to bleed into the Gulf of Mexico. We need to look for alternatives.

Hehe

 

[SHELLY]

What? Have you ever been to Bermuda? I don't know how it is now, but the last time we went, the water was full of tar from ships discarding oil into the Atlantic. We'd literally get covered with tar and have to clean up at one of the turpentine stands before leaving the beach. The tar wouldn't come off our swimsuits. We went to Bermuda several times in the 1990's, but stopped going because it was a pain to deal with the tar.

Offshore drilling is just a bandaid that could fall off and cause oil to bleed into the Gulf of Mexico. We need to look for alternatives.

I first became intimately acquainted with black tar while swimming in the Pacific off the California coast @ Santa Barbara WAY back in the 70s. We used to carry a bottle of Dry Cleaning Solution to the beach to get the tar off our feet.

I also had black oil encounters in Texas around Corpus Christi..big blobs of oil scattered among the jellyfish on the beach--didn't go in swimming there.

Never been to Bermuda...:shock: at least not that I can recollect.

.

 

[Cil]

I've read/heard that the black tar off Santa Barbara is a *naturally-occurring* event.

I was at Santa Barbara a few years ago and didn't see it, but a friend of mine was just there last week, and she and her husband not only saw it, they became covered with it. Their hotel room was stocked with little towelettes specifically for this sort of cleanup.

 

[Rita]

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A report from Central& Northern California Ocean Observing System titled Tarballs on Our Beaches 2008 : .http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cencoos.org/images/Tarball%2520Beach%2520Cleanup%2520San%2520Mateo.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cencoos.org/Tarballs%2520in%2520central%2520CA%252008.htm&h=240&w=320&sz=20&hl=en&start=3&sig2=-XNh7ojr038PwMHFPatNaA&tbnid=EcswxenpC17CuM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=118&ei=dKdbSMCKIJO-iwHG4eCKDA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsanta%2Bbarbara%2Btarballs%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX

?................The beaches where tarballs were found - as of January 29th, 2008.....................................CDFG determined the tarballs to be derived from seafloor areas of Monterey rock formation oil deposits ............................Therefore, they are from a natural source and not a result of the Cosco Busan Oil Spill (or any other spill). Because the source was not an oil spill, the funds devoted to the cleanup effort by the Coast Guard were removed and local agencies took over where necessary (or possible).........
........................Some researchers believe that Monterey Bay contains oil seeps that may cause tarballs. Other scientists think the large seeps in the Santa Barbara Channel, which cause consistent issues on beaches in that area, may be the source. This would require strong and consistent northerly currents to bring the tarballs to the Monterey Bay and areas further north...............................?

 

[DuneLaker]

Tar Balls. They have been around here for years. Bad thing. In the last 20 or 30 years there were times when we would have to keep turpentine handy and not wear our flip flops in the house here. Guess we need a scientific analysis or perhaps shipping records to determine where they really come from. (Just saw above posts, busy typing when they came up. Interesting and informative.)ANWR hasn't been opened for the last 10 or 20 years for a number of reasons. One is that the powerful labor unions stopped it because they could not get an exclusive union only, closed shop labor agreement. Alaska's senior U.S. Senator and the Senator of the Bridge to Nowhere Ted Stevens was a key player. There are true and good environmentalists and environmental organizations just as there are good and true oil development companies and business people. There are those who are only in it for the lobby money and fund raising this hot topic provides. The truth between Big Oil and Big Environment is sometimes difficult to discern.

 

[Miss Critter]

From today's Florida Trend, and so true:


Friday's Top Stories

What You Need To Know About Florida Today

FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 2008

THE GULF:
Where Offshore Drilling Goes, Beaches Suffer
Stephen Leatherman, known as Dr. Beach, has seen what offshore drilling can do to a beach. Texas beaches, for instance, "tend to be the trash can of the gulf." Waste from the western gulf's wells ? everything from empty oil drums to tar balls ? washes up there. Allowing drilling in the eastern gulf ? a move now touted by President Bush, GOP presidential candidate John McCain and Gov. Charlie Crist ? carries risks for the environment as well as for Florida's economy. Over the past 40 years, oil companies have drilled thousands of wells across the western and central gulf, and there are now about 3,800 offshore structures there. Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have been willing to overlook the trash and tar in exchange for cash and jobs.
[Source: St. Petersburg Times]

 

[6thGen]

The argument against drilling leaves out the greatest pro, that if the world does run out of oil, we are sitting on huge reserves while we buy it from the Saudis, Canadians, etc for relatively cheap, while US companies and workers help them extract it. That being said, I'm all for exploiting the reserves we have, watching for innovation as the price of fuel increases, and Obama! turning water into oil at the Canaan wedding. I'm also completely against energy independence.