This isn't a diary. It's a rant, and a warning.
Last month, there was another burst in an oil pipeline. This time it was in Santa Barbara, California.
Big oil spill. Lot's of damage, smell, dead marine animals, birds, and unknown amounts of oil beneath the surface. Unknown long term damage to the coast, and marine life in general.
There was a big oil related disaster in 1969 in Santa Barbra. There was a spill, and lot's of oil went into the ocean, right there on the coast.
Here is what Alaska needs to know, and learn fast. The exact same clean up equipment was used. Lines of floating plastic "Booms" to keep the oil as contained as possible, and paper towels, and skimming boats.
The detergent has changed since 1969, and it was not developed by any super wealthy petroleum research lab, no, just Dawn dishwater liquid.
We all know it's When, not if, there is another big oil spill. The big question I have is, why is it when there is an oil spill, the wealthiest business on planet Erf, has done little to no investment in emergency oil recovery ? Nothing really new to speak of. Same clean up plan since 1969. Multi billion dollar companies, with no investment in the clean up dept. Did not see it being used in Santa Barbara last month if there is anything new.
If there is bad weather, those floating plastic booms won't really be of much help.
Chances are, bad weather will be the cause of an off shore rig accident.
Even when some plan or design is in place, the large oil companies find a way to not go 100% in on safety, and you have something like the BP oil spill. If something does go wrong, there are too many players to identify exactly why or who was the cause.
Here are some recent updates from the 2010 BP oil spill.
BP says the accident was caused by the failure of eight different safety systems that were meant to prevent this kind of incident:
"It is evident that a series of complex events, rather than a single mistake or failure, led to the tragedy. Multiple parties, including BP, [oilfield services company] Halliburton and [offshore drilling company] Transocean, were involved," said Tony Hayward, BP's chief executive.
Plenty of blame to go around, but not a lot of new and helpful ways to deal with the aftermath of an oil spill.
Can you imagine the pristine beautiful waters in Alaska being hit with any oil spill, even a little one like the one that happened last month in Santa Barbara, Ca ?
That was only One Hundred and Five Thousand Gallons of Oil. 105,000 Gallons.
That was a small spill. That was in an area that was easy to get to to stop the spill, and clean it up.
You won't get a do over. I have always thought of the people of Alaska being super environmentalist types that would be the last people on earth to allow something like this to happen, and yet, your most famous cheerleader Sarah Palin, is going to get her "Drill baby drill" wish come true. If there are protesters are out there, now would be a good time to step up to the plate. You have a whole planet behind you ready to help out. I don't think anybody thinks this is a good idea. The risk is too great.
The only protests I can find are from the locals in Seattle who are doing what they can to at least stand up to this pending disaster.
Is everybody in Alaska like Sarah Palin? What's the deal ? "Drill baby drill "
Hopefully nothing goes wrong, but if it does, and you see those cheap floating plastic booms, and pretty much nothing else new, at least you knew exactly what you were risking.