Here we go again

Breaking news this morning:

Oil Rig Explosion and Fire in Gulf Coast, Two Missing

An oil and gas rig off the coast of Louisiana was hit by an explosion and fire this morning, leaving crew members missing.

The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that a Black Elk Energy Co. oil and natural gas platform had some sort of explosion occur in the gulf, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky over Louisiana.

Two people are missing and "probably overboard," according to Coast Guard spokesman Carlos Vega.

The US Coast Guard confirms that a rig explosion occurred in West Cote Blanche in the Gulf of Mexico, Nov. 16, 2012.

Four people aboard the platform were airlifted for medical treatment.

The platform was located about 20 nautical miles southeast of Grand Isle, Louisiana.

We just don't, as a nation and world, also include these additional, very real costs into the price of a barrel of oil.

This is the second oil platform explosion in recent time, as we know. This time 2 people are missing--hopefully they'll be found and in good condition--four more flown to hospitals. This, on top of the Deepwater Horizon debacle.

And then there's the pollution from drilling for oil and then it's after effects, putting pollution--dirt, really--into the air along with carbon dioxide.

The thing is, it shows, all the more, why we need, as a planet, to get closer and closer to using solar power, preferably with photovoltaic cells to heat and cool our buildings but also for transportation.

Or don't we want to also get out of the Middle East, with all its ancient wars?

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Link: http://abcnews.go.com/US/oil-rig-fire-gulf-coast-crew-members-missing/story?id=17739184

Mitt and Isaac

"Republican nightmare Monday: Tropical storm Isaac heads into Gulf, gathering hurricane winds. Reminds people (and the media) of Hurricane Katrina, which reminds them of George W. Bush -- the last Republican to occupy the White House.

But George W. is the last person Romney and Ryan want America to remember, because he brought on the Great Recession, turned a $5 billion surplus into a $6 trillion deficit, told America there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and didn't respond to Katrina for weeks.

Romney never speaks George W's name. Bush won't even appear at the GOP convention. But Hurricane Isaac may bring him back nonetheless."

--Robert Reich, American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator.

Link: https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/489677981044803

Another important documentary coming out soon

This one is on the BP Gulf oil spill and our government's work--or lack of it--in the capping and cleanup, after the fact.
It opens June 19. Please take the time to see it, for all our sake.

"An informed citizenry is the bulwark of a democracy." --Thomas Jefferson

Link: http://truth-out.org/news/item/9261-the-big-fix-documentary-exposes-bp-us-government-on-gulf-disaster

Yet another well done and important story from Frontline on PBS

Last evening, PBS ran another "Frontline" story, this one on Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant disaster after the tsunami they experienced last March 11. Besides telling an important story and getting the details of what happened to all these people, it also struck me how their Prime Minister Naoto Kan seemed to take charge of the situation, along with taking responsibility. I also respected and appreciated the honor he seemed to take in what became his job. I would love to see that from our elected officials, of course, at all times, but especially in times of these national emergencies and catastrophies. It would have been really nice to have seen when Hurrican Katrina hit the Gulf states here. What strikes me now, however, is that I'd like to hear the truth about what radioactive fallout hit the US and in what amounts, from the West Coast to East. Anyone? News media? Link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/japans-nuclear-meltdown/

Myths of nuclear energy

There is a terrific, if brief, column on "5 myths about nuclear energy" online right now at The Washington Post and I thought a couple of the points were particularly important to note:

3. Democrats oppose nuclear energy; Republicans favor it.

Yes, the GOP base is enthusiastic about nuclear energy, while the Democratic base is skeptical. Moreover, many Republican politicians support assistance to the industry such as loan guarantees for nuclear developers, while many Democrats oppose them. But the politics of nuclear power have changed in recent years, mainly because of climate change.

Democrats, including many supporters in the environmental movement, have become more open to nuclear power as a large-scale zero-emissions energy option. Steven Chu, President Obama’s energy secretary, has been enthusiastic about the nuclear option. When asked to compare coal and nuclear energy in 2009, Chu responded: “I’d rather be living near a nuclear power plant.”

The biggest prospective boost for nuclear power in the past two years was an initiative championed by Democrats and scorned by Republicans: cap-and-trade legislation. Cap-and-trade would have penalized polluting power sources such as coal and gas emitters, thus tilting the playing field toward nuclear power. Department of Energy simulations of the ill-fated Waxman-Markey climate bill projected that it would have increased nuclear power generation by 74 percent in 2030.

Yet although Democrats may have become more accepting of nuclear power, few became fully enthusiastic. Japan’s tragedy may make many reconsider their stance.

This one, though, was the one that, to me, seemed one of the most important and told yet another reason why we should be putting our energy eggs in solar and clean, renewable sources for the future:

4. Nuclear power is the key to energy independence.

When people talk about energy independence, they’re thinking about oil, which we mostly use in vehicles and industrial production. When they talk about nuclear, though, they’re thinking about electricity. More nuclear power means less coal, less natural gas, less hydroelectric power and less wind energy. But unless we start putting nuclear power plants in our cars and semis, more nuclear won’t mean less oil.

And this one, as we've found out yet again, but this time all over Japan seemed especially poignant:

5. Better technology can make nuclear power safe.

Technology can increase safety, but there will always be risks with nuclear power. The Japanese reactors at the center of the current crisis use old technology that increased their vulnerability. Next-generation reactors will be “passively cooled,” which means that if backup power fails like it has in Japan, meltdowns will be avoided more easily. (Passive-cooling systems vary, but their common feature is a lack of dependence on external power.) Other lower-tech improvements, such as stronger containment structures, have also mitigated risk.

But what happened in Japan reminds us that unanticipated vulnerabilities are inevitable in any highly complex system. Careful engineering can minimize the chance of disasters, but it can’t eliminate them. Operators and authorities will need to make sure that they’re prepared to deal with unanticipated failures even as they work to prevent them.

Most energy sources entail risks. In the past year, we’ve seen an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, fatal explosions at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia and now the crisis in Japan. The American public will need to decide whether the risks of nuclear power — compared with those of other energy sources — are too high.

Michael A. Levi , a senior fellow and director of the program on energy security and climate change at the Council on Foreign Relations, is the author of “On Nuclear Terrorism.”

When will we ever learn?  

Now would be nice.

Link to original post:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/5-myths-about-nuclear-energy/2011/03/15/AB9P3Oe_story.html

How's that "drill, baby, drill" look now, Sarah?

Just off the internet: Gulf oil platform explodes, burning off La. coast GRAND ISLE, La. – An offshore petroleum platform exploded and was burning Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast, west of the site where BP's undersea well spilled after a rig explosion Yeah, let's stay addicted to oil. It's working really well for us. Link to original story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_rig_explosion/print

The price of a gallon of gas

We need to transition to clean fuel, that's all there is to it and we need to get at it as soon as possible. The country that masters this technology first, will have a significant advantage indefinitely. THAT's the kind of war--a technological one--that we need to win. Have a great weekend, y'all.

More weak media coverage on the BP Gulf spill

The big story this Monday morning from "big media" that all the outlets seem to be repeating.. uh, covering...is that BP says their "Oil cap will be attached today." Okay, fine. But what they DON'T tell us is that it's been DISCONNECTED SINCE SATURDAY SO GUESS WHERE THE OIL IS GOING, FOLKS. Right, straight into the Gulf. LOTS more oil. LOTS more tar balls. Lots more oil slicks. Then, that's not enough, there's also this: "The BP executive was careful to keep expectations grounded, stressing that once the cap is in place, it will take days to know whether it can withstand the pressure of the erupting oil and feed it through pipes to surface ships." Then they add this: "The testing should last about 48 hours..." Right. Two days of testing. Again, keep in mind, in the meantime, GUESS WHERE THE OIL IS GOING? Lest we get overly optimistic, they add the following capper in the article: "Even if the tests show the cap is successfully holding in the oil, it will not be the final fix for the blown well. That will have to wait until one of two relief wells reaches the leaking well from underground and can inject heavy drilling mud and cement to form a permanent plug. BP expects one relief well will do the job, but it's drilling a second as a backup. Officials have offered varying estimates for when that work will be done, but mid-August is the most common timeframe. Just to be a total party-pooper and put the ultimate damper on your Monday, starting your workweek, scientists are postulating that BP's little mess down there in the Gulf may be cataclysmic for life--and humankind--in general: "...the BP oil spill could release massive amounts of methane gas and, as an end result, blow out the entire seabed, leading to “massive venting” and large fissures in the sea bottom. This, in turn, would kill us all just as other mass extinctions wiped out life on earth during similar ruptures 251 million years ago and 55 million years ago. The bottom line: BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling operation may have triggered an irreversible, cascading geological Apocalypse that will culminate with the first mass extinction of life on Earth in many millions of years. You should go to this second link, below, and read about this as it documents that some of the events are already beginning, they believe. Here's hoping the scientists are wrong. Happy Monday, folks. Link to original posts: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100712/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill http://www.helium.com/items/1882339-doomsday-how-bp-gulf-disaster-may-have-triggered-a-world-killing-event

Inside the American Petroleum Institute

No accountability from Big Oil

In defense of "Big Oil"

"Peak oil": here already? (guest post)

After BP oil spill, 'peak' oil seems nearer than ever By David R. Francis David R. Francis Mon Jun 21, 12:23 pm ET .The oil that's flooded into the Gulf of Mexico has created big concerns about the environmental and economic damage. Another serious outcome has gotten far less attention: peak oil. By prompting President Obama to suspend deep-water drilling in US offshore waters, the Gulf oil spill is pushing up the date at which the world's conventional oil production peaks. By itself, the United States suspension would bring forward that date only a little. But if other nations with offshore oil output or potential also stop risky offshore exploration and drilling, it could speed the arrival of peak oil at a more alarming rate. Without alternative supplies of energy to offset it, a decline in oil production would send shock waves through the world, rattling economies and politics alike. Competition for resources could be fierce. In a geological sense, the world is still awash in oil. The US Geological Survey estimates 3,000 billion barrels of conventional crude are buried in the world, about a 46-year supply if no more oil is found, according to the National Center for Policy Analysis, a public-policy research firm in Dallas. The problem is getting oil out of the ground. Much oil is inaccessible – or so expensive to drill that it's not feasible even if oil prices surged. Sometimes the environmental risks (think BP's Deepwater Horizon fiasco) may be too high. Estimates vary on when oil production will climax. Take your pick. Peak oil: •Happened five years ago, holds Matthew Simmons, chairman emeritus of Simmons & Co. International, a Houston investment-banking firm for the energy industry. •Will be reached within five years – or "we may have already reached it," says Richard Miller, a London consulting geologist who up until 2008 worked for BP preparing private reports on prospects for peak oil. •Will happen around 2025, according to Leo Drollas, chief economist of the Centre for Global Energy Studies in Lon­don. He figures the world has 6 million barrels per day (b.p.d.) of unused conventional oil output capacity, about 4 million of that in Saudi Arabia. In addition, Canada has about 170 billion barrels in its oil sands, and Vene­zuela has some 400 billion barrels of heavy oils, more than Saudi Arabia's conventional oil reserves. A lot more oil could be discovered on land if, say, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, and Venezuela offered reasonable financial terms for international oil companies to come in, Dr. Drollas maintains. Considering the nationalism prevalent in such countries, an open-door policy for foreign oil companies "isn't going to happen," says Dr. Miller. Furthermore, he notes that output from existing oil fields is declining at a rate of 2 million to 3 million b.p.d. a year. Usually production starts to fall after about a third of the oil has been extracted. In the Gulf of Mexico, the decline can be fast. Another major BP platform, Thunder Horse, was brought into production 18 months ago at 250,000 b.p.d. It was already down to 80,000 b.p.d. before being recently shut down for maintenance, says Mr. Simmons. More than 700 other platforms in the Gulf produce an average of only 40 b.p.d. (The costs of disposing of a platform are large.) Typically, production losses are offset by new finds. The International Energy Agency has calculated that it would take the discovery of six new fields the size of those in Saudi Arabia to maintain current world oil output through 2030, Miller says. "I don't know where they [the fields] are hiding," he adds. •David R. Francis writes a weekly column. Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100621/cm_csm/307446

Quotes from and on BP's--and America's--Gulf oil spill

--Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that the spill, which is ravaging beaches and wildlife, will not be contained until the leak is fully plugged and that even afterward "there will be oil out there for months to come." The disaster, which began with an oil rig explosion in mid-April, will persist "well into the fall," Allen said. A containment cap placed on the gusher near the sea floor trapped about 441,000 gallons of oil Saturday, BP spokesman Mark Proegler said, up from around 250,000 gallons of oil Friday. It's not clear how much is still escaping; an estimated 500,000 to 1 million gallons of crude is believed to be leaking daily. --BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward: "We're going to clean up the oil, we're going to remediate any environmental damage and we are going to return the Gulf coast to the position it was in prior to this event," he told the BBC. CG Adm Allen on "Fox News Sunday" that he doesn't "want to create any undue encouragement" and that "we need to underpromise and overdeliver." The oil is coating and miring waterfowl in the sticky mess, and dead birds and dolphins are washing ashore. Scientists say the wildlife death toll remains relatively modest, though, because the Deepwater Horizon rig was 50 miles off the coast and most of the oil has stayed in the open sea. The oil has steadily spread east, washing up in greater quantities in recent days. Small tar balls have washed up as far east as Fort Walton Beach, about a third of the way across the Florida Panhandle. Government officials estimate that roughly 23 million to 49 million gallons have leaked into the Gulf and say they are using a variety of strategies to curb its spread. "What we're doing right now is bringing all the skimming equipment in the United States that's not being used for anything else and bringing it to bear down there," Allen said on ABC's "This Week." At Pensacola Beach, Buck Langston and his family took to collecting globs of tar instead of sea shells on Sunday morning. They used improvised chopsticks to pick up the balls and drop them into plastic containers. Ultimately, the hoped to help clean it all up, Langston said. "Yesterday it wasn't like this, this heavy," Langston said. "I don't know why cleanup crews aren't out here." With no oil response workers on Louisiana's Queen Bess Island, Plaquemines Parish coastal zone management director P.J. Hahn decided he could wait no longer, pulling an exhausted brown pelican from the oil, slime dripping from its wings. "We're in the sixth week, you'd think there would be a flotilla of people out here," Hahn said. "As you can see, we're so far behind the curve in this thing." Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100606/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill_1063 For photos of the after effects of the spill: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_sc2694

Quote of the day--where we are now

“We are staring into our future and it does not work. The gush of filth” (BP’s Gulf Oil spill) “is a reminder that we have surrendered our independence to a technology we cannot master. Our energies are misdirected to expensive foreign wars whose purposes grow ever more obscure. We rail at one another in “cultural’ clashes irrelevant to our real problems.” “Meanwhile, the clockwork precision of our classical constitution has ground to a halt—depending as it does on consensus that no longer exists. Taking the long view, this is how republics die. ‘Someone’ clearly has to do ‘something.’ What do you propose?” --“Tony” from an article in yesterday’s New York Times, “Generations in the Balance” Link to original post: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/opinion/20judt.html?th&emc=th

Top 10 Dumbest Quotes About the Gulf Oil Spill

The Most Ridiculous and Delusional Statements About BP's Oil Spill Disaster

By Daniel Kurtzman, About.com Guide

1. "We're sorry for the massive disruption it's caused their lives. There's no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back." —BP chief executive Tony Hayward, on the oil spill disaster that claimed 11 lives and has spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, May 31, 2010

2. "I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to have been very, very modest." —Tony Hayward, interview with Sky News television, May 18, 2010

3. "What better way to head off more oil drilling, nuclear plants, than by blowing up a rig? I'm just noting the timing, here." —Rush Limbaugh, suggesting that "environmentalist whackos" deliberately blew up the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico in order to stop offshore drilling, April 29, 2010

4. "Extreme deep water drilling is not the preferred choice to meet our country's energy needs, but your protests and lawsuits and lies about onshore and shallow water drilling have locked up safer areas. It's catching up with you. The tragic, unprecedented deep water Gulf oil spill proves it." —Sarah Palin, blaming the Gulf oil spill disaster on "extreme environmentalists," Facebook message, June 2, 2010

5. "The ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and left out there. It's natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is." —Rush Limbaugh, May 3, 2010

6. "There's a good question today if you are standing on the Gulf, and that is: Where is the oil?" —FOX News anchor Brit Hume, scoffing at the BP oil spill disaster, May 16, 2010

7. "What I don't like from the president's administration is this sort of, 'I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP. I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business. I've heard nothing from BP about not paying for the spill. And I think it's part of this sort of blame-game society in the sense that it's always got to be someone's fault instead of the fact that sometimes accidents happen." —Rand Paul, the conservative Tea Party candidate who won the Republican Senate primary in Kentucky, May 21, 2010

8. "From time to time there are going to be things that occur that are acts of God that cannot be prevented." —Texas Gov. Rick Perry, May 3, 2010

9. "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume." —Tony Hayward, May 14, 2010

10. Yeah, of course I am." —Tony Hayward, when asked if he sleeps at night, Forbes, May 18, 2010

Link to original post:
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/stupidquotes/a/gulf-oil-spill-quotes.htm

Quote of the day--On corporations, costs and failures

"I have personally found the transition from an attitude of 'mostly working' to 'never failing' to be very intellectually challenging. Too often the critical importance of a 'never failing' attitude only becomes obvious to corporate boards and senior executives after a critical failure has occurred and earnings and stock prices have taken a hit. Not only is the corporate heart attack victim already at risk for not surviving, the corporate checkbook is wide open to attempt recovery while also doing what should have been done in the first place. Just as important, senior executive and board time will be diverted for months or even years dealing with governmental investigation and rebuilding public trust for their brand."

"On the day of the BP explosion plaques were being distributed to employees for seven years of uninterrupted safety."

Link to original post:
http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/25/oil-spill-engineering-technology-cio-network-bp.html?partner=seealso

And now for something completely similar...

(With apologies to Monty Python's creators for appropriating their line).

Now, the latest energy news:

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A natural gas pipeline exploded in north Texas on Monday afternoon, CNN reported.

The blast was originally thought to be an oil well explosion.

An electrical crew was digging a hole when it struck the gas pipeline, an emergency services spokesman in Hood County, Texas, said.

WFAA-TV, the Dallas/Fort Worth station, reported three people were dead and 10 were unaccounted for after the blast.

People dying in large numbers in China, in coal mine explosions and collapses.

People dying in record numbers here, in the US, in the same.

An oil well explosion and leak in the Gulf of Mexico, creating the biggest natural disaster ever.

And now this.

Mind you, this last one is small (unless you're one of the 3 dead or one of their family or friends) but what is it going to take to point us all, as a nation--if not as a world--that we need to invest heavily in the far safer, cleaner and so, smarter solar power, particularly with photovoltaic cells?

If we all have these on our businesses and homes, along with new and better battery technology which, from what I understand is coming along pretty well, all things considered, we would need far less energy companies since we could create a lot of our own power through a calendar year.

Our air would be far cleaner. We would pollute far less, having gotten rid of coal, the transportation of coal and the burning of fossil fuels.

We could also, then, switch the jobs from out of coal mines with their requisite coal dust and health problems for the miners, to much better, cleaner jobs, perhaps installing the solar cells or some other, better, cleaner work.

Is it easy?

Certainly not.

Can we do it overnight?

Again, no way.

But do we need to do it?

I think we all know the answer to that is a resounding "yes".

And it would be "something completely different..."

Link to original post:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100607/us_nm/us_natgas_blast_texas

British Petroleum's gift to the world

It's not just the gulf, folks.

At this point, I'm sure the other big oil companies realize this isn't just British Petroleum's problem, too. Far from it. This is going to create problems for "Big Oil" in many parts of the world, not just the "slow to get it" United States.

Note: In all fairness and accuracy, this shows that a "dye" travels this path. Question: Is the dye as thick and heavy as this oil? Doubtful. Would that effect the results? I would surely think so, if in nothing else but time it takes to travel this path, at minimum.

Quote of the day

"Life throws a lot at you. Sometimes you don't like it."

--Frank Morris, KCUR FM News Director, paraphrasing Louisianans on the Gulf, after Hurricane Katrina, the cleanup (and lack thereof) and the current Gulf oil spill.



Have a great weekend, y'all.

Quote of the day--on the Gulf oil spill

You really can't truly grasp the magnitude of it until you're out here. This thing has been gushing oil for over a month now. And it's been nonstop. I think that it's just beginning. This oil is starting to come ashore. And what you're seeing now, it is going to keep impacting for some time.

And it's got everyone on this coast frightened -- frightened and angry. One oyster fisherman I was out with, he said, you know, this is not just the fish and the fishermen. It's our whole culture. All of Southern Louisiana is affected by this. --Gerald Herbert, AP Photographer



Link to original post:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/jan-june10/oil3_05-26.html