Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Climate Change and Environmental Issues BP Oil Spill

'


We are crazier and less deserving of our continued existence than you think.

BP could be fined $4,300.00 per spilled barrel

Clean waters act.

Desert Solar Project

Doesn't seem so unfeasible now, does it?

How many millions of barrels of oil are typically in an oil deposit? Is there some chance this thing might someday dry up on it's own or is the supply of oil leaking out at this rate essentially limitless?

What if this turns out to be the motherlode ABIOGENIC well with the much vaunted UNLIMITED supply of "Oil from Gawd"?

I remember reading an article about that theory in the WSJ in the early 1980's. Essentially a theory whereby petroleum underground is continually being produced in unlimited quantities. Then I didn't hear much about it in the ensuing years.

But maybe you're right checkers--this well is the motherload--never to end.

The abiogenic oil theory was trotted out in HUGE force during the recent gas price crisis amid all the calls to hasten efficiency and conservation, and also amid all the talk about peak oil.

The abiogenic oil theory is the favorite plum of hard core right wing Christian moral majority peak oil deniers, who believe in a theory called "cornucopianism".

Many people who are concerned about peak oil are sometimes labeled with a broad brush as Cassandras predicting eschatological doom by religious right wingers who believe that assets like petroleum were placed here on Earth in unlimited quantities by God Himself for mankind and that, if man simply hews to the spiritual path set forth by whatever convenient admonition suits the religionists at the time, he will be rewarded with plenty for all time.

Paul Ehrlich, author of "The Late Great Planet Earth" made a wager with Cornucopianist Julian Simon in 1980 over the projected price of some metal commodities and to his shock, Simon won the bet.
As this much publicized wager took place against the backdrop of the Iranian oil price shocks of the period, it was used as cannon fodder by the cornucopianists immediately upon the arrival of the temporary oil GLUT.

And of course, we all know that the SUV craze arrived shortly thereafter in the 1990's.

Egg all over the faces of ANYONE arguing the case of finite resources, followed by the Republican takeover of 1994 and the arrival of the Moral Majority right wing who today engages in a brand of "prosperity" based Christianity which is difficult if not impossible to ignore.

Well...no one wants to argue against prosperity of course.
Why would you want to? The trouble is, the message of conservation is all too often rebranded by religious deniers as some form of liberal guilt-driven ascetism.

Cornucopeanism is a lot like selling advertising with SEX.

BP has started its "top kill" operation.
Although the company website offers a live feed it is crashed at this time but HuffPo's connection is still good.

LIVE FEED via HP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_Alpha

In 1988 Occidental Petroleum owned Piper Alpha caught fire and exploded, killing many and causing enormous environmental damage. Amazingly, Oxy escaped criminal prosecution.
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/spectrum/The-night-the-sea-caught.4184800.jp

One has to wonder if the British learned anything from that disaster, and one also naturally must wonder if BP expects to get away and walk scot free the way Oxy did.

Have WE as a planet learned anything?