Blogs Jun 1, 2010 at 8:39 am

Comments

1
People who are now all anti-drilling are being reactionist idiots.

What's the alternative? More oil from the Middle East? Alaska?

The correct answer is to continue drilling with better tools that won't allow something like the current disaster to happen again. And a competent regulatory body (sigh) to watch over it all. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but to say all off-shore drilling is bad is just stupid.
2
Thanks #1 =)
3
The correct play from a global strategic position is to stop drilling in th US. Completely. The US should shoot for being the last country on Earth with oil reserves. And the sooner the Saudi oil fields are drained the sooner the world can stop pretending they aren't the world's biggest human rights abusers.
4
The visual horror and scale of the disaster unfolding in the Gulf hasn't even started.

I'd like to think this catastrophe will contribute to needed change in drilling and regulation as well as our oil-based culture.

But Americans are good at forgetting and misunderstanding... They are our national pastimes.
5
I think it is the cavalier attitude of "Drill, Baby, Drill" that is dead. But offshore drilling will continue.

BTW I really look forward to the anti-Palin attack ads when she inevitably runs for POTUS. Crowds chanting "Drill, Baby, Drill" over a montage of dead, oil soaked animals. Good times.
6
OMG I saw a cute little bird on TV covered in oil so I want everyone to stop driving tomorrow. I still want all my consumer goods shipped to a location conveniently close to me. Wah wah wah I hate oil because it is icky and gross.
7
smade @3, great comment. Years ago, before the environmental movement was really under way, my dad spoke against what he called the "drain America first" strategy. I always thought he had a good point there.
8
Charles, I know it's a very very bitter pill for you to swallow, but the keys you are typing on, the casing, and the DYES THAT MAKE UP THE DISPLAY of your computer all petroleum products. Yes, it's THAT depressing how wedded we are to the petroleum industry, and it's going to be decades before we come up with alternatives for most of this crap. No amount of whining, granola biting, and hemp preaching is going to change this any time soon. Some of it might help, but it won't cut into the major demand for this shit.

9
While I'd love for BP execs to be dragged down K street naked tied by their ankles to charging horses, and for the US Navy to shut down and sink every platform off the coast, it's not feasible... today.

I like the idea above of us becoming the last reserve of oil.

But all else aside, until we can make all the things that are made of oil from other sources at prices that are indeed reasonable to regular people (please, spare any ultra-utopian anti-consumer drivel on that--I'm as much on that as you are, but lets be realistic), what then?
10
I think you don't have a realistic idea of just how much we depend on oil and how drastically our lives would change if we just stop utilizing where 30% of our domestic production comes from... or you're stirring the pot, because this is a ridiculously naive view.
11
Unfortunately, we still need to drill for oil. But it's not their fault. It is our own unwillingness to sacrifice any aspect of our energy-drunk lifestyle to lessen the demand for this stuff.

At some point, of course, such sacrifices will be forced upon us without our permission. "Interesting times."
12
we need better regulation, but we can't stop drilling. it's better stated above, but i thought i'd throw in my agreement.
13
oil drilling is as dead as racism.
14
I feel like there is a weird disconnect between what I'm hearing about what this means for the Gulf of Mexico and what these people are hearing about the same. If what I'm reading is correct, this oil spill is going to kill everything in the gulf and the gulf won't even begin to recover for generations. I repeat: everything in the gulf is going to die, and we won't even START to see a recovery from "everything is dead" for generations. This will destroy the economy of the states that depend on the gulf for everything from fishing to tourism for generations. People are saying, "Oh, we can't stop because we are so dependent on oil . . ." but how can we NOT stop behavior that is so incredibly destructive? And I'm not even talking about destructive for the environment or plants or animals or anything, I'm talking about destructive for US. If this is true, the fishing industry and tourist industry (among others) won't be able to recover in my lifetime. If we are so dependent on oil that we can't stop doing stuff that periodically destroys massive chunks of our country and economy, I don't see how we're going to make it out of this century alive.

Am I wrong? Is this not a serious as I have come to believe? Or are people really saying that we can't stop drilling even though this ONE (one!) oil spill has destroyed the Gulf of Mexico for the rest of all of our lives?
15
@14 you lose all credibility as an internet armchair scientist when you start spouting hyperboles like "I read on the internet EVERYTHING in the Gulf of Mexico is going to die! EVERYTHING!"

Maybe that's why nobody wants to "debate" with you.

I'm sure shit is fucked up in the Gulf but walls of text that start with hyperbole are a great way to get yourself ignored on the internet.
16
@1 FTW

We should keep on drilling and spilling until we get it through our collective skull that we have to stop using so gawddamn much oil. Not fair to export our disasters to the rest of the world.
17
@15 I don't want anyone to "debate" with me. The fact that you think I do indicates that you don't understand what I wrote. As I said, I feel there is a disconnect. If I'm wrong (which I already acknowledged was possible), I'd like to see something to indicate that fact.

I'm also not sure what to make of the fact that you chide me for what I read on the internet by indicating that you, an unnamed individual on the internet, are SURE that it's bad but not THAT bad.
18
Poll: Americans still support off shore oil drilling
Even after the Gulf oil spill disaster, a new poll shows people in the United States still favor off shore drilling:

To help solve the energy crisis and make America less dependent on foreign oil, do you support or oppose - drilling for new oil supplies in currently protected areas off shore?
53% Support, 40% Oppose

19
@3 ftw.

The oil we leave in the ground and under the seabed in America will still be there - and even more valuable - the longer we put off using it.

Besides, we need it for lubricants.
20
Lorran, unless you start to think about much petrol products are consumed in the act of fishing, maintaining, curating, hell ... most likely CLEANING UP the spill in the first place. Fishing lines? boat fuel? or are we just going back to wooden dingies, sail, and steamboats. The economy that was destroyed was also married to the petrol industry.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.