A couple of years ago, a relatively small spill — 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel — poured out of the damaged Cosco Busan into San Francisco Bay. I took the photo just below a day later.
The Cosco Busan was not a drilling accident. It would have happened even if there were no offshore oil drilling anywhere. But it’s what I think of these days when I imagine the current oil spill in the Gulf. I can still smell the Cosco Busan’s fuel on my fingers, my bootsoles, fumes emanating in waves from the dying grebes on the East Bay shoreline.
The spill from the destroyed rig Deepwater Horizon, centered forty miles from the Louisiana coast, is putting out a Cosco Busan’s worth of oil into the Gulf every six hours. It has been gushing for nine days now. It may be mid-July before the flow is stopped. At the current estimated rate of spillage — likely a low estimate — this spill will, by June 13, outstrip the Exxon Valdez in gallons of crude loosed upon the water.
The slick, so far uncontrollable, is a day away from reaching the Gulf Coast.
Brown pelicans are nesting there right now, on the barrier islands. So are egrets.
This week I played a very small role in helping stop an expansion of Chevron’s Richmond refinery, at which the tanker in the photo above is off-loading crude. I’ve been thinking about that non-stop the past few days, working on getting press in touch with the environmental justice groups that blocked the expansion. Three underfunded community groups took on the third-largest corporation in the US and won, for now.
I’ve been thinking of that instead of the Deepwater Horizon. Escapist of me.
According to many new sources the amount of oil spilled each day exceeds 210,000 gallons. Many believe BP intentionally underestimated the amount to lessen pressure put on them to act quickly. This is an environmental and economic disaster of nearly ummatched proportions.
Why their are not secondary and tertiary valves below the earth’s surface underneat the ocean is a terrific mystery. Even after dodging the Katrina bullet (for the most part) the oil industry has refused to upgrade these oil rigs. This is reckless and irresponsible behavior to say the least. They should be held responsible for 100% of the cost of this travesty, and fined heavily as well.
For all of you out there who care please lessen your use of the oil based economy, and, at the very least, don’t do business with BP.
Bill:www.wildramblings.com
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned by any news reports that I’ve seen - the toxic fumes from this spill. I got this information from people in Houma. It is already affecting people in the communities nearest landfall. Serious effects for people with respiratory problems, possibly life-threatening. Also nausea, headaches, seizures. It’s crude oil! Ever been downwind of a refinery?
I grew up on the Texas gulf coast and write about it often in my blog. This is a post I wrote after Hurricane Ike hit Galveston: http://goodwordswan.wildflowerstew.com/2008/10/16/the-saga-of-ike/
I, too, am keeping on with the work I do, but with a very heavy heart. . . . swan . . . .
I used to work at an environmental consulting firm. They would cheer sometimes when they got new business. I bet lots of consultants in lots of offices are cheering right about now.