Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/13061
JULY 2010 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 60 HEALTH & ENVIRONS : ECO A GULF IN PERIL The Gulf of Mexico oil blowout of Deepwater Horizon on April 20 has been characterized as a tragic accident, a disaster, a calamity, and a serious incident. It is all of these. Eleven humans lost their lives, 17 more were seriously injured, and countless thousands more lost their livelihoods for anywhere from months to years; and the Gulf's natural environment, particularly the wetlands and the wildlife have been heavily impacted. Recovery of the ecosystem will range from years to decades — and perhaps longer. Hundreds of turtles and birds have died, as well as dolphins, fish and invertebrates. Wetlands have been invaded by oil, degrading or destroying important spawning and nursery areas for a variety of finfish and shellfish that form the bases of fisheries throughout the Gulf and the entire Southeast U.S. The continued release of oil has also taken a heavy toll on the tourism economy. These are the facts. Where the fault lies is still under investigation as I write this report in early June, but it's clear that the culpability falls on a number of parties. BP bears the brunt of it and has taken responsibility. TransOcean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon platform, and the Halliburton Corporation that cemented the well may have contributed. Trying to cut corners to save money and time; failure to have in place an effective disaster response plan; inadequate Federal oversight and regulations — all played a role. These too are the facts. But there are deeper, more fundamental issues that we need to probe as citizens of the nation that is the largest consumer and producer of oil in the world. This is not the first major blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. The 1979 blowout of the Ixtoc platform owned by the Mexican petroleum company Pemex, released more than 3.3 million barrels of oil and it took nearly 10 months to stop the discharge. For comparison, the Exxon Valdez spill released 260,000 barrels of oil — a record for U.S. waters until Deepwater Horizon passed this record — with no end in sight. How can we reduce the likelihood that such an event will occur in the future? Some 25-30 percent of all oil production in the U.S. comes from offshore ocean sources — and nearly that same percentage of our imports comes from the ocean. And, to make matters more challenging, most of the major new oil discoveries are in the ocean — and many of them in relatively deep water. As we go to deeper water and drill deeper beneath the seafloor, the risks increase. But there are even more fundamental issues we must probe. WRITTEN BY JERRY SCHUBEL