theipp's Blog

All things come at a price. Don't forget the reason why the ban on offshore drilling passed with bi-partisan support shortly after the 70's oil crisis.

The ban followed an oil shortage due to the embargo. Gas hit record prices and families had to ration their usage. I remember my parents telling me how they could only go to the pumps on certain days because of fuel rations. There must have been some pretty terrible disasters on Gulf oil platforms for a ban on offshore drilling to get enacted less than a decade after that. Oh, yea there were.

And now we are getting the same message: drill, drill, drill. And with today's technology, there is virtually no chance of an impact to the environment. Familiar words for familiar times. Do we have to let all of history's lessons be repeated?

Maybe we can try looking for another solution to the same problem.

1979 Ixtoc I Spill News from NOAA: http://www.incidentnews.gov/incident/6250/

1970 Chevron Gulf Offshore Oil Leak from Time online/CNN: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909197
,00.html (albeit this was before the embargo)

Here is a story that includes a statement about US oil platforms leaking as a result of Hurricane Ivan from MSNBC:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9365607/

Here is a news brief from the NY Times that highlights a barge/oil platform collision near Louisiana: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E3DA
173FF934A25751C0A96E958260

I believe this may be the instance that you are talking about: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-10-24-mexico-oi
l_N.htm

It doesn't take too much research to find out that the possibility of an oil spill from offshore drilling is all too real. And it only takes one spill to completely destroy Florida's coast. Here is an article from someone in Texas discussing the tarballs that frequently wash up on their beaches: http://www.texasmonthly.com/ranch/readme/tarball.php

McCains solution: Instead of finding an alternative, he just changed his mind. Maybe we can fix it in a decade or so. I retired from the Marines and moved to Florida because I love boating and scuba diving.

Shorty...There are many documented cases of oil spills from drilling rigs, all you have to do is look. Keep in mind, it's not just oil you have to worry about. Although none major, all it takes is one. I don't suggest we sit on our butts and do nothing, my suggestion is we go above and beyond, and find an alternitive.