by eKos
Wordcloud of this week's 100 eKos diary intros: Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series. Beneath the fold you will find announcements, today's eco-diary roundup, news items, and a climate letter from WarrenS. You can also follow us on Twitter! Tonight's editor: patrickz
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Friday, June 11, 2010
Requiring a Relief Well: Let's Write a Bill!
by Garrett
Oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster has been spewing all over the Gulf of Mexico for 52 days now. We are all waiting for British Petroleum to finish the drilling of a relief well, a kill bore, so the underwater blowout can be stopped. The relief well should be ready in August. It started on May 2. Why was this relief well not already in place and ready to go, at the time the main well was drilled? It could have stopped the disaster, right at the beginning. Other nations require this, that the relief well be drilled at the same time as the main one.
continued at Daily Kos....
Oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster has been spewing all over the Gulf of Mexico for 52 days now. We are all waiting for British Petroleum to finish the drilling of a relief well, a kill bore, so the underwater blowout can be stopped. The relief well should be ready in August. It started on May 2. Why was this relief well not already in place and ready to go, at the time the main well was drilled? It could have stopped the disaster, right at the beginning. Other nations require this, that the relief well be drilled at the same time as the main one.
continued at Daily Kos....
Tipping Point? ACLU "disgusted" by Obama admin.; Labor too? UPDATE
by Vtdblue
Given the light shone on the White House's disdainful views of organized labor after the recent pyrrhic Lincoln primary victory in Arkansas, we may be reaching a critical, and potentially perilous tipping point in Democratic support for the president. This loss of support clearly now ranges well beyond "educated white progressives," and now includes increasing percentages of the traditional activist Democratic base. Yesterday the ACLU Executive Director, Anthony Romero appears to have opened a talk at the progressive America's Future Now conference with this statement, as tweeted by Marcy Wheeler: "I'm going to start provocatively . . . I'm disgusted with this president." I see this as further evidence that president Obama and his White House advisers have entered a Beltway bubble that may end up costing it and the Democratic Party (and by extension, US) dearly both this fall and in 2012.
continued at Daily Kos....
Given the light shone on the White House's disdainful views of organized labor after the recent pyrrhic Lincoln primary victory in Arkansas, we may be reaching a critical, and potentially perilous tipping point in Democratic support for the president. This loss of support clearly now ranges well beyond "educated white progressives," and now includes increasing percentages of the traditional activist Democratic base. Yesterday the ACLU Executive Director, Anthony Romero appears to have opened a talk at the progressive America's Future Now conference with this statement, as tweeted by Marcy Wheeler: "I'm going to start provocatively . . . I'm disgusted with this president." I see this as further evidence that president Obama and his White House advisers have entered a Beltway bubble that may end up costing it and the Democratic Party (and by extension, US) dearly both this fall and in 2012.
continued at Daily Kos....
BP Exec Says Studying Oil Leak Makes It Larger
by Richieville
Richieville News Service - NEW ORLEANS In response to a new government finding that the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is several times greater than originally estimated, executives from British Petroleum released their own study which they say proves the leak has grown larger with each new attempt to measure it.
continued at Daily Kos....
Richieville News Service - NEW ORLEANS In response to a new government finding that the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is several times greater than originally estimated, executives from British Petroleum released their own study which they say proves the leak has grown larger with each new attempt to measure it.
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Underwater Eutrophication Dead Zones in the Gulf? It's a Possibility
by Lenny Flank
"Eutrophication" from the oil spill may present a deadly challenge to sea life. (This is a series of comments I made in some open threads, and some people suggested I put it in a diary to make it more widely available. So here it is.)
continued at Daily Kos....
"Eutrophication" from the oil spill may present a deadly challenge to sea life. (This is a series of comments I made in some open threads, and some people suggested I put it in a diary to make it more widely available. So here it is.)
continued at Daily Kos....
Source: HUGE Federal Gulf Public Works Project Coming
by calchala
Apparently, according to historian, Douglas Brinkley there is a huge federal gulf recovery act being planned by the Obama administration and by Congress that would be on the scale of Tennessee Valley Authority. This would include redirecting the Mississippi River down towards the gulf but wouldn't begin until after the well was fully capped and the relief well was drilled. h/t RLMiller Tennessee Valley Authority for Gulf Coast
continued at Daily Kos....
Apparently, according to historian, Douglas Brinkley there is a huge federal gulf recovery act being planned by the Obama administration and by Congress that would be on the scale of Tennessee Valley Authority. This would include redirecting the Mississippi River down towards the gulf but wouldn't begin until after the well was fully capped and the relief well was drilled. h/t RLMiller Tennessee Valley Authority for Gulf Coast
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Its All Effing Natural Rant.
by LaFeminista
You have to really admire the total lack of any viable sign of intelligence from republicans. I mean you really have to be either fucking insane to come up with the bullshit they have, or totally brain dead. No matter what garbage humanity can throw at our planet its a natural phenomenon. "Global warming has been happening for decades, its natural and plants need CO2 and if we didn't produce CO2 all the plants would die!!!! Anyhows, it was a cold winter, its just not happening I tell ya. Scientists, ya boo sucks to them, we have 10,000 dentists and oral hygienists who say otherwise!" heh now we are served "Oil has been leaking in to the gulf since ever, hence the BP disaster is a natural one" What the fuck? Who the hell do they think they are fooling? Bats? At least BP admit something went ___ing wrong, well a bit anyway. Shit I bet if we had a nuclear meltdown it would be just a natural phenomi-thingy, uranium does that shit. Look at the sun!!!! Its a great ball of nukkular whatchamacallits! It keeps us warm!!! You god-dammed commie pinko socialist fascists! Its FEMA camps that ain't natural, and neither is stealing candy from grandma!!!
continued at Daily Kos....
You have to really admire the total lack of any viable sign of intelligence from republicans. I mean you really have to be either fucking insane to come up with the bullshit they have, or totally brain dead. No matter what garbage humanity can throw at our planet its a natural phenomenon. "Global warming has been happening for decades, its natural and plants need CO2 and if we didn't produce CO2 all the plants would die!!!! Anyhows, it was a cold winter, its just not happening I tell ya. Scientists, ya boo sucks to them, we have 10,000 dentists and oral hygienists who say otherwise!" heh now we are served "Oil has been leaking in to the gulf since ever, hence the BP disaster is a natural one" What the fuck? Who the hell do they think they are fooling? Bats? At least BP admit something went ___ing wrong, well a bit anyway. Shit I bet if we had a nuclear meltdown it would be just a natural phenomi-thingy, uranium does that shit. Look at the sun!!!! Its a great ball of nukkular whatchamacallits! It keeps us warm!!! You god-dammed commie pinko socialist fascists! Its FEMA camps that ain't natural, and neither is stealing candy from grandma!!!
continued at Daily Kos....
Top 10 Reasons Media Denied Access to the Gulf Spill
by jamess
Maybe the NYTimes will help Last week, Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, tried to bring a small group of journalists with him on a trip he was taking through the gulf on a Coast Guard vessel. Mr. Nelson’s office said the Coast Guard agreed to accommodate the reporters and camera operators. But at about 10 p.m. on the evening before the trip, someone from the Department of Homeland Security’s legislative affairs office called the senator’s office to tell them that no journalists would be allowed. "They said it was the Department of Homeland Security’s response-wide policy not to allow elected officials and media on the same 'federal asset,'" said Bryan Gulley, a spokesman for the senator. [...] Capt. Ron LaBrec, a Coast Guard spokesman, said that about a week into the cleanup response, the Coast Guard started enforcing a policy that prohibits news media from accompanying candidates for public office on visits to government facilities, "to help manage the large number of requests for media embeds and visits by elected officials." Reason 10) Elected officials and Media on the same 'federal asset,' are not allowed. Reason 9) Easier to manage requests for 'media embeds' & visits by elected officials.
continued at Daily Kos....
Maybe the NYTimes will help Last week, Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, tried to bring a small group of journalists with him on a trip he was taking through the gulf on a Coast Guard vessel. Mr. Nelson’s office said the Coast Guard agreed to accommodate the reporters and camera operators. But at about 10 p.m. on the evening before the trip, someone from the Department of Homeland Security’s legislative affairs office called the senator’s office to tell them that no journalists would be allowed. "They said it was the Department of Homeland Security’s response-wide policy not to allow elected officials and media on the same 'federal asset,'" said Bryan Gulley, a spokesman for the senator. [...] Capt. Ron LaBrec, a Coast Guard spokesman, said that about a week into the cleanup response, the Coast Guard started enforcing a policy that prohibits news media from accompanying candidates for public office on visits to government facilities, "to help manage the large number of requests for media embeds and visits by elected officials." Reason 10) Elected officials and Media on the same 'federal asset,' are not allowed. Reason 9) Easier to manage requests for 'media embeds' & visits by elected officials.
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GOP celebrates Gulf disaster
by Joan McCarter
The gods of sloppy e-mailing smiled upon HuffPo today, when GOP communication strategists accidentally included the outlet in a series of e-mails crowing about the fantastic PR that Bobby Jindal got today. The specific news report that had party operatives celebrating was a local Fox Channel 8 report on an event held by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal calling on President Obama to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. "Watch the video -- you can't beg for a better package than that," writes a top Louisiana GOP spokesman to a communications staffer at the Republican National Committee. "Good perspective on moratorium from the gov and locals." The package is, to be sure, a PR coup. Jindal, local officials and workers worried about the effect of the moratorium rip into Obama, pleading with him to reconsider. Peter Duet, in a thick Louisiana accent, tells the assembled crowd that he is a single father and that his daughter recently asked him why he works so much at Port Fourchon. "Baby, so daddy can take you to Wal-Mart and buy you toys," he says, explaining that he won't be able to buy his daughter toys -- or food, for that matter -- if Obama doesn't reverse his decision. "This is literally all that is being talked about in the Gulf -- gives good perspective," writes the RNC official, looping in a number of other RNC operatives, along with HuffPost. In every crisis is an opportunity, but only Republicans could be making political hay out of the destruction of the Gulf Coast ecosystem and the way of life of fishermen, oystermen, shrimpers, tour-boat operators, restauranteurs, and many more by attacking Obama. There's no question that the oil industry has been important to the region's economy. There's also little question that the oil industry is now in the process of destroying a huge chunk the Gulf economy. You could also conclude that the GOP communication strategists might as well be Big Oil communication strategists. These e-mails show that the Republican National Committee certainly shares the goals of Big Oil--lifting the moratorium and damn the Gulf Coast and all of its people.
continued at Daily Kos....
The gods of sloppy e-mailing smiled upon HuffPo today, when GOP communication strategists accidentally included the outlet in a series of e-mails crowing about the fantastic PR that Bobby Jindal got today. The specific news report that had party operatives celebrating was a local Fox Channel 8 report on an event held by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal calling on President Obama to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. "Watch the video -- you can't beg for a better package than that," writes a top Louisiana GOP spokesman to a communications staffer at the Republican National Committee. "Good perspective on moratorium from the gov and locals." The package is, to be sure, a PR coup. Jindal, local officials and workers worried about the effect of the moratorium rip into Obama, pleading with him to reconsider. Peter Duet, in a thick Louisiana accent, tells the assembled crowd that he is a single father and that his daughter recently asked him why he works so much at Port Fourchon. "Baby, so daddy can take you to Wal-Mart and buy you toys," he says, explaining that he won't be able to buy his daughter toys -- or food, for that matter -- if Obama doesn't reverse his decision. "This is literally all that is being talked about in the Gulf -- gives good perspective," writes the RNC official, looping in a number of other RNC operatives, along with HuffPost. In every crisis is an opportunity, but only Republicans could be making political hay out of the destruction of the Gulf Coast ecosystem and the way of life of fishermen, oystermen, shrimpers, tour-boat operators, restauranteurs, and many more by attacking Obama. There's no question that the oil industry has been important to the region's economy. There's also little question that the oil industry is now in the process of destroying a huge chunk the Gulf economy. You could also conclude that the GOP communication strategists might as well be Big Oil communication strategists. These e-mails show that the Republican National Committee certainly shares the goals of Big Oil--lifting the moratorium and damn the Gulf Coast and all of its people.
continued at Daily Kos....
BP May Increase Sludge, Ammonia Dumping in Great Lakes
by Muskegon Critic
BP, also known as the British Petroleum of the oil world, is undeterred by its Gulf catastrophe from expanding one of their oil refinery plants in Indiana, which will dump more "ammonia" and "industrial sludge" into Lake Michigan. Indiana regulators, back in 2007, exempted BP from state environmental laws so that BP could expand its plant and process heavier Canadian crude oil...BP may be moving forward with that expansion soon. [2007]Under BP's new state water permit, the refinery -- already one of the largest polluters along the Great Lakes -- can release 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge into Lake Michigan each day. Ammonia promotes algae blooms that can kill fish, while sludge is full of concentrated heavy metals. [snip] The company will now be allowed to dump an average of 1,584 pounds of ammonia and 4,925 pounds of sludge into Lake Michigan every day. The additional sludge is the maximum allowed under federal guidelines. -- Article
continued at Daily Kos....
BP, also known as the British Petroleum of the oil world, is undeterred by its Gulf catastrophe from expanding one of their oil refinery plants in Indiana, which will dump more "ammonia" and "industrial sludge" into Lake Michigan. Indiana regulators, back in 2007, exempted BP from state environmental laws so that BP could expand its plant and process heavier Canadian crude oil...BP may be moving forward with that expansion soon. [2007]Under BP's new state water permit, the refinery -- already one of the largest polluters along the Great Lakes -- can release 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge into Lake Michigan each day. Ammonia promotes algae blooms that can kill fish, while sludge is full of concentrated heavy metals. [snip] The company will now be allowed to dump an average of 1,584 pounds of ammonia and 4,925 pounds of sludge into Lake Michigan every day. The additional sludge is the maximum allowed under federal guidelines. -- Article
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Coast Guard: Capture capacity of 28,000 barrels per day next week, up to 50,000 by mid-July
by Jed Lewison
In a briefing earlier this morning on the federal response to the disaster in the Gulf, Adm. Thad Allen said he expected BP to increase it's capacity to capture oil from its leaking well to 28,000 barrels per day next week and 38,000 barrels per day by the end of the month. Allen said he expected a new system to have the capacity to capture between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels per day by mid-July. Allen said BP currently has one vessel, the Discoverer Enterprise, that can handle up to 18,000 barrels per day. Next week, a new vessel, the Q4000, would add a capacity of 10,000 barrels, including the ability to flare off both gas and oil from the well. By the end of the month, another vessel like the Q4000 will arrive giving BP the capacity to capture 38,000 barrels per day. In addition to those incremental improvements to the current system, Allen said BP has proposed establishing a new capture system, including a replacement for the containment cap and new surface vessels. The new system would have a capacity of between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels per day, and unlike the current setup, would allow surface ships to more easily connect and disconnect from the containment cap in the event of a bad weather, such as a tropical storm or hurricane. Allen said the new system would be in place by mid-July. Although it would replace the current system, the current system would remain in place until the new system was ready to be hooked up. Allen said that he expected the plan to be finalized later today after Energy Secretary Stephen Chu completes his review of them. Whether or not these plans would create enough capacity to capture all the oil remains an open question. Yesterday, the government released new estimates of what the flow rate was through June 3, when BP sheared off bent portions of the riser to make room for the containment cap. The new estimate put the range at between 20,000 to 40,000 for that time period, but it's important to remember that the flow rate likely increased after the riser pipe was cut, perhaps significantly.
continued at Daily Kos....
In a briefing earlier this morning on the federal response to the disaster in the Gulf, Adm. Thad Allen said he expected BP to increase it's capacity to capture oil from its leaking well to 28,000 barrels per day next week and 38,000 barrels per day by the end of the month. Allen said he expected a new system to have the capacity to capture between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels per day by mid-July. Allen said BP currently has one vessel, the Discoverer Enterprise, that can handle up to 18,000 barrels per day. Next week, a new vessel, the Q4000, would add a capacity of 10,000 barrels, including the ability to flare off both gas and oil from the well. By the end of the month, another vessel like the Q4000 will arrive giving BP the capacity to capture 38,000 barrels per day. In addition to those incremental improvements to the current system, Allen said BP has proposed establishing a new capture system, including a replacement for the containment cap and new surface vessels. The new system would have a capacity of between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels per day, and unlike the current setup, would allow surface ships to more easily connect and disconnect from the containment cap in the event of a bad weather, such as a tropical storm or hurricane. Allen said the new system would be in place by mid-July. Although it would replace the current system, the current system would remain in place until the new system was ready to be hooked up. Allen said that he expected the plan to be finalized later today after Energy Secretary Stephen Chu completes his review of them. Whether or not these plans would create enough capacity to capture all the oil remains an open question. Yesterday, the government released new estimates of what the flow rate was through June 3, when BP sheared off bent portions of the riser to make room for the containment cap. The new estimate put the range at between 20,000 to 40,000 for that time period, but it's important to remember that the flow rate likely increased after the riser pipe was cut, perhaps significantly.
continued at Daily Kos....
Lethal Birdbath
by citisven
This is the Grand Prize winner of the Visuals & Voices Eco-Art, Photography, Poetry and Writing Contest for Bay Area Middle & High School Students. I thought it was worth some extra-regional exposure... By Rhianna Hixon, Grade 12, School of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
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This is the Grand Prize winner of the Visuals & Voices Eco-Art, Photography, Poetry and Writing Contest for Bay Area Middle & High School Students. I thought it was worth some extra-regional exposure... By Rhianna Hixon, Grade 12, School of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
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Scott B. Palin
by Jed Lewison
Guess who thinks the EPA is "a non-governmental agency"? Scott Brown, that's who. Explaining his vote to bar the EPA from regulating carbon emissions, Brown said: To give a non-governmental agency the ability to regulate the way that they have the potential to, they can regulate churches and restaurants and drop it all the way down from the big emitters to the very smallest emitters and it’s not appropriate. And, you know, we in Congress should continue to work on this issue and have the authority to do just that. And I would encourage, certainly, the majority party to start to work on a lot of these energy issues right away. I guess that means if the EPA were a governmental agency then Brown would be cool with regulating carbon emissions? Oh, wait, the EPA is a governmental agency. We're in luck! Scott Brown can change his vote and we can get to work "on a lot of these energy issues right away."
continued at Daily Kos....
Guess who thinks the EPA is "a non-governmental agency"? Scott Brown, that's who. Explaining his vote to bar the EPA from regulating carbon emissions, Brown said: To give a non-governmental agency the ability to regulate the way that they have the potential to, they can regulate churches and restaurants and drop it all the way down from the big emitters to the very smallest emitters and it’s not appropriate. And, you know, we in Congress should continue to work on this issue and have the authority to do just that. And I would encourage, certainly, the majority party to start to work on a lot of these energy issues right away. I guess that means if the EPA were a governmental agency then Brown would be cool with regulating carbon emissions? Oh, wait, the EPA is a governmental agency. We're in luck! Scott Brown can change his vote and we can get to work "on a lot of these energy issues right away."
continued at Daily Kos....
Drill Here, Drill Now economics soundly defeated (w/ graphic)
by Eclectablog
We all heard it and we all laughed at it. We know we consume 25% of the worlds oil but only own 2% of the worlds' oil reserves. We know that the amount of oil we'd get from additional domestic drilling is a tiny smidgen of what is produced globally. [Click for bigger version {.pdf}] But, nonetheless, the GOPosaurs and other Big Oil-loving conservative teabagger types still chant the mantra and believe against all evidence to the contrary that we can keep oil prices low by drilling in the USA. Now we have solid economic evidence to the contrary.
continued at Daily Kos....
We all heard it and we all laughed at it. We know we consume 25% of the worlds oil but only own 2% of the worlds' oil reserves. We know that the amount of oil we'd get from additional domestic drilling is a tiny smidgen of what is produced globally. [Click for bigger version {.pdf}] But, nonetheless, the GOPosaurs and other Big Oil-loving conservative teabagger types still chant the mantra and believe against all evidence to the contrary that we can keep oil prices low by drilling in the USA. Now we have solid economic evidence to the contrary.
continued at Daily Kos....
Permeable Cone Stocking 4.0 - Accommodates BP Cap UPDATED x4
by ericlewis0
UPDATE 4: From the comments, Fishgrease says: Out of all the ideas I've seen for capturing this leak, this is by far the best. BY FAR. If you ask me, the BP cap is not working. But I imagine at this point it would be near impossible to get them to remove it in order to install the Permeable Cone version 3. That said, here's what the bottom portion of the device could now be shaped like: The notch inside of the C-shaped bottom ring now allows it to be lowered over and around the riser pipe and cap already in place. I emailed this image to Fishgrease before posting. His reply: Looks great!
continued at Daily Kos....
UPDATE 4: From the comments, Fishgrease says: Out of all the ideas I've seen for capturing this leak, this is by far the best. BY FAR. If you ask me, the BP cap is not working. But I imagine at this point it would be near impossible to get them to remove it in order to install the Permeable Cone version 3. That said, here's what the bottom portion of the device could now be shaped like: The notch inside of the C-shaped bottom ring now allows it to be lowered over and around the riser pipe and cap already in place. I emailed this image to Fishgrease before posting. His reply: Looks great!
continued at Daily Kos....
Report: Deepwater moratorium won't have major impact on oil supply
by Jed Lewison
NYT's Clifford Kraus: But in a report [pdf] issued on Thursday, the International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental group that studies energy policy for industrialized nations, put out some preliminary projections on the disaster’s impact. The group projects that a one- to two-year delay for all planned new deepwater oilfield projects in the gulf could reduce daily production by 100,000 to 300,000 barrels a day by 2015. At the high end, that would be nearly 18 percent of current production in the gulf and 5 percent of total domestic production, but less than 2 percent of total national oil consumption. You've got to figure that the oil-junkies will focus on the seemingly large 18 percent figure, but remember, that's 18 percent of crude oil production from the Gulf of Mexico which is 30% of domestic offshore oil production which is 33% of overall oil consumption. To figure the impact of an 18% drop in crude oil production from the Gulf of Mexico, you multiply 18% * 30% * 33%. That equals 1.782% -- just under 2% of current oil consumption. Oil-junkies will then argue that 2% is still meaningful, and they've got a point -- but that doesn't explain why they won't at least support policies that would replace that 2% of lost oil production with alternative sources of energy. (The reality is we need to do far more than that, but they won't even support replacing that 2%.) Senators from Louisiana will also undoubtedly argue that an 18% decline in oil production from the Gulf of Mexico will harm local economies, and on this point they are probably right. But given that BP's spill is not only causing harm to their local economy but also their state ecology, you'd think that instead of doubling down on a risky bet, they'd be interested in getting Louisiana involved in the production of energy from alternative sources. If nothing else, this BP spill is a stark reminder that we simply cannot bet the economic future of the United States on oil. We must develop alternatives. This isn't some radical notion, either -- and it's certainly not anti-business. Since the industrial revolution, economic growth and energy consumption have been inextricably linked. We are now entering an era in which the cost of our current sources of energy is growing so rapidly that it has become a constraint on economic growth. Unfortunately, the market has failed when it comes to developing alternative sources of energy, and when you have a market failure, the government needs to get off the sidelines and take action. There's no question that this is an expensive proposition, but it won't be as expensive as doing nothing. With interests rates at low levels, and the economy in need of additional stimulus, now would be a perfect time to spend $1 trillion over the next 4 or 5 years developing new energy technologies and building out the infrastructure we need to support new forms of energy. Not only would that get the economy moving, it would also be an investment that would pay off handsomely down the line. No doubt there will people who balk at a $1 trillion price tag. But $1 trillion would be cheap compared to the combined cost of slower economic growth and ecological damage that we will experience on our current path. We're going to have to make a change at some point. Why not get out ahead of the curve?
continued at Daily Kos....
NYT's Clifford Kraus: But in a report [pdf] issued on Thursday, the International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental group that studies energy policy for industrialized nations, put out some preliminary projections on the disaster’s impact. The group projects that a one- to two-year delay for all planned new deepwater oilfield projects in the gulf could reduce daily production by 100,000 to 300,000 barrels a day by 2015. At the high end, that would be nearly 18 percent of current production in the gulf and 5 percent of total domestic production, but less than 2 percent of total national oil consumption. You've got to figure that the oil-junkies will focus on the seemingly large 18 percent figure, but remember, that's 18 percent of crude oil production from the Gulf of Mexico which is 30% of domestic offshore oil production which is 33% of overall oil consumption. To figure the impact of an 18% drop in crude oil production from the Gulf of Mexico, you multiply 18% * 30% * 33%. That equals 1.782% -- just under 2% of current oil consumption. Oil-junkies will then argue that 2% is still meaningful, and they've got a point -- but that doesn't explain why they won't at least support policies that would replace that 2% of lost oil production with alternative sources of energy. (The reality is we need to do far more than that, but they won't even support replacing that 2%.) Senators from Louisiana will also undoubtedly argue that an 18% decline in oil production from the Gulf of Mexico will harm local economies, and on this point they are probably right. But given that BP's spill is not only causing harm to their local economy but also their state ecology, you'd think that instead of doubling down on a risky bet, they'd be interested in getting Louisiana involved in the production of energy from alternative sources. If nothing else, this BP spill is a stark reminder that we simply cannot bet the economic future of the United States on oil. We must develop alternatives. This isn't some radical notion, either -- and it's certainly not anti-business. Since the industrial revolution, economic growth and energy consumption have been inextricably linked. We are now entering an era in which the cost of our current sources of energy is growing so rapidly that it has become a constraint on economic growth. Unfortunately, the market has failed when it comes to developing alternative sources of energy, and when you have a market failure, the government needs to get off the sidelines and take action. There's no question that this is an expensive proposition, but it won't be as expensive as doing nothing. With interests rates at low levels, and the economy in need of additional stimulus, now would be a perfect time to spend $1 trillion over the next 4 or 5 years developing new energy technologies and building out the infrastructure we need to support new forms of energy. Not only would that get the economy moving, it would also be an investment that would pay off handsomely down the line. No doubt there will people who balk at a $1 trillion price tag. But $1 trillion would be cheap compared to the combined cost of slower economic growth and ecological damage that we will experience on our current path. We're going to have to make a change at some point. Why not get out ahead of the curve?
continued at Daily Kos....
Curing The Gulf: Another Idea and Related Statistics
by BlueDragon
Well, part of what we have to face is a never ending series of proposals/products/ideas for curing The Gulf. Given that The Gulf is a terminal patient, humans ought to be willing to try anything, at any cost, that might help her. If we don't, she will have the last word, for sure. Via McClatchy's Sacramento Bee comes hope that a entirely (Is there such a thing in the universe?) non-toxic product which floats and can soak up the oil. /over the fold
continued at Daily Kos....
Well, part of what we have to face is a never ending series of proposals/products/ideas for curing The Gulf. Given that The Gulf is a terminal patient, humans ought to be willing to try anything, at any cost, that might help her. If we don't, she will have the last word, for sure. Via McClatchy's Sacramento Bee comes hope that a entirely (Is there such a thing in the universe?) non-toxic product which floats and can soak up the oil. /over the fold
continued at Daily Kos....
134 Years
by Crashing Vor
Since oil hell broke loose, you have probably read or heard the name Sunseri. Al and Sal Sunseri, co-owners of P&J Oyster Company, have been interviewed by so many reporters, it's a wonder they've been able to keep shucking bivalves. Yesterday, they made a heartbreaking announcement: free time isn't going to be a problem. The house has stopped shucking after 134 years.
continued at Daily Kos....
Since oil hell broke loose, you have probably read or heard the name Sunseri. Al and Sal Sunseri, co-owners of P&J Oyster Company, have been interviewed by so many reporters, it's a wonder they've been able to keep shucking bivalves. Yesterday, they made a heartbreaking announcement: free time isn't going to be a problem. The house has stopped shucking after 134 years.
continued at Daily Kos....
Overnight News Digest -- Sci Tech Thursday
by palantir
Overnight News DigestJune 10, 2010 The Overnight News Digest is a regular feature on Daily Kos consisting of current news articles and other stories of interest presented each night around 11:00pm Central Time. Each editor scours the internet each night and presents their selections in their own style. Our thanks to Magnifico for initiating the Overnight News and to Neon Vincent our current il capo di tutti capi.
continued at Daily Kos....
Overnight News DigestJune 10, 2010 The Overnight News Digest is a regular feature on Daily Kos consisting of current news articles and other stories of interest presented each night around 11:00pm Central Time. Each editor scours the internet each night and presents their selections in their own style. Our thanks to Magnifico for initiating the Overnight News and to Neon Vincent our current il capo di tutti capi.
continued at Daily Kos....
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