The New York Times’ May 2 Week in Review section leads with a piece from Jad Mouawad headlined “The Spill vs. a Need to Drill.” You get a sense of the tone of the piece early on: Readers learn that “emotions are running high” as the disaster gets worse. And this has led to predictable consequences:
Beyond railing at BP, the company that owns the well now spewing oil, some environmental groups have demanded an end to offshore exploration.
If someone’s “emotion”-based argument is reduced to “railing,” it’s obviously not to be taken seriously. The Times states its position pretty succinctly: Nothing is going to stop offshore drilling, for simple reasons:
The country needs the oil–and the jobs.
Much has changed since 1969. The nation’s demand for oil has surged, rising more than 35 percent over the past four decades, while domestic production has declined by a third. Oil imports have doubled, and the United States now buys more than 12 million barrels of oil a day from other countries, about two-thirds of its needs.
While it’s certainly true that the country consumes more oil now than it did in 1969 (it would be surprising if that weren’t the case, since the U.S. population was two-thirds as big as it is today), new drilling would provide a relatively small amount of oil, and would have little impact on the much-discussed need to break the grip of “foreign oil.”
The article also offers concern about global warming as a rationale for continued offshore drilling–because allowing such drilling might help win Republican support for a climate bill.
The Times goes on to note that, “Some in the environmental movement believe that public outrage will also push the government to aggressively develop alternatives to oil.” This sets up a quote from an environmentalist–which is then challenged by the reporter:
But developing credible, cheap and abundant alternatives to oil will take many decades, and in the meantime, cars need gasoline and planes need kerosene. The United States is still the world’s top oil consumer by far. Even as China grows, the United States consumes twice as much oil.
Is there any alternative, asks Mouawad? Not for decades, says the American Enterprise Institute’s Samuel Thernstrom, and in the meanwhile we’ve got to drill–leaving the last word to the ExxonMobil-backed think tank.
Talk about your “well-oiled machine”.
The black sludge that’s killing fish and fowl and destroying the lives of the folks on the Gulf Coast ain’t the only toxic waste floating around, is it?
I posted this just today:
http://life.thepete.com/post/568735304/nytimes-com-reporting-totally-contradicts-nytimes
The gist:
NYTimes.com reporting totally contradicts NYTimes editorial from last week. Said editorial last week described big oil spills in the US as being a “freak occurrence” but an article on NYTimes.com, today, refers to a spill similar to the current Gulf of Mexico spill that happened last year in Australia.
Sure, they’re a “freak occurrence” in the US, but planet Earth? They seem to be a bit less freakish.
It amazes me that they still justify this stuff with the “jobs” argument. How many jobs are going to be lost due to this environmental disaster? The entire fishing and fish-farming industry is now at risk for the gulf coast and possibly up the east coast. Can oil recreate all those jobs? I don’t think so.
I’m thinking that I’m smelling something bad here and it’s not just oil. Halliburton is the company that completed the “rig cementing” just 20 hours before the rig exploded. I think that an investigation may be in order. An independent one at that!
Jobs? One might think twice before taking employment on one of those things. Only 11 were lost in this last explosion.
What BS. They’ve swallowed oil company propaganda hook, line & sinker
Robert Kennedy Jr. wrote in the Huffington Post that egregious resistance of the oil companies to stronger regulations and operating standards, and their lobbyists in Congress, during the Bush Administration (Read Dick Cheney) have resulted in spills. Will the Congress be driven to act, at long last.
This may be a freak accident in as much as the magnitude. However I have read that since 2001 in the Gulf alone there have been 59 fatalities, 1,300 injuries and 853 fires.
When first reported every one said BP leased the rig now, for some reason un known all the media has stopped mentioning the leasing aspect. Actually the rig is owned by TransOcean who had it built in South Korea. I would like to know if TransOcean, and Halliburton should be held responsible along with BP
What happens when the oil runs out?
The return of the Stanley Steamer? Pedal Power? American Airgliders? Unpowered blimps with sails?
I am reminded about Rev. Martin Luther King Junior’s urgent question about when the “right time” would occur when Americans should address equal rights. It was common for racists back in the 60s to argue that it just wasn’t the right time to address racial equality. It would create just too much disruption. Just wait a while, things will change, the right time is just around the corner. So, in the spirit of Dr. King, I would ask just how long will we need to wait until the American corporate-controlled leadership will deem it the right time to radically address the current danger to the planet posed by petroleum pollution and green house gas emissions?
Copenhagen was a complete farce scripted and performed by the global capital interests that now control the US government. The US has yet to sign onto the Kyoto agreement. The significant work completed in Bolivia by President Evo Morales and The World People’s Conference on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth were barely mentioned in the US press.
So while we wait, let’s remember that this event represents only part of the approximately 706 million gallons of waste oil enter the ocean every year. See: http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Oc-Po/Oil-Spills-Impact-on-the-Ocean.html
Also unmentioned is the massive environmental damage done by oil company operations in other countries. Chevron is being sued for the harm done to the people and the environment in the rain forests of Ecuador. Nigeria being another example of a country that has suffered extreme and unremediated environmental damage from decades of indiscriminate petroleum waste dumping by Shell.
Initially as spokesperson, and then as President, of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Ken Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent campaign against environmental degradation of the land and waters of Ogoniland by the operations of the multinational petroleum industry, especially Shell. He was also an outspoken critic of the Nigerian government, which he viewed as reluctant to enforce environmental regulations on the foreign petroleum companies operating in the area.
At the peak of his non-violent campaign, Ken Saro-Wiwa was arrested, hastily tried by a special military tribunal, and hanged in 1995 by the military government of General Sani Abacha, all on charges widely viewed as entirely politically motivated and completely unfounded. His execution provoked international outrage and resulted in Nigeria’s suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations for over 3 years.
But, hey, these are third world countries so THEIR stories aren’t newsworthy. Its only when our fishing and tourism industry gets harmed that we pay attention.
Well said.
It is ironic that the greedy, and the committed capitalists still pretend not to get it. While the majority in their numbed sleepwalking state go on, like the unaware critters they are, gobbling resources and polluting as they are told.
Told by whom?
Try tuning OUT – try not turning on your TV, radio, newspaper, media of all kinds. Does just the thought of having to explain to friends, family, and everyone else that “you don’t know what’s going on” make you feel uncomfortable?
We are BRAINWASHED by “the market.”
We are losing options, as fast as other species.
Too bad, because we humans had so much potential. We were just accepting blindly, that we had no other options. Which very soon will be true. We too will have no other options to the extinction of ourselves.
However the planet will go on, attempting to find another species that it can work with.