Oh, Yes, Let’s Put More Oil Rigs In The Gulf
Hidden in the middle of this CBS report is what everyone on the Coast already knew: oil platforms and pipelines were damaged by Ike’s passage through the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico. While they don’t specifically say it, some oil had to leak out.
I’ve already seen reports from Houston that storage tanks have ruptured spilling fuel in the water, and there was a chlorine gas leak at one of the chemical plants. There’s no point in talking about moving the facilities, because no one wants them, even if the corporations were willing to spend the money on a relocation. Anyone who brings it up had better be ready to accept these plants in their “backyard” and be willing to fight to move them there.
The answer is alternative energy sources, not shuffling the pieces on the chess board. These are problems associated with the petroleum industry, and they aren’t going away. The only way of “fixing” them is by reducing the depency on oil, not just foreign oil, but all oil.
2 comments
There’s also the fact that it makes more sense to put refineries close to where the crude actually comes in–which means they have to be close to shore. Otherwise, we’re going to have to start putting in ginormous oil pipelines to, I dunno, the middle of Wyoming or someplace like that.
We already have pipelines, it just that they contain other products from the refinery. The problem is the infrastructure to support the refineries and the availability of skilled labor.
It’s really irrelevant because the oil is going to run out at some point and the big investments need to be in the replacement for petroleum, not trying to eke out the last drop.