Congressman and former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich gave a lovely speech this week, filled with outrage at the terrible pollution caused by offshore drilling. Kucinich said,
“Thousands of barrels of oil each day billow from the ocean floor, covering nearly 20 percent of the gulf, heading towards the Florida Keys and the Atlantic coast.
Must we wait until all coastal areas are ruined, all fish, all birds, all animals are injured and killed before we realize that drilling presents a threat to the fragile ecology of life?
We cannot afford to passively witness the destruction of our natural environment because written in the oily sands of the gulf is the degrading of all life on the planet. Our world exists through fragile interconnected systems of life. Our survival depends upon reconciliation with, not exploitation of, the natural world.”
It’s a sweet speech, really, but it will accomplish precisely squat unless it’s followed up with some action. So what action has Representative Kucinich taken to deal with the problem of offshore drilling pollution?
Zip. Since the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank, Kucinich has neither introduced nor co-sponsored any bill that would do anything about offshore drilling.
Mr. Kucinich, it’s time for you to do more than just talk. Must we wait until all coastal areas are ruined? Co-sponsor H.R. 5248, the No New Drilling Act, which would ban the expansion of offshore drilling. If you don’t take action, you can’t expect anyone else to.
from The Onion:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-majority-of-government-doesnt-trust-citizen,17459/
green man, what would you do with an idea to help contain the gusher at the bottom of the gulf? they tried the massive concrete structure, they tried the smaller dome, they got this small pipe finally inserted and diverting a portion onto a containment ship and now they want to throw junk at it. the live feed reveals the huge plume of oil and gas still gushing. so, i’m watching, getting sicker by the moment, and i think of a huge( HUGE! i’m thinking acres) rubber membrane blanket, or tent top , submerged to a proper depth, off the floor if necessary, moored by however many ships, centered over the plume, etc…
is this too simplistic, or naivety on my part? i would think somebody thought about this before. i know they cover many acres of roof tops with heavy rubber membranes, so, i think that it’s feasible to make a blanket as large as need requires. hey, when they started to talk about throwing golf balls at it, i’m thinking they are running out of ideas and would try anything and i think this could work. what do you think?
….centered over the plume, etc… (piped to recovery and containment ships)
i wasn’t thinking we could create a big oil/gas balloon, just leaving the details to engineers much more cleaver than myself.