Think that the oil spill crisis is over, just because BP has finally, after three months, placed a cap on the Deepwater Horizon drill site in the Gulf of Mexico? Think again.
Yesterday morning, I mentioned a new oil spill in Dalian, China that occurred when two petroleum pipelines exploded. That oil spill has now doubled in size, to cover over 400 square kilometers. Just days into this spill, a long stretch of shoreline has already been fouled with thick black sludge.
The Dalian oil spill has also claimed a human victim, literally swallowing him up. Zhang Liang was one of a pair of firefighters who were attempting to loosen a pump that had been plugged by the thick crude – as deep as 20 centimeters on top of the water. He could not make it out alive.
These photographs of the incident were taken by Greenpeace China, whose campaign manager Ailun Yang commented, “Our planet’s over-reliance on petroleum caused this tragedy. It is a sad day for those involved in the clean-up effort, and for the planet as whole. Ultimately it is we human beings who pay the price for our oil addiction.”
Think that the oil spill crisis is over? No, it won’t be over until our addiction to fossil fuels is over.
Have we learned the lesson, or will we all sink into the filth of petroleum like Zhang Liang? The signs aren’t hopeful. Even as Zhang Liang was drowning in crude oil, Louisiana’s U.S. Representative John Fleming rose to give a speech before Congress in which he argued against even a 6-month delay in the expansion of offshore drilling along America’s coastline.
Congressman Fleming said that the delay in expanding offshore drilling was doing more damage than the oil spill itself. Mr. Fleming ought to take a step back before he makes statements like that. Has the temporary moratorium caused an explosion killing eleven workers? Has anyone drowned in the moratorium? Has the moratorium caused pollution that will linger for generations?
If we want jobs, fine. Let’s create jobs – in an energy revolution that will take us away from the deadly, outdated technology of the fossil fuel economy, toward a more sustainable future.
