Oil Spill

[drew03cmc]

And that is the classic arguemnt. We have to wait. Wait for what?? No time like the present to get started. If the oil companies and the government would not have got in the way in the 70's, we wouldn't be having this conversation now.

Chief, you are correct, but you have to look at it another way. People have created carburetors that enabled cars to run 100 mpg and guess what happened to them. The government bought the rights to it and buried it. They (politicians) are getting rich off of fossil fuels, and see no need to stop that. We (the poor SOBs that cry when we fill up) have no dog in the fight other than our money. If we quit spending money on fossil fuels, the prices will come down, but that won't happen either. Fossil fuels are here to stay, regardless of what we want or need.

[chambug]

This just makes me sick to my stomach. The Yellowstone has always been one of the most pure river systems in the country, relatively unnaffected by man. Now this happens. It's one of the saddest stories I've heard in a long time. The lower Yellowstone where this occurred is a very unique and beautiful environment-I hope it survives this, but I kinda fear the worst.

OTF, your fear is well-founded. They now say that the river will be affected as far as 10 miles downstream. Also, there has been, and will continue to be, extensive damage to other natural resources, including agricultural crops. When will they learn that trans-river pipelines should be above ground rather than beneath the river bed?

[chambug]

More bad news on the spill....it has now been admitted by ExxonMobile that the leak was open for almost an hour rather than the 30 minutes they previously claimed. There is evidence that the spill has reached North Dakota. (Contrary to the "norm" in the U.S., the Yellowstone flows north and northeast rather than south or southwest.)

The nagative consequences are increasing with every release of new information. What is really scary is the fact that oil companies have at least 80 locations in that area that cross rivers....some, or perhaps most, potentially subject to the same negative consequences. It appears that ExxonMobile tends to rationalize the possibilities of such happenings, exhibited by their lack of regular monitoring of the pipelines. ("Out of sight....out of mind?")