The colossal scope of the drilling operation in the Gulf of Mexico

[Zeno Swijtink]

From: [email protected]

Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2010 6:07 PM

Check out NPR's Diane Rehm Show Monday from 10-11 am EDT for a one-hour discussion of the Gulf oil spill with climate activist Mike Tidwell, author of Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast. Tune in at WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio

Friends,

As a former journalist who has reported extensively from the*drilling fields of the Gulf of Mexico, I can tell you the US public has NO IDEA of the scale and scope of the drilling operation there. There are at least 35,000 wells and over 4,000 platforms. At night, the hazard lights on the rigs are so huge and*numerous, they look like the reflections of the stars in the sky above. If you were to stack all the Gulf offshore rigs end to end they would form a 30-story tall structure as*wide as an aircraft carrier*from DC to Philadelphia. On nautical charts, the platforms truly appear like a galaxy of stars. They literally form constellations that boat captains us to navigate by: "I'm passing the bunny ears right now and headed toward the barbecue pit."

The point is this: at this volume of operation, human error guarantees that BP-type spills will happen again. A bit of luck has kept the Gulf free of big spills in*the recent past, but it will happen again, guaranteed. No new regulations will tame this beast.

The ONLY thing that will tame it is a reduction in the use of oil itself. If we don't like massive, economy-wrecking spills, we must begin to transition rapidly to an economy where there's just a lot less oil TO spill.

I strongly believe we need to educate the pubic about the scale of the drilling operation in the Gulf so people will start to understand the odds and the real "cost of doing business."

BTW, I devote a whole chapter to the Gulf oil patch insanity in my book Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast (Vintage, 2003). I'll also be on NPR's Diane Rehm show tomorrow, Monday, from 10-11 am EST to discuss the above. Tune it at WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio

Mike Tidwell

Director, CCAN

--
Mike Tidwell
Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
[email protected]
cell: 240-460-5838
www.ChesapeakeClimate.org

[LenInSebastopol]

Is it true that the Chinese and Vietnamese gov't are still drilling in the same region, all through this crisis?