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You are here: Home / Science & Technology / What I Was Afraid Of

What I Was Afraid Of

by John Cole|  April 29, 20109:36 pm| 82 Comments

This post is in: Science & Technology

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This is what I was afraid of– the oil spill is heading towards the Breton National Wildlife Refuge, and pretty soon this:

Will look like this:

Great diary at the Great Orange Satan showing some of the wildlife at risk.

It is a shame that most Americans can’t make the connection that if this is happening to the animals, think about what the effects on humans will be.

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Reader Interactions

82Comments

  1. 1.

    Pigs & Spiders

    April 29, 2010 at 9:38 pm

    My guess is that this will be worse than Exxon-Valdez. There is just so much wildlife down there and it doesn’t sound like BP has a fucking clue as to how to stopper up this well.

  2. 2.

    Trentrunner

    April 29, 2010 at 9:39 pm

    The Bible says that the earth is ours to fuck up as we will.

    Poor oil-soaked birdies. Guess God hates them, too.

  3. 3.

    KG

    April 29, 2010 at 9:40 pm

    Just watched Maddow’s interview with the douchebag from FAIR. I think Maddow won (mainly because the guy came off like a douchebag), but it was an ugly win. Wish she would have spent more time on how stupid (and unenforceable) the stupid law is.

  4. 4.

    Mike Kay

    April 29, 2010 at 9:40 pm

    Drill, Baby, Drill

  5. 5.

    Corner Stone

    April 29, 2010 at 9:40 pm

    Why does the girl model from Evony have dried out parched lips like a crack ho? Is she telling her audience that she’s not only available, but desperate for what she needs?

  6. 6.

    Pigs & Spiders

    April 29, 2010 at 9:41 pm

    Gotta share this tweet from Bill Maher: http://twitter.com/billmaher/status/13089003490

  7. 7.

    Corner Stone

    April 29, 2010 at 9:41 pm

    I thought BP was owning this spill?

  8. 8.

    Alice Blue

    April 29, 2010 at 9:43 pm

    It just makes me sick. The Louisiana coast will never be the same.

  9. 9.

    mcd410x

    April 29, 2010 at 9:45 pm

    Another corporate bailout.

    When they were trying to burn it away, the headline should have been: Grill, baby, grill

  10. 10.

    Cat Lady

    April 29, 2010 at 9:47 pm

    Off shore drilling. So far so good/

    OT for a break from despair – check out these gems from local treasure MOBA – the Museum of Bad Art. The Mana Lisa FTMFW.

  11. 11.

    John Cole

    April 29, 2010 at 9:47 pm

    @Pigs & Spiders: Added.

  12. 12.

    gregw

    April 29, 2010 at 9:47 pm

    One year ago my wife and I rode a motorcycle on back roads that rarely were more than a mile from the Gulf from Galveston to Miami. I am sick to my stomach over what will be happening to that incredible stretch of land when this hits. I predict it will be the worst man made environmental disaster in history. I have been looking through the photos we took and thinking what it will soon be.

    Damn, damn, damn. BP should be forced to pay all costs, direct and indirect that result from this. I am thinking of the economic impact to the fishery, tourism, agriculture. It might even bankrupt BP, so be it. People will be losing their livelihoods. All this so soon after Katrina.

    It makes me physically ill and I want to cry.

  13. 13.

    Elisabeth

    April 29, 2010 at 9:49 pm

    heh. Palin’s state suffered from the Exxon Valdez spill and she’s still preaching the drill, baby, drill crap. Of course, she couldn’t remember a Supreme Court case she disagreed with (hint, Sarah, Exxon Valdez) so likely she’s wiped that spill from her teeny tiny little mind.

  14. 14.

    PurpleGirl

    April 29, 2010 at 9:50 pm

    @Corner Stone: Earlier today BP asked for help from the feds because they haven’t been able to cap the well and they don’t know what else to do.

  15. 15.

    MTiffany

    April 29, 2010 at 9:52 pm

    It is a shame that most Americans can’t make the connection that if this is happening to the animals, think about what the effects on humans will be.

    None, because ‘Murikkka has the best health care in the world, you pinko commie soshalist fag!

  16. 16.

    mai naem

    April 29, 2010 at 9:52 pm

    The admin. has said that BP is going to pick up the whole cost of the clean up. I don’t freaking believe it. Troops are going down there to help out. I would be willing to bet good money that BP will not come even close to paying for all the clean up. Furthermore, I bet they will pull the same thing as Exxon as far as paying out on lawsuits over people who make their living off the coast. Take years and years and basically wait for people to die off. And, oh yeah, Sarah Failin can go puck herself.

  17. 17.

    Elisabeth

    April 29, 2010 at 9:52 pm

    @gregw:

    BP does have to pay the clean-up costs. Apparently, after the Exxon Valdez spill someone in Congress thought it was a good idea to force companies to clean up their messes.

    Gibbs also said the spill might have an effect on the administration’s stance on offshore drilling. Could be a bit of a good thing out of a tremendously crappy thing.

  18. 18.

    JK

    April 29, 2010 at 9:56 pm

    Fox News Channel is missing a golden opportunity here. They should send Sarah Palin in a fishing boat wearing her waders to report from the scene of the spill.

  19. 19.

    Mike Kay

    April 29, 2010 at 9:57 pm

    @JK: Win.

  20. 20.

    Mike Kay

    April 29, 2010 at 10:02 pm

    of course, one of the biggest advocates of offshore drilling is Louisiana’s corrupt mary landrieu. congratulations, mary.

  21. 21.

    demo woman

    April 29, 2010 at 10:05 pm

    It is a shame that most Americans can’t make the connection that if this is happening to the animals, think about what the effects on humans will be.
    Yeah right!!!

  22. 22.

    Elie

    April 29, 2010 at 10:06 pm

    I’m still processing this…

    You know damned well we are all going to have to pay and it is right that we pay cause we want the godamned oil for our plastic wrap and automobiles. Also.

    All conceit aside, BP would not have that fuckin rig in the Gulf unless most of us used the product that makes BP rich

    Not saying at all that we shouldnt stick it up their yin yang on the clean up. But honestly, we have to own this beyond some weird pretense that its only the oil profiteers who drive this outcome.

    If we do, maybe we can honestly deal with what is needed to stop this.

    Meantime, lets figure out REAL next steps beyond yammering false innocense. The blood is on our hands too

  23. 23.

    r€nato

    April 29, 2010 at 10:06 pm

    Sooooo… since the media is so goddamned enamored of every little brainfart Palin tweets, has anyone asked her what she thinks of ‘drill baby drill’ now?

    I’m sure she won’t admit to error; I just want to hear how she tries to weasel out of it. Just like the mythical Peak Wingnut, I’m pretty sure there is nothing she can say that will make those starbursts go away for her supporters. I just want to see how far she can push that envelope.

  24. 24.

    mai naem

    April 29, 2010 at 10:08 pm

    I think somebody needs to remind Booby Jindal about how he doesn’t want federal dollars and how awful all those rules and regs that go along with federal money are. And the deficit. We need to worry about the deficit.

  25. 25.

    r€nato

    April 29, 2010 at 10:09 pm

    @Elie: In addition to all the people chanting ‘drill baby drill’ having to report for cleanup duty, I think every Hummer driving asshole should have to go help as well.

    I guess my hands are bloody as well; but I drive a Corolla that gets 34/40 city/hwy. Does this lessen my guilt somewhat, considering I’m doing the best I can? (I also drive 8000 miles a year in a sprawling carcentric city)

  26. 26.

    JK

    April 29, 2010 at 10:09 pm

    On the Graham-Reid flustercluck
    http://www.grist.org/article/2010-04-28-on-the-graham-reid-flustercluck

    Gulf of Mexico: from magnificent resource to industrial sacrifice zone
    http://www.grist.org/article/2010-04-29-gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-fishery-to-industrial-sacrifice-zone

  27. 27.

    The Raven

    April 29, 2010 at 10:13 pm

    It is a shame that most Americans can’t make the connection that if this is happening to the animals, think about what the effects on humans will be.

    They’ve forgotten that they, too, are flesh.

    If you put God outside and set him vis-a-vis his creation and if you have the idea that your are created in his image, you will logically and naturally see yourself as outside and against the things around you. And as you arrogate all mind to yourself, you will see the world as mindless and therefore not entitled to moral or ethical consideration. The environment will seem to be yours to exploit. Your survival unit will be your and your folks or conspecifics [members of your species] against the environment of other social units, other races, and the brutes and vegetables. If this is your estimate of your relation to nature and you have an advanced technology, your likelyhood of survival will be that of a snowball in hell. You will die either of the toxic by-products of your own hate, or, simply, of overpopulation and overgrazing. The raw materials of the world are finite.–Gregory Bateson

    Croak!

  28. 28.

    r€nato

    April 29, 2010 at 10:16 pm

    It is a shame that most Americans can’t make the connection that if this is happening to the animals, think about what the effects on humans will be.

    1) The magical invisible hand of the free market will fix everything! Think of all the exciting new industries which will be created! Like… like… uh… inexpensive rockets to transport humans to new planets we haven’t yet fucked up.

    2) Oh yeah? Where’s your evolution now, secular humanists? Huh? Huh? If evolution is true, won’t humans and animals just evolve to adapt to their new hydrocarbon-based environment?

  29. 29.

    mclaren

    April 29, 2010 at 10:18 pm

    What did anyone expect? If we drill, drill, drill, drill, drill, opening up every wildlife refuge and covering the entire north atlantic and pacific coasts with oil rigs as far as the eye can see, it would add about 5 years total until we run out of oil.

    Get a fucking clue, Obama. We can’t drill our way out of Peak Oil. The problem isn’t supply. The problem is demand.

    The world needs more oil than exists and the demand keeps growing. We need to go green, not do more drilling. You’d think someone as smart as Obama’s supposed to be would have figured this out by now.

    How the hell did someone who was smart enough to be the editor of the harvard law review think crazy stupid policies like “drill, baby, drill” and “send more troops to Afghanistan” and “no public option in the HCR bill” make sense?

  30. 30.

    JK

    April 29, 2010 at 10:18 pm

    @Mike Kay:

    Don’t forget Mary Landrieu’s brother Mitch who is mayor of New Orleans.

    One time I actually enjoyed watching Anderson Cooper was when he called out Mary Landrieu for her bullshit news conference following Hurricane Katrina where she spent several minutes thanking every politician for their cooperation. Landrieu is an asshole and I wish she could be replaced by a real Democrat.

  31. 31.

    Zuzu's Petals

    April 29, 2010 at 10:21 pm

    @Elie:

    But honestly, we have to own this beyond some weird pretense that its only the oil profiteers who drive this outcome. If we do, maybe we can honestly deal with what is needed to stop this.

    This.

  32. 32.

    Fencedude

    April 29, 2010 at 10:22 pm

    @mclaren:

    Get a fucking clue, Obama

    Obama? Seriously, you name one politician and its OBAMA?

    Holy fuck you’re an idiot.

  33. 33.

    Martin

    April 29, 2010 at 10:24 pm

    The GOP will simply spin it that the out-of-work fishermen can get work shampooing sea birds. Jobs, bitches! And no taxpayer money involved! (Well, a lot of taxpayer money, but shut up, that’s why!)

  34. 34.

    freelancer

    April 29, 2010 at 10:24 pm

    @r€nato:

    “I just gotta ask…how’s that Drill-y, Baby, Drill-y stuff workin’ out fer ya?”

  35. 35.

    Elie

    April 29, 2010 at 10:25 pm

    @r€nato:

    I hear you. I drive a similarly low mileage vehicle (Prius) but I think it starts getting hard to make these comparisons since I am going to use plastic wrap and petroleum jelly and a number of other petroleum products.

    I think the smearing/fudging of innocense/blame makes the decisions about what to do and who should do it, more difficult. As long as its a bi-polar, you are wrong, I am right mode, the issue is the debate, not the solution. The solution is a tough bitch. Who wants to give up our little niceties, our plastics and synthetic whatever? It was all so nice when no one ever had to connect the dots back to us, right? When we could sit on our synthetic carpets and floors and watch the fire roar from our gas fireplaces behind our illusions of clean, fully natural innocense.

    That beautiful Pelican knows the truth and those eyes of his lay my and our hearts bare for all to see

  36. 36.

    Martin

    April 29, 2010 at 10:25 pm

    @mclaren: Obamas drilling initiative is for natural gas, not oil. Natural gas is very far from perfect, but it doesn’t do this.

  37. 37.

    robertdsc

    April 29, 2010 at 10:26 pm

    That’s a great tweet.

  38. 38.

    JK

    April 29, 2010 at 10:28 pm

    LiveScience has very good coverage of this story

    Graphic of Deepwater Horizon site
    http://www.livescience.com/environment/gulf-oil-spill-science-100428.html

    Gulf Oil Spill FAQ
    http://www.livescience.com/environment/gulf-oil-spill-faq-100428.html

  39. 39.

    SIA

    April 29, 2010 at 10:29 pm

    I am having trouble not sinking into a fucking depression over this and the AZ law and the crap with the whistleblowers, and the GOP & media in DC, and the futile wars, and Laura Bush’s book, and on and on and on. When I think of all those animals, all those waterways, the delicate wetland balance, I could just scream. I hate it here on this planet right now.

    Will now read through the comments to see if there’s a less dark view than my own out there. If that doesn’t work, it’s NetFlix for moi.

  40. 40.

    Nick

    April 29, 2010 at 10:31 pm

    Who cares about some stupid birds, I need to fuel up my Tahoe!

  41. 41.

    Mike in NC

    April 29, 2010 at 10:32 pm

    Fox News Channel is missing a golden opportunity here. They should send Sarah Palin in a fishing boat wearing her waders to report from the scene of the spill.

    She could also bring her high-powered hunting rifle to put those oil-soaked animals out of their misery. Kill, baby, kill!

  42. 42.

    Zuzu's Petals

    April 29, 2010 at 10:35 pm

    @JK:

    Nice links.

    Here’s a good discussion of the possible causes of the blowout. I posted it late on another thread.

    DWH: A Failure of Well Control

  43. 43.

    JK

    April 29, 2010 at 10:38 pm

    As I submit this post, Keith Olbermann is running footage of Dumbass Sarah Palin saying that we don’t need any more stinking studies regarding the impact of offshore drilling.

    Gulf Oil Spill Is Testing Ground for Future Cleanup Tech
    http://www.livescience.com/technology/gulf-oil-spill-is-testing-ground-for-future-cleanup-tech-100428.html

    Experts: Most of the Gulf Oil Spill Won’t Be Cleaned Up
    http://www.livescience.com/environment/gulf-oil-spill-clean-up-100429.html

  44. 44.

    Elie

    April 29, 2010 at 10:41 pm

    Also, not so fast…

    I did not make any of my comment as an excuse for all of us to slink off into cowardly acceptance of guilt and therefore “giving up”

    Lets vow to get our asses in gear, to face this issue without false innocense but also without undue “guilt” that paralyzes action. We have to get up off our seats, and work to make this change politically, ecologically and culturally.

    Yes, I have to drive low mileage but I also have to push myself to change and think about how I live and we all do. Kicking the can down the road can no longer be how we function to deal with these sorts of issues and challenges. We are about to watch the extermination of millions of sea birds, fish and other marine or marine related animals along with unbelievable financial and emotional deprivation of the humans living along the coast.

    Lets not spend the time doing anything but helping them and figuring out how not to retreat into the easy arguments that do not allow us to do what is necessary and make the tough choices. This is so past washing sea birds with Dawn…

  45. 45.

    Svensker

    April 29, 2010 at 10:45 pm

    @Elie:

    Who wants to give up our little niceties, our plastics and synthetic whatever? It was all so nice when no one ever had to connect the dots back to us, right? When we could sit on our synthetic carpets and floors and watch the fire roar from our gas fireplaces behind our illusions of clean, fully natural innocense.

    This is one area where the free market actually could really pay a role. Put the price of this cleanup and the prevention of future accidents into the fucking products we use. Stop subsidizing the auto — instead subsidize public transportation and poor people who can’t afford high gas prices, at least until there’s more pub.tran. Charge a bunch of money to make a plastic bottle for soda and water. You want petroleum products? Fine — but pay not only for their use, but for their harmful effects and their ultimate disposal.

  46. 46.

    mapaghimagisk

    April 29, 2010 at 10:51 pm

    So I happen to be in New Orleans “on business”. I’ve been listening to the HAM bands all day on my radio, and granted the reach isn’t great from inside a hotel room, there is a local radio station that seems to transmit just a little above the top of one of the bands I was monitoring, and the people calling in were pretty darn worried.

    Between that and the painful, painful stupidity that is Bourbon Street after dark, I find myself in a pretty brutal funk, thinking about how this is going to fuck the delta and the people again.

    Map +1 (Sue me, it was a Sazerac Cocktail)

  47. 47.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    April 29, 2010 at 10:54 pm

    @Mike Kay: It is the entire state that is oil and gas drill crazy/ The fuckers would drill under baby jeevus’s crib if they thought they could make a buck at it. It’s like a religion, or something. Now this is going to foul up some wonderful wildlife refuges all up and down the east coast. At least Katrina convinced the moran’s in Mississippi that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to put Casino’s out onto the surf, just so they could tell the wingnut preachers there was no gambling on MS soil. So the Casino’s are safe at least.And Obama stuck his foot in it too, a few weeks ago. So it’s morans all around.

    my internets is creeping slow tonight. we had 60 to 70 mile an hour winds today. wonder if that caused it.

  48. 48.

    slag

    April 29, 2010 at 11:13 pm

    @r€nato: Hey–If I were a Republican, I’d probably be driving a Hummer too. Dragging that giant cross around all the time requires a ton of space.

    And what Svensker said.

    I agree with Elie that we each have a responsibility here and a role to play. And that we should work harder to chip away at our uniquely consumerist lifestyles that enable these kinds of events. But I also know that individual action clearly isn’t enough.

    I can wander around inside my organic, locally-produced, pedestrian-friendly bubble ad infinitum if I could. But every time I step outside of it and see the toxic bubble in which the vast majority of Americans live, I realize that my individual DFH actions don’t amount to a blob of spit in the ocean when it comes to protecting the environment. And that’s the reality. These problems are policy-centric problems. We need collective action to solve them.

  49. 49.

    de stijl

    April 29, 2010 at 11:20 pm

    @r€nato:

    A new life awaits you in the off-world colonies! A chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure!

  50. 50.

    JK

    April 29, 2010 at 11:25 pm

    @Elie:

    You should check out 350.org

    http://www.350.org/mission

  51. 51.

    MikeBoyScout

    April 29, 2010 at 11:42 pm

    Doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over and expecting different results = ???

  52. 52.

    de stijl

    April 29, 2010 at 11:51 pm

    @SIA:

    I’ve been there and I feel you.

    I’m not you and cannot begin to tell you how to cope. All I can offer is what has worked for me.

    Turn off the computer, turn off the TV. Fire up the stereo and put on the most knowingly sad / hopeful music you really, really like but can’t handle on a bright and sunny day. Fuck bright and sunny days, this isn’t one of them and we’re fools to try to make it into one when we’re in that zone.

    You don’t need to pick your music that carefully – your mood will lead you. If it’s not working for you just click to the next thing until you don’t need to click anymore. You’ll find what you need pretty soon. Music will heal your soul in a way that no visual media can.

    It’s okay to feel down every now and again. If you feel like a drink or a smoke or a cup of tea – go for it. I’d even recommend over-doing it a little if tomorrow morning isn’t an imperative concern.

    Be good, be well, be safe.

  53. 53.

    Americanadian

    April 29, 2010 at 11:54 pm

    @MikeBoyScout: Randism?

  54. 54.

    Grace Nearing

    April 30, 2010 at 12:06 am

    @SIA: Netflix is good. I always head for my Three Stooges video collection. If you want to empty your brain, the Stooges’ll do it.

  55. 55.

    Kat

    April 30, 2010 at 12:28 am

    400 species at risk from oil spill.

    Not to mention, by the time they get this gusher capped, every beach from Tampa to Corpus Christi is going to be ruined…

    … along with the most productive fisheries in the lower 48.

  56. 56.

    Chris

    April 30, 2010 at 12:39 am

    “It is a shame that most Americans can’t make the connection that if this is happening to the animals, think about what the effects on humans will be.”

    I’m even more pessimistic than John is – I suspect a lot of our fellow Americans proudly don’t give a shit about the animals *or* the humans affected.

  57. 57.

    RadioOne

    April 30, 2010 at 1:09 am

    I think this makes “drill baby drill’ a useless talking point this year, which is a good thing.

  58. 58.

    Brachiator

    April 30, 2010 at 1:31 am

    @Svensker:

    free market actually could really pay a role. Put the price of this cleanup and the prevention of future accidents into the fucking products we use. Stop subsidizing the auto—instead subsidize public transportation and poor people who can’t afford high gas prices, at least until there’s more pub.tran.

    Public transportation is already subsidized. Even at it’s peak, public transportation has never been, and never will be, the solution for wide spread transportation. Public transportation never has been, and never will be, the solution as an alternative to oil.

    In Southern California, every major public transportation system, from Metro to MetroLink to Foothill transit, is considering some combination of service reduction and fare increases. And because the California economy is in decline, the amount of state taxes available for subsidy has declined steeply. If it weren’t for federal stimulus money, the crisis would have hit sooner. The same is largely true for other cities and states.

    There ain’t no such thing as totally clean energy. Every alternative comes with its own set of problems and cleanup issues. We have to do the best we can, and mitigate disasters as best we can.

  59. 59.

    Yutsano

    April 30, 2010 at 1:43 am

    @Brachiator: I don’t want to sound like T. Boone Pickens here, but I honestly believe a large investment in natural gas infrastructure (which we not only have abundant supplies of but we can manufacture by other processes) is going to be our best course in the near future. It was mentioned above that LNG has its own issues, but it doesn’t spill like oil does, plus it dissipates in the atmosphere quickly. It’s not a panacea but the fact that it’s being only mumbled about makes me curious. I’m certain the old oil interests have a hand in that.

  60. 60.

    Calouste

    April 30, 2010 at 1:48 am

    Has Erick son of Erick already said that this Spill Baby Spill is just a good way of sticking it to the liberals and environmentalists?

  61. 61.

    Brachiator

    April 30, 2010 at 1:58 am

    @Yutsano:

    I don’t want to sound like T. Boone Pickens here, but I honestly believe a large investment in natural gas infrastructure (which we not only have abundant supplies of but we can manufacture by other processes) is going to be our best course in the near future. It was mentioned above that LNG has its own issues, but it doesn’t spill like oil does, plus it dissipates in the atmosphere quickly. It’s not a panacea but the fact that it’s being only mumbled about makes me curious. I’m certain the old oil interests have a hand in that.

    LNG is used for many of the buses used by Metro (the huge Los Angeles transit system) and Foothill transit (a very efficient and customer oriented regional transit agency). LNG has not had any significant impact on total public transit costs.

    I also found this little tidbit in the Wiki article on LNG:

    While natural gas power plants emit approximately half the carbon dioxide of an equivalent coal power plant, the natural gas combustion required to produce and transport LNG to the plants adds 20 to 40 percent more carbon dioxide than burning natural gas alone. With the extraction, processing, chilling transportation and conversion back to a usable form is taken into account LNG is a major source of greenhouse gases.

    By the way, I use public transportation for commuting. It works for me. And I live close enough to transit hubs that most of the cutbacks don’t affect me. I love public transportation, but when you look at the pluses and minuses with a coldly rational eye, it is not the solution that people want it to be. In a lot of ways, public transportation is a 19th century solution to 21st century problems.

  62. 62.

    Yutsano

    April 30, 2010 at 2:08 am

    @Brachiator: I was actually thinking more general as far as LNG usage. The sources are abundant enough that transportation could be rendered a less significant factor (for example, a large deposit was just found in upper New York state recently) and cars can be converted to run on LNG for a reasonable cost. It’s not the be all and end all but it’s better than killing off one of the largest food supply watersheds just so we can get to work on time.

    BTW the advances in diesel technology also are a great help here. Not to mention a diesel engine can use a biofuel source rather than pure petroleum-based with almost no modification.

  63. 63.

    Brachiator

    April 30, 2010 at 2:37 am

    @Yutsano:

    I was actually thinking more general as far as LNG usage. The sources are abundant enough that transportation could be rendered a less significant factor (for example, a large deposit was just found in upper New York state recently) and cars can be converted to run on LNG for a reasonable cost. It’s not the be all and end all but it’s better than killing off one of the largest food supply watersheds just so we can get to work on time.

    I guess that people are looking at both LNG and CNG (compressed natural gas) as alternatives, with some promising results with respect to CNG.

    BTW the advances in diesel technology also are a great help here. Not to mention a diesel engine can use a biofuel source rather than pure petroleum-based with almost no modification.

    Yep. Yep. It’s funny, though, that there has been some lingering animosity towards diesel here in California even though it is not nearly as bad as the average person thinks it is.

  64. 64.

    Yutsano

    April 30, 2010 at 2:45 am

    @Brachiator: Diesel has a huge image problem, mostly from memories of inhaling fumes from old school buses. VW has a line of amazing new clean diesel vehicles that blow the old style motors out of the water. Clean diesel is even being used in the US in more and more big rigs. It’s amazing how it has such a bad reputation when it’s a totally different technology from what Rudolf started out making.

  65. 65.

    nitpicker

    April 30, 2010 at 4:04 am

    It won’t stop the fuckers like Newt…

    http://i858.photobucket.com/albums/ab146/nitpicker/newtswebsite.jpg

  66. 66.

    Nellcote

    April 30, 2010 at 4:54 am

    There’s a great show on the History Channel called Life After People (or something close). In it humans just disappear and they imagine how Mother Nature reclaims the planet. It’s strangely uplifting.

  67. 67.

    Der Blindschtiller

    April 30, 2010 at 5:32 am

    According to The Guardian (apologies if this has been pointed out already, I haven’t read the entire thread), oil rigs in Norway and Brazil are required to have emergency shut off valves at the well’s source, which may have prevented this.

    These are not required by the US and it’s largely because BP was at the forefront of lobbying Congress against stricter environmental safeguards such as these.

    If this is true, then I think it’s fair to sue BP straight out of business. I mean that too: OUT OF BUSINESS.

  68. 68.

    zhak

    April 30, 2010 at 5:48 am

    It is a shame that most Americans can’t make the connection that if this is happening to the animals, think about what the effects on humans will be.

    Shouldn’t it be bad enough that this happens to animals?

  69. 69.

    NickM

    April 30, 2010 at 7:15 am

    To be fair, the drill babies never said no-one would get their hair mussed ….

  70. 70.

    S. cerevisiae

    April 30, 2010 at 7:57 am

    But see, humans are special> we don’t need no ecosystems like those stupid plants and animals – we have technology!

  71. 71.

    brantl

    April 30, 2010 at 8:05 am

    Even if this were to do nothing whatsoever to humans (as impossible as that is) it would suck. RFK Jr. has a great way of talking about this, he says all the business polluters are exporting their costs onto the rest of us, and he’s right. He also says that people who take environmental damage as the cost of doing business are idiots, if it’s killing animals, what are we, some special non-animal? Hardly.

  72. 72.

    bob h

    April 30, 2010 at 8:10 am

    People along the Gulf coast may be talking the Guy Fawkes talk, and approaching open rebellion against the Federal government, but they will expect massive Federal aid for their oil spills and tornados, and won’t be shy about taking it.

  73. 73.

    Tom

    April 30, 2010 at 8:49 am

    Give Jonah Goldberg credit (i just threw up a little in my mouth) for being the only conservative I’ve seen say anything about this. He said about the only thing that could be said.

  74. 74.

    ChrisS

    April 30, 2010 at 9:02 am

    Jonah’s problem is that it gives opponents of off-shore drilling ammo. Fuck him, all we hear is that there is an unsustainable reliance on foreign oil. No, there is an unsustainable reliance on oil.

    Peak oil is not going away and once gas hits $4 again, people wil be lining the streets chanting drill, baby, drill and voting down any sensible alternatives.

  75. 75.

    brantl

    April 30, 2010 at 9:05 am

    @RadioOne: Not worth the price, though. Especially when common sense should be able to kill it.

  76. 76.

    Wormtown

    April 30, 2010 at 9:06 am

    @Elie: Yes! We all bear some responsibility. From Global Warming to coal mine deaths to oil spills. I wish the Democrats could do a better job framing these issues; and try to get folks to band together to deal with these issues. In Mass, we just approved windmills off the cape, and those who have (often 2nd) homes are upset. Where is this energy going to support our lifestyle supposed to come from?

  77. 77.

    pk

    April 30, 2010 at 9:20 am

    I have a question. I just went to the Kos diary and started reading the comments. Did not read all, but so many of them are blaming Obama. He is worse than Jindal, Palin, response is like Bush with Katrina. Have I missed something here? Has Obama’s response been too slow? And how is this oil spill his fault? Sure he said he would allow drilling on the coast, but its not like the oil wells allowed by the Obama administration just blew.
    To blame Obama for this just blows my mind. Having said that I understand that the only U.S president who had sane ideas about energy was Carter.
    But the comments I read from democrats are just as crazy (in a very different way) than the right wingers.

  78. 78.

    Dog is My Co-Pilot

    April 30, 2010 at 9:27 am

    I listened to an interview on NPR with a biologist who has studied the fragile ecosystems of the area where the oil spill is headed. This is absolutely depressing to me that such utter devastation will most certainly occur. I just can’t believe this is happening.

  79. 79.

    scarshapedstar

    April 30, 2010 at 11:03 am

    Let’s not forget, the reason why this oil spill is encroaching upon the very heart of the Gulf fishery is that Louisiana has been steadily washing away for decades now, and any attempts to stop this from happening have been derided as ‘pork’.

    Way to go, assholes! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised; the theocons have always hated New Orleans culture, what with our crawfish, shrimp, and oysters. We need to eat hamburgers and frozen fish sticks like Real ‘Muricans.

    Mission Accomplished.

    BTW, it’s not just Obama who was ignoring this story, it was the national media. Those of us who live within 50 miles of the spill have been wondering “WHY THE FUCK DOES NOBODY CARE ABOUT THIS?!” for 2 WEEKS NOW. The national media covered the explosion and then went silent. I guess it never occurred to them that the reason for the big fire was that there was a goddamn oil leak?

    You know what, I’ll say it: this will have worse consequences than that day in 2001 when some office buildings were blown up in New York City.

  80. 80.

    scarshapedstar

    April 30, 2010 at 11:14 am

    I mean, why the fuck was there not a phalanx of Navy vessels with chemical sprayers, flamethrowers, whatever, the INSTANT people realized there was a leak? I guess we can thank BP for lowballing the problem for so long, but I don’t see why the EPA wasn’t pissed off and investigating imediately, and I don’t see why we’ve had nothing but a couple of Coast Guard vessels running around with booms.

    Napalm burns in water, right? Just sayin’. Or, since the pipe is leaky and useless, can’t we just blow it off with a torpedo and then drop a big concrete dome over the well? Jesus…

  81. 81.

    scarshapedstar

    April 30, 2010 at 11:20 am

    God this makes me want to cry. I don’t really care about feeding the rest of the country, since your average yokel from Kansas wouldn’t eat a raw oyster or a boiled crawfish at gunpoint.

    But this will very likely be the death of New Orleans culture. Without our food, we are Gulfport with a few titty bars.

    Then again, when people blamed Katrina on the shiftless negroes, I realized that the rest of the country doesn’t care about New Orleans culture enough to actually preserve it.

  82. 82.

    The Raven

    April 30, 2010 at 11:42 am

    You hominds are animals. Try it this way:

    If it can happen to other animals, it can happen to us, too.

    Croak!

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