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Oil,
Coal, And Nuclear Energy
June
04, 2010
As
we muddle through this recent oil drilling disaster we have to slow down
and take a harder look at our energy system. Many people are talking
about it. Since 1940, over 1,600 people have died in the name of coal,
and since 1970 over 1,250 have died in the name of oil. Being that I
am personally convinced that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the
result of corporate imperialism, mainly for the oil industry, you can
add tens of thousands of deaths to those numbers. The environmental
cost of these sources of energy are impossible to calculate, if a monetary
value were to be assigned, it would be in the trillions. Priceless
real estate has been destroyed and the damage that has been done to
the fresh water systems, the ocean, and the air we breathe is again
impossible to calculate.
So,
when you see the ads from the oil industry and my personal favorite,
from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, (ACCCE),
claiming that oil and coal are our best and least expensive sources of
energy, think again.
This
"incident" in the Gulf of Mexico is going to effect the area
for decades, the environmental cost will be on a scale unseen before
in our history, all because BP did not want to spend $500K on a device
that would have prevented this from happening. A acoustic switch would
have stopped the flow of oil at the very beginning.
Some
are claiming that an acoustic switch would not have mattered because
the blow out preventer, (BOP), failed. This may be true, but no matter
how you look at it and no matter the outcome of any pending
investigation the result will be either a failure of equipment or the
lack of proper equipment, both for the purpose of saving money were
the cause of this catastrophe. And then there is the whole warning
signs thing. From what I understand, BP knew there were problems with
the rig and some have even said that the warning signs were obviously
present well before the explosion. That in its self demonstrates
criminal negligence which justifies prosecution for manslaughter.
No
matter what happens, we have to make sure that BP answers these
charges and if criminal negligence did exist they are not allowed to
walk away without facing justice. Look at it this way, if you or I
were guilty of manslaughter as the result of criminal negligence,
could we walk away? I don't think so.
It
just goes to show that anything can wrong with any thing at any time
for any reason, the vast majority of the time it is the result of
human error either in operation and/or design, this leads me to the
third arm of the real axis of evil, nuclear energy.
So
what do you think would happen if a nuclear reactor blew up and leaked
and the company operating it could not stop the leak for 45 days?
Anyone, anyone? Can you say worse than Chernobyl?
Can
you imagine hundreds of thousands of people affected and many of them
dying? Can you imagine an area the size of Texas rendered uninhabitable
for 1,000 years? I don't have to imagine polluted aquifers and highly
radioactive piles of uranium tailings out in the Arizona, Utah, New
Mexico and Nevada deserts, they already exist. But no worries, that's
only on Hopi and Navajo Indian Reservation land. Who cares about a
high rate of cancer and deformed American Indian babies?
I
don't care how "fail safe" they claim things are, I don't
care how much money that is spent and how many redundant safety
systems are in place, nothing is 100%. Just ask NASA. And to consider
the safety record of the coal, oil and nuclear industries, it is
suicide to continue on the path that we are on. Recent events prove
that point. Wind Turbines, solar panels, tidal generators, and bio
fuels do not pollute the environment, and if there were to be an
accident, chances are good that no one would be killed. I shudder when
I think of the accidents that have happened and will continue to
happen with our current energy resources.
Mr.
Green
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