BP gunnin for Alaska

[vanitybinge]

More good news!

Thursday’s Vermilion 380 explosion was shocking.

After the worst oil spill disaster in United States history where millions of gallons of oil gushed into the Gulf, where lives were lost and the livelihood of the Gulf region was devastated, how could this HAPPEN AGAIN?

Each time a disaster happens, we ask ourselves how it could have been prevented. Here’s the reality of dirty oil: in the past ten years, 69 people have died on offshore rigs and there have been 858 fires and explosions, according to the Mineral Management Service. Where we have drilling, we’ll continue to risk explosions and spills.

While details about Vermilion 380 explosion unfold, BP is getting ready to move forward with their next dangerous drilling project off of Alaska’s Arctic coast. BP’s latest misguided adventure is known as the “Liberty” drilling project and is described by the company as one of their “biggest challenges to date.”

It’s outrageous. BP has actually built a man-made gravel island off Alaska’s north coast, so that this project isn’t officially “off-shore” drilling. They’re planning to drill a well that extends two miles below the seabed and then six to eight miles sideways to get at oil that lies below federal waters in the Beaufort Sea. Nothing like it has ever been done before in the Arctic. To make matters worse, the federal government has basically allowed BP to do its own environmental review of the project!

[lerxstcat]

When it blows up and destroys the ecosystem, it will be like the Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill except that Alaska is even more remote and low in population than the central Gulf states are, so easier for BP to cover it up and push the locals around. I feel for the Alaskans but they'll get steamrolled again like they did after Valdez and like we did are are getting now.