Other Stuff

Solar for Soldiers is run through a clean energy technology company called Tipping Point Renewable Energy and was spearheaded by Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio. The program seeks to recruit returning veterans and retrain them in the installation of clean energy tech, like solar panels, for commercial and residential use. A no-brainer, giving veterans jobs in a market that has had notoriously high unemployment, furthering sustainable energy development, and saving commercial and non-profits in energy costs.

[…]

“Continued federal and state investment is key to this growth.” In fact, Senator Brown has introduced legislation to this effect at the federal level, both to improve unemployment opportunities for returning veterans and to provide further tax incentives for private businesses to make clean energy or efficient energy changes in their businesses and infrastructure.

(Source: sarahlee310)

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would ship oil from Northwest Canada south through Mid-America to the Texas Gulf Coast has drawn sharp opposition from environmentalists worried about Canadian forests, greenhouse gases, and potential leaks.

But one line of attack is more about economics and geopolitics than land and water. And it strikes at pipeline proponents’ central argument that Keystone XL would buttress U.S. energy security. Opponents contend instead that the pipeline’s petroleum could largely bypass the American markets and be shipped to Asia.

“This is all about taking the oil that’s coming into the Midwest and moving it down to the Gulf Coast, where they have access to China and other markets,” the National Wildlife Federation’s Jeremy Symons told Congress this summer.

Spurred by the provocative analysis of a prominent energy economist, Philip Verleger, the argument joins the already contentious debate over the Keystone XL pipeline. The 1,700-mile, $7 billion project has stalled awaiting approval of the U.S. State Department, which must approve any pipeline built across the U.S. border.

abcsoupdot:

From Inhabitat:

Much to the disappointment of environmental activists nationwide, the Obama administration has given Transcanada the go ahead to construct the 1,711 mile Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry heavy oil from Canada to Oklahoma and all the way down to the Gulf Coast in Texas. In a rather ambitious statement, the administration has concluded that not only will the pipeline provide a more secure source of energy, but that there won’t be any significant damage to the environment.

The Obama administration dismissed criticism from environmental advocates concerned with the devastating impact the pipeline stands to have on the environment; especially granted the possibility of a leak or rupture in the 36-inch diameter pipeline. Many are also concerned about how the pipeline will, “prolong the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels, threaten sensitive lands and wildlife and further delay development of clean energy sources.”

Unfortunately, these grave warnings have fallen on deaf ears. The State Department is backing TransCanada, claiming that the oil giant has “reduced the risks of an accident to an acceptable level and that the benefits of importing oil from a friendly neighbor outweighed the potential costs.”

Given the recent conflicts in the middle east, that might very well be true, and it does make sense diplomatically. But concerning the environment, the facts state otherwise. As we previously announced, construction of the pipeline would actually tear apart miles of land in the U.S, and would require Canada to double its tar sands production, destroying boreal forests while emitting high levels of greenhouse gas emissions – even more than traditional oil production.

abcsoupdot:

josephleonardo:

squashed:

So, funny story about off-shore drilling. Actually, it’s more catastrophic than funny. But it does reveal a few things about how we behave in the face of a disaster.

• We want the government to intervene in problems caused by private industry.
• We want the federal government to do everything it can to help out specific states.
• We want to make sure there are sufficient regulations or oversight to prevent this from happening again.

(When I say “we,” I exclude a few die-hard libertarians who don’t think we really need a gulf coast. But the other 95% of us, regardless of political identification, think this is something we should do something about.)

I think its a mistake to lay this problem at the evils of BP specifically or corporate greed generally. We use oil. We need oil. Even if we dump enough resources into developing renewable energy sources to force the most ardent environmental activists into early retirement, we will still need great quantities of oil for twenty to fifty years. There are certain risks associated with extraction. Stopping off-shore drilling entirely isn’t practical. The issue is whether conservation can decrease the growth in demand and whether there are safer and cleaner sources we can develop to meet new demand.

Accidents happen. But they don’t have to have this kind of magnitude. What’s the worst thing that can happen on a windfarm? (This. But what’s the second worse thing?) We have an incredibly large oil leak a mile under water. It’s on track to be the worst oil spill ever. The plans to plug it are somewhat speculative (but really cool). And if the oil reaches the shore, we could be facing an unprecedented environmental catastrophe.

There are a few assumptions we can make as far as oil production goes:

1. We can not stop producing oil.  Even the most optimistic of rational forecasts suggest we will be addicted to oil through at least 2050.
2. If we need oil, we must get oil.
3. Oil is located in increasingly inopportune areas.  We can blame much of the Middle East crises on oil exploration.  Related, offshore drilling is messy in the same way.

If we must increase a “national defense” (don’t you mean offense?) budget in order to maintain current foreign oil supply chains we should consider putting aside an actual national environmental defense budget to help mitigate inevitable disasters.  Our mere presence on earth leaves us vulnerable to disasters—we wish to live by rivers, floods happen; we want to live outside of caves and hurricanes, tornadoes, and hail threaten us; we need energy and harvesting it can cause disasters.  

If we have a standing army to keep Iraq under control we should have a standing army to fix disasters such as what is currently occuring in Louisiana.  There’s really no reason for us not to levy a greater tax on oil to help control negative externalities and, at the very worst, increase incentives to move to renewable sources.

Also, from Politicol News:

The fact is that BP was fully aware at the time it entered a contract with Transoceans what the specifications of equipment were and what they did not include such as a safety shut off valve in cases of explosion. If BP entered into the contract with Transocean full aware then it cannot claim it was Transocean’s fault.  This will be a legal battle in the courts similar to the Exxon Valdez where Exxon tried to shirk its reponsibility of its negligent and very drunk captain of the Valdez who was asleep at the switch.

[…]

The BP Transocean rig was missing an acoutic switch or there should have been  an automatic shut off valve as stated by other countries such as Norweigian oil producers. If the case is shown that this oil spill could have been avoided by using more stringent shut off valves and safety precautions -BP oil is in for major lawsuits against it for negligence in the offshore oil industry.  BP oil is also trying to build the Alaska Pipeline through Canada but its safety record is now in question.

The Transocean rig which is the Deepwater Horizon  that sank was worth over 600 million dollars and BP was leasing the rig for some big dollars at $ 500.000 per day.  In terms of looking back its nice to think that the US can save money by drilling their own oil but the [sic] went about it in the most incompetent way.  Again 11 workers are missing and presumed dead from the workers that did manage to escape the rig before it sank and after the explosion.

Actually wind farms off the coast of Norway are killing White Tailed Eagles faster than they can replenish their population, but I take your point and all over the world people are working to design the farms and the blades to be safer. Ultimately we need more diverse and localized energy sources. Accidents like this and like that at the coal mine, and the ash flood a year or so are not going to just stop happening, but we can enforce safety regulations, which will make them less common and we can become much more efficient. It is worth remembering that people are dying so that we can have relatively cheap energy sources and that is really quite a high price to pay.