Oil / Gas Drilling Disasters Nothing New

The following is a commentary by Dr. David Suzuki


"The explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon platform in the Gulf of Mexico and subsequent uncontrolled release of millions of litres of oil a day is a monumental disaster. But why are we surprised? Oil drilling and transportation are not like brain surgery; they involve brute technology to obtain and move crude oil, and oil is slopped around in this process every day. Over the years, numerous major spills have occurred on land, from drilling platforms at sea, and after collisions and breakups of ships.

Back in 1967, the Torrey Canyon spilled 117 million litres of crude oil off Cornwall, England. In 1976, the Argo Merchant dumped 29 million litres of fuel oil off Massachusetts. A blow-out at the offshore Ekofisk Bravo platform in 1977 released about 30 million litres into the North Sea in 1977, and the Amoco Cadiz dumped 260 million litres off France in 1978. We've seen oil spilled in dozens of other collisions, blowouts, deliberate releases (in 1991, Iraq released up to 1.9 billion litres of crude oil into the Persian Gulf), and storms (in 2005, hurricane Katrina caused the release of more than 25 million litres). Closer to home, in 1970, the Arrow spilled almost 10 million litres into Chedabucto Bay in Nova Scotia, and in 1988, the Odyssey dumped 159 million litres off St. John's, Newfoundland. And in 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled over 40 million litres into the pristine waters of Prince William Sound off the Alaska coast."

For the full story: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/science-matters/2010/06/our-oil-addiction-has-always-been-messy/

For other related stories go to: www.davidsuzuki.org