Sunday, July 13, 2008

Safer Than Hospitalization: Drilling for Oil

Something that the MoonbatGreenWeenies don't want circulated.

Since 1975, drilling in the Exclusive Economic Zone (within 200 miles of the U.S. coast) has had a 99.999% safety record, according to the Energy Information Administration, which reports that "only .001 percent of the oil produced has been spilled."

Thanks to technological advances, large spills are rare. Most spills are tiny, only a few feet in diameter. Large tanker spills, such as the Exxon Valdez in 1989, are so infrequent they account for a very small fraction of the oil that winds up in the sea.

A joint study by NASA and the Smithsonian Institution, examining several decades' worth of data, found that more oil seeps into the ocean naturally than from accidents involving tankers and offshore drilling. Natural seepage from underwater oil deposits leaks an average of 62 million gallons a year; offshore drilling, on the other hand, accounted for only 15 million gallons, the smallest source of oil leaking into the oceans.

The conclusion is obvious: the MoonbatGreenWeenie Left, now joined at the hip with Pelosi and Reid, have only one interest: keeping petroleum as expensive as possible. Maybe it will win an election.

But maybe the consequences for them will not be as pretty as they would like.

HT: John Lott

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well, duh. The left have no interest in economic development, no interest in oil production and no interest in energy production. Many on the left would want us to go back to the days of the horse and buggy. Their idol's are the Amish.
After the election, when the left controls everything, then they will have to act and it will be like Jimmy Carter all over again.