Little Noticed News
One of the biggest-newstories-to receive-scant-attention-awards has to go to the massive oil spill in Alaska last week. While it was duly noted (once or twice), nobody much made much of a fuss over the fact that it was the largest on the North Slope, or that it covered acres with up to five inches of thick crude. An editorialist with the Minneapolis Star Tribune did notice it, however:
"Spills happen" has been the response, more or less, of the pipeline operator and its regulators to the largest leak of crude oil yet recorded on Alaska's North Slope.
A section of 34-inch pipeline, which gathers crude oil from various wells and moves it into the trans-Alaska pipeline, rotted away from the inside out. Gosh, says the British Petroleum subsidiary that runs the network, corrosion is a known problem in these 30-year-old pipes, but we had no idea this one was giving out so fast.
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is full of praise for BP's quick response and vigorous cleanup program, skipping over the part about how the hemorrhage went undetected for five days, at least, before a guy happened to step out of his truck at the right place and smell oil.
...These have got to be among the last people on earth -- outside the Bush administration, where it's an official article of faith -- who can say with apparent conviction that oil drilling can expand across the North Slope, and into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, without environmental harm.
They know better than anyone that the operations centered on Prudhoe produce, on average, better than one spill per day. Yes, some of them are small; yes, not all of them are crude oil. But in the eight years ending in 2004, they totaled 1.9 million gallons.
...The main point is that oil production in Alaska is both conducted and chiefly regulated by people whose highest interest is in seeing the crude keep flowing with as few interruptions as possible. People like the petroleum engineer who told a newspaper (with a straight face, we presume) he blamed the recent spill on environmentalists, because the leak occurred in a section buried under gravel for the convenience of migrating caribou. [Emphasis added]
Will there be fines for this disaster? Hardly. Will the offending company be investigated and ordered to improve its record with respect to the oil spills by improving its basic infrastructure? Oh, please. The EPA and Department of Interior are run much the same way the Mine Safety and Health Agency is run: by the very industry being regulated.
It helps to have friends in high places.
"Spills happen" has been the response, more or less, of the pipeline operator and its regulators to the largest leak of crude oil yet recorded on Alaska's North Slope.
A section of 34-inch pipeline, which gathers crude oil from various wells and moves it into the trans-Alaska pipeline, rotted away from the inside out. Gosh, says the British Petroleum subsidiary that runs the network, corrosion is a known problem in these 30-year-old pipes, but we had no idea this one was giving out so fast.
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is full of praise for BP's quick response and vigorous cleanup program, skipping over the part about how the hemorrhage went undetected for five days, at least, before a guy happened to step out of his truck at the right place and smell oil.
...These have got to be among the last people on earth -- outside the Bush administration, where it's an official article of faith -- who can say with apparent conviction that oil drilling can expand across the North Slope, and into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, without environmental harm.
They know better than anyone that the operations centered on Prudhoe produce, on average, better than one spill per day. Yes, some of them are small; yes, not all of them are crude oil. But in the eight years ending in 2004, they totaled 1.9 million gallons.
...The main point is that oil production in Alaska is both conducted and chiefly regulated by people whose highest interest is in seeing the crude keep flowing with as few interruptions as possible. People like the petroleum engineer who told a newspaper (with a straight face, we presume) he blamed the recent spill on environmentalists, because the leak occurred in a section buried under gravel for the convenience of migrating caribou. [Emphasis added]
Will there be fines for this disaster? Hardly. Will the offending company be investigated and ordered to improve its record with respect to the oil spills by improving its basic infrastructure? Oh, please. The EPA and Department of Interior are run much the same way the Mine Safety and Health Agency is run: by the very industry being regulated.
It helps to have friends in high places.
posted by Diane at 4:51 AM
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