BP “oil in the environment” joke’s on US!

All those people from the Gulf states that approved off shore oil drilling leases and ran their government bureaucracies ( in part)  on the oil excise revenues  - while at the same time these states had no contingency preparation for the eventual coastal oil soaking  - are  now wailing about soft shelled crab and shrimp livelihoods gone away.

 

But liquid oil on the beach and on  bird’s feathers is just one manifestation of the massive environmental damage caused by oil – we are wailing now because while we can see tarballs on the beach, and dead pelicans – we haven’t been able to see the century of poisonous gases released from the burning of oil.  

 

The oil fired boiler in your basement (image above),  the engine in your car, (and all  fossil fuel)  produce   poisonous combustion gases – poisonous and invisible to the naked eye.

 

But the joke’s on us.    We have all been willing co-conspirators with BP. While the Gulf can see their oil pollution, all the rest of us have, for decades, allowed  Dilution to be the Solution for Pollution. 

 

  The “Dispersant” used in the Gulf by BP  to make oil miscible in sea water is a dilution “solution”. Mix the oil with sea water and pretend it has gone away. 

 

Mix the combustion gases with our atmosphere – and pretend they have gone away.

 

Not really very funny though…