• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Nigeria on alert as Shell announces worst oil spill in a decade

Temporal

Temporal

Banned
DP Veteran
Joined
Feb 6, 2011
Messages
3,691
Reaction score
2,243
Location
Everywhere and Nowhere
Gender
Undisclosed
Political Leaning
Independent
Nigeria on alert as Shell announces worst oil spill in a decade | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Nigerian coastal and fishing communities were on Thursday put on alert after Shell admitted to an oil spill that is likely to be the worst in the area for a decade, according to government officials..

The company said up to 40,000 barrels of crude oil was spilled on Wednesday while it was transferred from a floating oil platform to a tanker 75 miles off the coast of the Niger delta.

All production from the Bonga field, which produces around 200,000 barrels a day, was last night suspended. "Early indications show that less than 40,000 barrels of oil have leaked in total. Spill response procedures have been initiated and emergency control and spill risk procedures are up and running," said Tony Okonedo, a Shell Nigeria spokesman.

But a leading Nigerian human rights group said Shell's figures about the quantity of oil spilled or the clean-up could not be relied on. "Shell says 40,000 barrels were spilled and production was shut but we do not trust them because past incidents show that the company consistently under-reports the amounts and impacts of its carelessness," said Nnimmo Bassey, head of Environmental Rights Action, based in Lagos.
Click to expand...

This **** has to stop. We are destroying our world's ecological heritage for decades and centuries to come. Does no one care about the future legacy we leave to the coming generations?
 
Yep, when will this country realize that if we just rid ourselves of these burdensome environmental regulations we can compete with the likes of Nigeria in the area of flamable water and carcinogenic compounds per capita?!
 
Temporal said:
Nigeria on alert as Shell announces worst oil spill in a decade | Environment | guardian.co.uk



This **** has to stop. We are destroying our world's ecological heritage for decades and centuries to come. Does no one care about the future legacy we leave to the coming generations?
Click to expand...



this is nothing new....oil spills happen regularly in the Nigerian Delta if not continuoulsy it just doesnt have any leverage when it comes to US politics.....the sorry part is that it coluld be totally prevented with proper maintanence and security, it doesnt have anything to do with regulations......nobody gives a rats ass

In Nigeria, Oil Spills Are a Longtime Scourge - NYTimes.com
 
This is actually great for big business.

Who do you think is going to sell you a clean version of water after it has all been polluted.
 
Temporal said:
Nigeria on alert as Shell announces worst oil spill in a decade | Environment | guardian.co.uk



This **** has to stop. We are destroying our world's ecological heritage for decades and centuries to come. Does no one care about the future legacy we leave to the coming generations?
Click to expand...

Not really. Whether you like it or not, oil is a NATURAL substance. Mother nature, specifically the ocean, is more than capable of handling oil. Crude oil naturally seeps in to the ocean all over the world with the bulk of known seeps being in the Gulf of Mexico. Talking 10s of millions of gallons per year.
 
Fine, walk to work!
Click to expand...

That is just dumb. First, car companies have been buying intellectual property rights to cars that run off of crude oil since the sixties. My evidence? My father's friend who sold a patent to General Motors on a car steam engine and has been shelved since the sixties. GG CAPITALISM!!

We have the know how to get off of coal and oil, but we refuse to do it, mainly because people with large amounts of money want to keep making large amounts of money. **** the environment, **** other people, and sure as hell **** future generations.

I hope they burn in hell with their damn oil.
 
we need a better energy source, and it should be a top national priority.

but oil spills like this are only part of the reason.

the real reason is that oil is going to run out, and if we don't have something on tap to replace it with, we risk war for the remaining reserves. if you want an environmental disaster, that will be the big one.

a first world nation that is as energy dependent as we are is a recipe for disaster. it's time to get serious about innovation and domestic energy.
 
apdst said:
Yeah, we need to drill our own oil and stopusing ships to transport it.
Click to expand...

Even if our consumption was 100% domestic, we'd still need ships to transport it. Refining is primarily done in the Gulf region and thats unlikely to change anytime in the near future. Overall, maritime transport is still less costly than even most pipelines.
 
Opinion: The alternatives are already there. When they are needed and it is in the best interest of the big corporations they will come rolling out in one giant wave. For one thing I don't think the big corporations have the legislation all set up yet to protect things toward their best interest.
 
KeeKee said:
Opinion: The alternatives are already there. When they are needed and it is in the best interest of the big corporations they will come rolling out in one giant wave. For one thing I don't think the big corporations have the legislation all set up yet to protect things toward their best interest.
Click to expand...

national security trumps the best interest of corporations. we cannot and should not wait on them. had we started in earnest in the 1970s, our nation's present day domestic and foreign policies would most likely be startlingly different.
 
KeeKee said:
Opinion: The alternatives are already there. When they are needed and it is in the best interest of the big corporations they will come rolling out in one giant wave. For one thing I don't think the big corporations have the legislation all set up yet to protect things toward their best interest.
Click to expand...

If the alternatives were partical and cost effective, the energy industry would already be putting them into place.

Energy companies don't drill for oil and gas, just for the hell of it. I think that's a huge point that a lot of people miss.
 
Helix said:
national security trumps the best interest of corporations. we cannot and should not wait on them. had we started in earnest in the 1970s, our nation's present day domestic and foreign policies would most likely be startlingly different.
Click to expand...

If alternative energy sources actually worked and were proven to be efficient and reliable, the free market would have taken hold of them and made petroleum obsolete.

Kinda like George Washington Carver trying to make a phonograph needle out of a peanut.
 
KeeKee said:
Opinion: The alternatives are already there. When they are needed and it is in the best interest of the big corporations they will come rolling out in one giant wave. For one thing I don't think the big corporations have the legislation all set up yet to protect things toward their best interest.
Click to expand...

the problem is you cant harness and store it....windmills only work when the wind is blowing, solar panels only work when the sun is shining...they are very insufficient and require fossil fuel backup......and for those of you who like to travel abroad...good luck with those battery operated electric Boeing 747s..................and also....do you realize how many everyday products like are petroleum based?.....
 
Last edited:
fishinRod said:
the problem is you cant harness and store it....windmills only work when the wind is blowing, solar panels only work when the sun is shining...they are very insufficient and require fossil fuel backup......and for those of you who like to travel abroad...good luck with those battery operated electric Boeing 747s..................and also....do you realize how many everyday products like are petroleum based?.....
Click to expand...

Let's not forget that the treehuggers hate the windmills and solar panels as much as the oil wells.
 
fishinRod said:
the problem is you cant harness and store it....windmills only work when the wind is blowing, solar panels only work when the sun is shining...they are very insufficient and require fossil fuel backup......and for those of you who like to travel abroad...good luck with those battery operated electric Boeing 747s..................and also....do you realize how many everyday products like are petroleum based?.....
Click to expand...

You'll never completely eliminate fossil fuels. It would be stupid to try. But eliminating the US' near-absolute dependence on foreign fossil fuels is critical to the nation's economic security. This process will not occur on a one for one basis. The solution is not two-dimensional. Wind alone will not replace oil and solar alone will not replace oil. It will take Wind, Solar, Hydro, and Nuclear all operating in tandem to do the job. The Wind farm in one county will not be able to provide all the power all the time for that county because the wind doesn't always blow as pointed out. So the slack would be taken up by a wind farm in another location or the solar power plant in a different one. Nuclear power will be a huge chunk of the solution and a preferable backup.

Oil cannot be eliminated entirely, but it should be cut back drastically. Once this is done, penny ante governments in the ME will have nothing further to do with US foreign policy.
 
About 50% of the electricity comes from coal power plants and 20% from nuclear with both having bad side effects. These can be fixed in time with technology and alternative sources. But fuel driven transport is one of the biggest problems we face and it's an immensely profitable business. Out of the Top 5 corporate revenue earners 4 are oil companies with Walmart #1. In simple terms the worlds economy is too fragile for a sudden transition to another viable energy source (batteries) that doesn't generate such profits. In the time it takes most people to read this sentence, the world will have used up about 8,000 barrels of oil - 336,000 gallons; at 1000 barrels per second. And nobody knows for sure, even if it lasts a few more decades what the environmental impact will be. A wonderful technology that has outlived it's usefulness in a practical way.
 
apdst said:
If alternative energy sources actually worked and were proven to be efficient and reliable, the free market would have taken hold of them and made petroleum obsolete.

Kinda like George Washington Carver trying to make a phonograph needle out of a peanut.
Click to expand...

absolutely.

we should have waited for corporations to build the interstate highway system, as well.
 
Fishstyx said:
Not really. Whether you like it or not, oil is a NATURAL substance. Mother nature, specifically the ocean, is more than capable of handling oil. Crude oil naturally seeps in to the ocean all over the world with the bulk of known seeps being in the Gulf of Mexico. Talking 10s of millions of gallons per year.
Click to expand...

There's plenty of natural radiation too, so it can't be harmful either. :roll:
 
apdst said:
Yeah, we need to drill our own oil and stopusing ships to transport it.
Click to expand...

There hasn't been a single year under either party since 1971 when we produced as much as we consume.
 
spud_meister said:
There's plenty of natural radiation too, so it can't be harmful either. :roll:
Click to expand...

Yeah, because thats the same exact thing. :roll:

And most natural radiation is pretty harmless anyway.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom