And you have known about this for..oh..quite awhile now? But its no sweat right boys? Its just proof positive that we need to open up ANWAR for more drilling..right? We have been drilling for 30 years in Alaska and its all drying up, so why spend money to keep the equipment working correctly?If you answered yes, its ok, to any of the above mentioned facts..your no friend of the environment and evidently filling your car with gas is vastly more important than keeping the earth free from spills that not only have oil in them..they contain toxic chemicals that are used to extract the oil from the ground and move it through the ancient pipes. Pipes that were built with a lifespan of 25 years. There is 800 miles of pipeline up there in Alaska. According to the CSM(Christian Science Monitor) article I read earlier today, the pipeline from hell crosses the following land and water masses:
"It crosses more than 800 rivers and streams, three mountain ranges, and three major active faults. Three-quarters of it traverses fragile permafrost. It is built in zigzag fashion to allow for expansion and contraction during temperature changes as well as movement from possible earthquakes."
Now, this recent spill was minor compared to the one that occured in March of this year. At least 267,000 gallons of black shit and toxins spewed from corroded pipe for 5 friggin days before someone drove by and smelled hydrocarbons. Its still pretty cold in March up there so the stench must of been pretty damn strong for the oil worker to smell it driving by...assuming his windows were up and the heater was on.
Also added to this mix is the fact that BP has had a ton of whistle blowers talking to anyone that will listen for years about the shitty condition of their pipeline and that BP knew about it, but could give a rats ass. Some of these whistle blowers have even talked to several elected officials namely Senators Joseph Lieberman and Bob Graham, both Democrats(one not as of today) about the condition of the pipeline and BP's lack of effort to correct anything unless mandated by either Alaska or the Fed's.
The senators never got back to the whistle blower. Holy fuckamoly these guys just don't give a shit either do they?
The whistleblower, Robert Brian, who worked as an instrument technician at Prudhoe Bay for 22 years has tried his best to get the word out about BP's lack of ethics. It seems to have fallen on deaf ears don't ya think? A little more history about BP and Prudhoe Bay from a Jason Leopold article today: In March 2002 Brian "said he supported opening up ANWR to oil exploration but said BP has imperiled that goal because it is "putting Prudhoe workers and the environment at risk." In 2001, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission found high failure rates on some Prudhoe wellhead safety valves. The company was put on federal criminal probation after one of its contractors dumped thousands of gallons of toxic material underground at BP's Endicott oil field in the 1990s. BP pleaded guilty to the charges in 2000 and paid a $6.5 million fine, and then the company continued to neglect the upkeep of its pipelines as additional spills became worse."
I really think its fair to assume at this point, that not only does BP not give a shit but neither does anyone else in a position of authority. I say this because the sumbitches in DC are still calling for the opening of ANWAR for drilling, hell they are demanding it..by the same assholes that have continued to spill toxins and pollute the Alaskan environment.
I don't know about you, dear reader, but I really can live without the oil in Alaska...and I really think the environment and the wildlife would be better off without it being sucked out of the ground as well. Especially since the blackgold-digging sumbitches getting rich off it don't give a rats ass about anything but the money. And it has been printed that the oil in the ground up there would barely put a dent in our need for the black stuff and would only last for 20 years, if that. Prudhoe Bay only provides 8% of our oil needs....but BP is providing us with acres of ruined tundra and god knows how many dead elk, birds and wildlife.
There are roughly, about 500 oil spills that have occurred in the Prudhoe Bay oil fields and along the 800-mile pipeline each year, according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, even though the daily "throughput" of oil has declined from about 2 million barrels a day in 1987 to less than half that today.
Helluva tradeoff don't ya think? They pump less but spill more each year...
Tags: Politics, ANWAR,BP,Alaskan Pipeline,Environmental Terrorism
