The Gulf Oil Spill: What lessons can we learn

The Gulf oil spill was inevitable. With a long history of safety violations, BP ignored standard practices and cut corners drilling the Macondo Project well a mile below the water’s surface. The Minerals Management Service of the Department of Interior, which simply rubber stamped oil company procedures, had inadequate oversight of the drilling operation. Once the blowout preventer failed, there were no reliable solutions to quickly contain and capture the oil from the damaged well head. BP and the Coast Guard did not have a sufficient plan to deal with such a massive oil spill. The oil industry and the federal government did not have the equipment, and still does not sufficient equipment, to recover the floating oil to mitigate the ecological damage that will likely last decades.

To avoid future disasters, until reliable solutions are found and implemented, a moratorium on deep-ocean well drilling needs to remain in place. Blowout preventers are not always reliable, especially in deep waters. In sensitive artic ocean areas, the U.S., Canada, Norway, and Greenland require wells to have a relief well drilled simultaneously, rather than after the fact. Significant resources must also be immediately available for future accidents, such as tanker size skimmers, that can quickly recover large quantities of oil and reduce the need for toxic dispersants.

However, having just technical fixes to prevent future oil spills misses the most important lesson to be learned. Continuing our heavy use of oil and other fossil fuels is the wrong pathway. High risk wells are being drilled because the world is running out of oil. Our society and national interests are dominated by our need for oil that is now being used at a rate faster than it is being found. As a limited non-renewable fossil fuel, in a decade or two, oil will become even more difficult to find and even more expensive. Vast amounts of oil money will continue to go to nations that do not always share our interests.

Any nation that continues to rely on imported oil, as the U.S. does for transportation, will have its national security constantly under threat. This has led James Woolsey, former CIA director, to state that the U.S. must remove oil as a strategic national issue (http://www.alt-energy.info/oil-conservation/former-cia-director-james-woolsey-on-how-to-end-americas-addiction-to-oil/). He argues, as do many others, that we need to continue to increase mileage standards for automobiles; require cars to be made that can use other fuels besides gasoline; increase the manufacture and use of hybrid and fully electric cars; and convert trucks and buses to natural gas, which is abundant in our country.

Our nation must have a long-term energy policy that will move us away from our dependency on oil and other non-renewable fossil fuels. Climate change, due to fossil fuel usage, is already occurring and will continue to become more severe leading to agricultural impacts, more frequent floods, and intense hurricanes. There is a significant economic cost in waiting to reduce to fossil fuel usage and delaying renewable energy sources. Over 80% of our energy comes from fossil fuels, yet the science shows that we will need to reduce our carbon emissions by 80% in just 40 years to have a livable planet for future generations. Unless there is a strong political and societal commitment, similar to the 10 year moon shot program implemented in the 1960s, there will be more oil spills, climate change, and a lower quality of life for all. We have an opportunity to learn from the Gulf spill and we need to learn quickly.

Milton Clark, Ph.D.
President, Clark Environmental Consulting
Associate Professor of Environmental
and Occupational Health Sciences
University of Illinois School of Public Health

Moon Mission: Sustainability for the Future

Dr. Milton Clark has started a collaboration with Worlds Nest in Taos, New Mexico, an organization devoted to sustainability (www.worldsnest.com). Other than world peace, there is no other more important goal for humanity than to ensure the sustainability of the earth for future generations. Under Rober Plarr's visionary direction, Worlds Nest has assembled a team of scientists and engineers to develop energy saving ideas and to promote green technology. With a population expected to increase by 50% in 50 years so will the demand for resources including water, food, and energy. A major change in direction away from fossil fuel use is needed to combat global warming. This will only happen if the nation commits to a focused research program, similar to that developed by President Kennedy to reach the moon, where the most efficient new energy technologies can be developed and implemented in less than a decade. Without a major commitment now it will be very difficult and costly to stop global warming and future generations will face a degraded world.

On August 10, 2007, Dr. Milton Clark presented a seminar "Moon Mission: Toward a Sustainable Future" at Worlds Nest, which outlines obstacles and solutions to key environmental problems. To download the presentation go to Peter White's website, www.icandosomething.com.

Taking Action on Global Warming

In an editorial, "Taking Action on Global Warming", Dr. Milton Clark is urging scientists to speak up on global warming concerns. Global warming has now become the ethical and moral environmental issue of our times. Not only is global warming already occurring, it is proceding at a rapid rate. Aggressive actions need to commence now, and must be well underway within the next decade, in order to reverse the rapid buidup of greenhouse gases. The National Academies of Sciences from the G-8, China, India and Brazil stated that the science of global warming was“sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action”. As a society we must engage in a comprehensive science and engineering approach similiar to that which John F. Kennedy proposed to reach the moon.

EDITORIAL
Taking Action on Global Warming (read the report in pdf format)

Global Warming Address

Dr. Milton Clark give a talk on "Global Warming: The Science, Impacts, and Strategies" to a large audience on June 16. The science is clear. Global warming is occurring and human beings are primarily responsible. The debate is over.

Warming in the Artic is taken place at a rapid rate (just as predicted) with a temperature increase already of 5 degrees with impacts on infrastructure as permafrost melts and also effects on ecosytems and wildlife. Aggressive stratagies are needed within the next ten years, otherwise a tipping point may be reached where it will be extremely difficult to reverse a runaway greenhouse effect. A Moon Shot NASA style project needs to undertaken now where the best energy efficiency technologies and energy sources (e.g., hydrogen, nuclear, renewable) are developed and placed into wide useage. Global warming has now become an ethical and moral issue since we know that future generations will have a lower quality of life if we fail to address this issue now.