The recent ongoing events off the coast of Louisiana must surely be food for thought for anybody who has any respect for our beleaguered Mother Nature.
As sceptics and multinational lobbyists continue to pooh-pooh efforts to address the imbalances caused by excessive human activity on our fragile environment, an environmental disaster of biblical proportions is steadily unfolding in the crystal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
It all started in the early morning of April 20. An explosion on board the drilling platform Deepwater Horizon killed 11 people and heralded the biggest environmental disaster ever to have faced the United States. A failure of the drilling operation being carried out at 5,000 feet below the surface of the sea caused a spill that is growing as we speak. The blow-out is releasing enormous amounts of oil onto the ocean floor spreading into the surrounding waters.
It is anyone's guess really as to how much oil and gas are escaping every day. Discharge estimates vary from 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil a day. That means up to three million litres of oil. Other estimates are even worse. The evident potential ecological disaster is probably of unknown proportions. So far, the operation to stem the oil leak has been frustrating and, up to this point, largely ineffective.
To make matters worse, the site of the oil spill is a haven of many marine life forms and is threatening beaches, wildlife and marshland. These habitats welcome all sorts of creatures that are residents but also a significant number of migratory birds and fish. The impact has ecological and financial side effects. Not only is the oil plume threatening the entire food chain but this disaster will probably decimate the fishing industry in these areas, best known for its crab and lobster harvests, as well as the tourist industries located as far north as Florida and beyond.
The Gulf of Mexico is no stranger to environmental calamity. Apart from the significant 1979 Ixtoc 1 oil spill, many other occasions have threatened this environmentally-rich sea. In the first five months of 2009, there were 39 fires and explosions offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP, the oil company giant entrusted with the operation, had given several guarantees on its spill precautions. Ironically, a group of BP executives were on board the platform celebrating the project's safety record when the accident occurred. Many are now questioning BP's safety standards!
No amount of damage limitation and lip service can absolve policy makers who have green lighted such operations in such sensitive areas. Sadness and anger are not going to resolve this ecological nightmare. This event continues to highlight our overdependence on oil and the strength of the profit motive. By and large, an honest assessment would result in humanity once again admitting guilt when confronted with Mother Nature.
Although these events are indeed far away from us, they should serve as an eye opener to the need to remain vigilant as to the risks of such disasters happening in the sea around us.
The Mediterranean Sea is an area of significant economic and cultural heritage. In all, the Mediterranean is surrounded by 21 countries in three geographic regions. Its coastal zones are inhabited by about 100 million people who are expected to increase to as many as 170 million by 2025 (UN statistics). Furthermore, due to its climate and cultural heritage it is host to millions of tourists annually. The tourist figure is estimated to exceed 260 million by 2025.
Such numbers imply strong industrial activity with its attendant implications on the environment through degradation from chronic pollution to agricultural and industrial run offs and illegal discharges at sea. But there is more!
The Mediterranean Sea is one of the principal seas that host some of the most important shipping lanes carrying oil. Although the Mediterranean does not have significant drilling platforms compared to other regions, it is still subject to ecological accidents closely associated with oil production and distribution. In the last 40 years, the Mediterranean has been subject to at least two of the major oil spills that rank among the 10 largest spills recorded worldwide, among them those known as Haven and Irenes Serenade.
There are many oil and gas reserves located along the shores of the Adriatic coast all the way to Tunisia and Libya. Indeed, Malta too is also considering the installation of a significant oil distribution hub to be located in Marsaxlokk. So close to home, this requires our policy makers and planners to be extra careful and extremely responsible in order to ensure that all safety measures and precautions are attended to. Anything less would be crass incompetence. In this sense, our national plan should be not only competent but as foolproof as possible. Incidentally, many accidents in the Mediterranean have occurred close to ports due to grounding and collisions.
Hopefully, the events in the Gulf will come to a positive conclusion. At any rate, this accident should remain a clarion call to humanity that the world's resources are never easily harvested. Risks will always remain and that is the nature of the beast. In the meantime, the dream of sustainable energy sources remains mankind's best bet.
info@carolinegalea.com