Price of oil, coal is high, worldwide
Posted on 19. May, 2010 by crowley in Blog, General, Renewable Energy News
The news out of the Gulf of Mexico is sickening, but it is hardly the only environmental disaster associated with fossil fuels in recent news. Thirty coal miners are trapped in Turkey in an explosion that occurred May 17, following similar coal mine disasters in Russia, China and West Virginia.
A wire story in Sunday’s newspaper about environmental devastation from oil drilling put the overall cost in context. “Quest for oil leaves trail of damage across the globe” tells of impacts from Alberta to Newfoundland to Nigeria. The point of the story is America is driving the quest for more and more oil, but when the impacts are not felt inside our borders, Americans seem not to care.
Despite calls for more domestic drilling and new sources of energy, America’s reliance on foreign oil has climbed steadily over the years, from 44.5 percent of consumption in 1995 to 57 percent in 2008.
“Spills, leaks and deliberate discharges are happening in oil fields all over the world, and very few people seem to care,” said Judith Kimerling, a professor of law and policy at the City University of New York and the author of “Amazon Crude,” a book about oil development in Ecuador.
A particularly chilling quote was this one:
“We see frantic efforts being made to stop the spill in the USA,” Bassey added. “In Nigeria, oil companies largely ignore their spills, cover them up and destroy people’s livelihood and environments.”
The old adage “Think globally, act locally” may need some rethinking if we’re to be honest about our country’s energy policies and practices.
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