Drill baby drill? How about don't baby don't!

As there are so many news stories about this, I will be linking throughout instead of one giant link at the beginning.

This oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is getting bad.  Really bad.  So far (as of Monday), an estimated 2.6 million gallons of oil have leaked from BP's pipeline in the Gulf, equalling approximately 60,000 barrels.  According to the CNN article, the oil slick created is about the size of Delaware (for reference, that's 2,044 square miles- land and water).  When size estimates are coming in relation to states, there's a serious problem.

BP (according to the previously mentioned CNN article) has constructed a containment chamber to capture oil still leaking out of the largest of the pipeline's three leaks.  Apart from the fact that there are three leaks in the line, another issue is that these leaks are at the deep-sea level: 5,000 feet below sea level.  Even if the containment chamber works, it's going to be pretty hard to even get the oil out of the chamber.

The latest news as of Thursday is that some oil has now reached one of Louisiana's barrier islands.  This is even worse news, because the oil spread is getting worse.  The last thing that anyone wants to happen is for oil to reach the coast, but it seems as though that's what's going to happen.  The containment chamber has finally reached the leak, but still, the damage has already been done.  Hopefully it will be successful and capture any more oil leaking out from that spot.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what we need to convince people of the real dangers of offshore drilling.  Although supporters do acknowledge the possibility of oil spills, I don't think any of them have ever taken the time to actually consider the impact that an oil spill or leak, such as what is occurring right now, would actually have.  Some people are so concerned over whether or not we're going to have enough oil that they forget other issues that are going on, such as the future of energy as a whole.  Instead of wasting so much time worrying about oil, possibly (likely) decimiating the nation's coastal areas, we should be focused on clean energy (and no, there is no such thing as 'clean coal').

One of the greatest things in terms of energy to happen recently is the approval of a windfarm off the Massachusettes Bay which has long been opposed by the Kennedys due to the fact that it would 'ruin their view'.  Now, I like the Kennedys and all, but what total bs.  You're going to deny an easy source of clean, renewable energy because of your own selfish interests?  How pathetic.  But anyway, back to the energy.  Wind energy is easily the best form of renewable energy out there.  Ethanol, while cleaner than coal, actually takes more energy to produce than oil.  Until that process is refined, ethanol's really not the most viable option.  But wind- wind!  Wind is everywhere!  If you slapped some windmills up along the Hudson River, you could probably power the entire city!  (Ok, in reality you could power a small section of Manhattan due to sheer population size and energy consumption- I got excited.)

One of the best things to happen to New York State in recent years was the passage of net metering laws, which allow people to put up windmills and/or solar panels on their property.  Any additional energy they make can actually be sold back to energy companies. [1]  In places like Oswego, people would save on energy and become more environmentally responsible at the same time.  What on earth could possibly be wrong with that? [2]  And yet people keep fighting it, for reasons that I don't even know, and if I did, I would be able to cut them down for being straight-up wrong.

Hopefully a few things will come out of this.  First, Obama will reconsider his plans for offshore drilling (which he is doing), and hopefully nix the plan.  Second, Sarah Palin will shut the hell up about 'drill baby drill'.  Third, everyone else in the country will wake the hell up and realize that there could be worse things in the world than purchasing oil from the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, I might note, is one of the US's biggest allies in the region- so basically we're buying from friends anyway).  We could decimate an entire ecosystem, put an entire industry (fishing) out of business, and kill the livelihood of all families involved.  The choice is ours.

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[1] For some great info, check out NYPIRG's website.  And no, I'm not plugging them simply because I used to work for them.  They really do great stuff.
[2] Rhetorical question.  Because of course nothing is wrong with that.