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May 17, 2010
"Nature loves an oil spill...."
This one is incidentally not very large.Even if the oil is leaking at several times the 5,000 barrels a day that the media keep repeating from an obviously flawed U.S. government estimate, it represents such a tiny trickle into the immensity of the Gulf of Mexico as to be almost worth ignoring. Nature could easily better that, and even man has achieved far more impressive oil spills. True, many photogenic birds and dolphins have got in the way of the slick, but compare that to what the average hurricane takes out.
By the numbers: this is less than the millionth part of a cubic mile, in a bath of cubic miles by the million.
Okay, it all floats to the top, but that is the silver lining. The sun shines on the happy microbiota that just adore hydrocarbons, and multiply quicker than (insert politically incorrect ethnic reference here) at the prospect of a free lunch. They in turn create dining opportunities all the way up the food chain. Nature loves an oil spill, and the only bad news is when it's over. -- David Warren
Posted by Vanderleun at May 17, 2010 1:35 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
It's a fart in a hurricane, I can't believe how many conservatives are getting the vapors.
Posted by: ck at May 17, 2010 6:51 PM
In re Warren's crack "It couldn't happen to a nicer oil company" (and in the spirit of the "new improved" list linked elsewhere on this page,)
When BP bought out Mobil in the '80s, every newly-former Mobil station was graced during the changeover period with a large green and gold billboard featuring the British Petroleum logo and the message "BP. Re-imaging to serve you better."
Really.
Posted by: Rob De Witt at May 17, 2010 8:58 PM
I have relations living in Lafayette Parish - one who retired from a career in the oil industry. They don't think this is so benign. They're mad as hell. Let's not forget 11 lives were lost and the fishing and shrimping industries are devastated. Lots of good, hard-working, hard-living people are hurting. Of course, the Gulf will recover. Some people - not so much.
Posted by: Western Chauvinist at May 18, 2010 5:32 AM
Look at the upside.....free 3-in-1 for everyone.
Posted by: Blastineau at May 18, 2010 10:39 AM
Some you win, some you lose. Most you never get tickets to see.
Posted by: Vermont Woodchuck at May 18, 2010 11:19 AM