The Consequences of 'Drill, Baby Drill': More Than 90 Oil Spills a Day in the U.S.

By Kari Lydersen, AlterNet. Posted April 16, 2009.

Since many residents of Louisiana's coast -- including significant Native American, Vietnamese and African American populations -- practice subsistence farming, hunting and fishing, the contamination from oil spills during hurricanes (and otherwise) has serious health and economic consequences.

"It smothered and killed a lot of organisms -- wildlife, fish, benthic organisms -- and people in coastal areas survive on organisms they can hunt and catch, so there have been a lot of illnesses," said Subra, whose Subra Co. works with groups nationwide to do environmental testing and push for government involvement.

People are at risk of ingesting oil-related contaminants through food and water and also breathing them in or coming in contact when the contaminants attach to soil and dust particles.

People working in fields, fishing or just going about their daily lives have suffered acute respiratory and skin problems. Longer-term respiratory diseases like chronic bronchitis are being seen, locals think, as a result of contamination.

And in the long run, a cancer spike is possible, since many of the chemicals from the oil industry are carcinogens. Spills typically include volatile organic compounds like benzene; PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), which stay in the environment for many years; and toxic heavy metals like arsenic and mercury.

Now, Gulf Coast oil platforms, waste storage areas and other facilities are being built higher to protect them from storm surges. But efforts are voluntary, as there have been few regulatory changes affecting the powerful oil industry.

Subra and her colleagues have helped communities acquire the reports of spills or excess discharges, which companies are required to file with various state and local agencies. In many cases, residents end up notifying government agencies of spills before the companies do, she said. Community groups have taken to working directly with companies to persuade them to do a better job protecting against spills and leaks, an approach Subra said has had considerable success.

Many storage tanks for oil and related industries were built during the World War II era, when metal was being conserved for the war effort. Storage tanks often had no bottoms or tops, with oil or waste directly exposed to the earth beneath it. Many of those tanks are still in use today, and much of the resulting contamination has still not been dealt with.

New offshore-drilling leases would likely lead to more petroleum pollution along the Gulf Coast, local environmental groups say.

Meanwhile, even if the Department of the Interior does not open up significant new offshore drilling leases, companies already hold up to 70 million acres of leases on which they are not yet drilling, the majority in the Gulf of Mexico. Much of this area, far offshore, is expensive to explore and drill; hence, companies were holding out for more attractive leases closer to shore.

With oil prices currently low, interest in offshore drilling has also flagged. But unless the U.S. and major developing countries swiftly transition to cleaner fuel sources, higher oil prices and more pressure for increased drilling are only a matter of time. That will mean more drilling and likely more spills in on- and offshore facilities, not to mention the increased exploitation of Canada's oil sands, known for significant contamination of groundwater and rivers.

Chad Nelsen, environmental director of the Surfrider Foundation, said oil spills are just one reason of many for the U.S. to switch away from a petroleum-based energy economy.

"The 'drill baby, drill' crowd, with this whole 'drill here, drill now, pay less' slogan has really sold a pack of lies," he said. "New drilling off the coasts is not going to affect gas prices dramatically. They tried to capitalize on the $5 (per gallon) gas last summer, now it's down to $2, and there wasn't any new drilling."

He said the oil industry has perpetuated the myth that the country can "drill our way out of our need for foreign oil," along with the myth that technology has made oil a "safe" industry. He thinks companies are doing the best they can in terms of preventing spills, but the nature of the industry makes ongoing small and occasional catastrophic spills inevitable.

"It is true the oil industry has improved their safety record, it's true they're spilling less oil than before, but they're still spilling oil," he said. "The answer is to get off the stuff."

See more stories tagged with: oil, oil spill

Kari Lydersen, a regular contributor to AlterNet, also writes for the Washington Post and is an instructor for the Urban Youth International Journalism Program in Chicago.

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