I hadn't really been paying attention to the coincidence of an Oil Rig in the Gulf of Mexico having exploded on Earth Day 2010. The link is to a letter to the editor at the Seattle Times. Here's a piece:
This is a response to "Oil-platform explosion illustrates risks of Gulf of Mexico drilling," News, April 28. In the last month, seven workers were killed by an explosion in an oil refinery in Anacortes, 29 coal miners were killed in an explosion in a coal mine in West Virginia and, on Earth Day, a dozen or so workers died when on oil rig off the Gulf Coast exploded and sank into the ocean.
None of these tragedies would have occurred if our country had switched to safe and clean energy sources.
The reason I ran across this is because I was trying to find out if the authorities had learned anything yet on what caused the explosion... well, what do you think? Not many oil rigs have exploded and sunk into the ocean... and to have this happen on Earth Day?
Whether some greenies decided to cause an ecological disaster (how fitting) or not, the letter writer assumes there are no industrial accidents in clean energy... you know, nothing like the Hindenburg exploding or dams collapsing. And what about all the arsenic, cadmium, telluride, chromium and lead used in the production of solar panels... if everyone moves toward solar power, just where does the letter-writer think all those solar panels will end up? And what are the dangers to the workers who create them? Where will all the used up Prius batteries end up? Where will all the CFL bulbs with their "dash of mercury" end up? Life is full of dangers, not the least of which being crazy people willing to blow things up to make them feel better.
Update: The explosion was actually on the day before Earth Day, around 10pm...so Earth-Day Eve...
Also, here is a nice article on a possible cause (blowout).
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