Louisiana Oil Spill a Grim Reminder of What Can Happen

(Aired on May 3, 2010)

The tragedy off the Louisiana coast as a disastrous oil spills threatens wildlife and one of the most beautiful coastlines and wildlife sanctuaries in the world points out that man is more often than not his own worst enemy. As crews try to contain a spill that threatens to make the Exxon Valdez pale by comparison, wildlife is already starting to be hit, and it could be decades before it all plays out.

An oil platform blew up, 11 men died, and this was a rig that had a lot of new technology, supposedly technology to prevent these kind of spills from happening. Didn't work. Now the frantic work of containing the spill takes high priority. The cost will be in the billions. The cost to the coastline and the wildlife in some very fragile eco-systems is priceless. Much of that coastline is sensitive shrimp ground. It could be totally destroyed.

And while you're thinking of this, think of the fact that it will happen in our northern Arctic Ocean once drilling starts up there. And it will start up there at some point in time. The big oil interests already seem to think that it's a foregone conclusion. And more problems will occur. And it will happen off the B.C. coast if the province is successful in lobbying Ottawa to lift the offshore drilling ban.

Much of the concern that has been raised in B.C. and the Arctic deals with tanker spills like the Exxon Valdez, but now we're seeing a whole different side of things with the drilling platform explosion. If these kinds of spills can be triggered by an oil rig explosion whose safety devices didn't work to shut off the flow of crude, that puts a large additional risk when it comes to danger signs. We are ill prepared in this country for a spill of any magnitude, wherever it might occur.

The events in Louisiana should perhaps give us a little bit of incentive to get our act together before we start putting the holes in the ground.