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Another Reason to Keep It in the Ground: Shell Spills 90,000 Gallons of Oil Into the Gulf of Mexico
In case you needed another reason to join the movement to keep fossil fuels in the ground, Shell Oil is here to give you one. Yesterday, the company spilled nearly 90,000 gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana.
May 13, 2016
Just weeks after commemorating the six-year anniversary of the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon blowout, the Gulf of Mexico is once again the site of a major oil spill.
Yesterday evening, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) reported a 36-square-mile oil sheen visible about 97 miles off the Louisiana coast near Shell's Brutus platform. As of this morning, no injuries had been reported. The Coast Guard says the source of the spill has been secured and that a cleanup crew has been dispatched to the site.
But it will likely be days before we understand the full extent of the damage done.
When We Drill, We Spill
In a statement issued yesterday, Shell executives said that "no release [of oil] is acceptable, and safety remains our priority as we respond to this incident."
If safety was truly the company's priority, it wouldn't be drilling for oil in the first place. History has proven that the more fossil fuel infrastructure we have, the more spills and leaks we'll see -- whether it's Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf, the Exxon Valdez in Alaska, or the Santa Barbara oil spill almost exactly one year ago at Refugio State Beach in California.
The only way to prevent an oil spill is to keep oil in the ground. That's what communities in the Gulf and other coastal regions, which were quick to condemn the spill and call for an end to fossil fuel exploitation, want and deserve.
On top of the impacts for coastal communities, continuing our reliance on drilling and burning oil comes at a high cost for the climate. In fact, a 2015 study in the journal Nature revealed that we need to leave at least 80 percent of the world's known remaining fossil fuel reserves in the ground to prevent runaway climate change.
More drilling in the Gulf, the Arctic, or anywhere else isn't going to get us there.
While it's likely we won't know the full extent of the damage from this spill for weeks, one thing is clear. From the Gulf to Alaska and everywhere in between, the path to a sustainable future does not include fossil fuels.
President Obama can put these leaks, spills, and climate disasters behind us by stopping new offshore drilling in the Gulf and Arctic. Our oceans are not a sacrifice zone for oil profit -- take action!
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2023 Greenpeace
Ryan Schleeter
Ryan Schleeter is an online content producer for Greenpeace USA interested in cities and sustainability. Follow him on Twitter: @ryschlee
Just weeks after commemorating the six-year anniversary of the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon blowout, the Gulf of Mexico is once again the site of a major oil spill.
Yesterday evening, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) reported a 36-square-mile oil sheen visible about 97 miles off the Louisiana coast near Shell's Brutus platform. As of this morning, no injuries had been reported. The Coast Guard says the source of the spill has been secured and that a cleanup crew has been dispatched to the site.
But it will likely be days before we understand the full extent of the damage done.
When We Drill, We Spill
In a statement issued yesterday, Shell executives said that "no release [of oil] is acceptable, and safety remains our priority as we respond to this incident."
If safety was truly the company's priority, it wouldn't be drilling for oil in the first place. History has proven that the more fossil fuel infrastructure we have, the more spills and leaks we'll see -- whether it's Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf, the Exxon Valdez in Alaska, or the Santa Barbara oil spill almost exactly one year ago at Refugio State Beach in California.
The only way to prevent an oil spill is to keep oil in the ground. That's what communities in the Gulf and other coastal regions, which were quick to condemn the spill and call for an end to fossil fuel exploitation, want and deserve.
On top of the impacts for coastal communities, continuing our reliance on drilling and burning oil comes at a high cost for the climate. In fact, a 2015 study in the journal Nature revealed that we need to leave at least 80 percent of the world's known remaining fossil fuel reserves in the ground to prevent runaway climate change.
More drilling in the Gulf, the Arctic, or anywhere else isn't going to get us there.
While it's likely we won't know the full extent of the damage from this spill for weeks, one thing is clear. From the Gulf to Alaska and everywhere in between, the path to a sustainable future does not include fossil fuels.
President Obama can put these leaks, spills, and climate disasters behind us by stopping new offshore drilling in the Gulf and Arctic. Our oceans are not a sacrifice zone for oil profit -- take action!
Ryan Schleeter
Ryan Schleeter is an online content producer for Greenpeace USA interested in cities and sustainability. Follow him on Twitter: @ryschlee
Just weeks after commemorating the six-year anniversary of the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon blowout, the Gulf of Mexico is once again the site of a major oil spill.
Yesterday evening, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) reported a 36-square-mile oil sheen visible about 97 miles off the Louisiana coast near Shell's Brutus platform. As of this morning, no injuries had been reported. The Coast Guard says the source of the spill has been secured and that a cleanup crew has been dispatched to the site.
But it will likely be days before we understand the full extent of the damage done.
When We Drill, We Spill
In a statement issued yesterday, Shell executives said that "no release [of oil] is acceptable, and safety remains our priority as we respond to this incident."
If safety was truly the company's priority, it wouldn't be drilling for oil in the first place. History has proven that the more fossil fuel infrastructure we have, the more spills and leaks we'll see -- whether it's Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf, the Exxon Valdez in Alaska, or the Santa Barbara oil spill almost exactly one year ago at Refugio State Beach in California.
The only way to prevent an oil spill is to keep oil in the ground. That's what communities in the Gulf and other coastal regions, which were quick to condemn the spill and call for an end to fossil fuel exploitation, want and deserve.
On top of the impacts for coastal communities, continuing our reliance on drilling and burning oil comes at a high cost for the climate. In fact, a 2015 study in the journal Nature revealed that we need to leave at least 80 percent of the world's known remaining fossil fuel reserves in the ground to prevent runaway climate change.
More drilling in the Gulf, the Arctic, or anywhere else isn't going to get us there.
While it's likely we won't know the full extent of the damage from this spill for weeks, one thing is clear. From the Gulf to Alaska and everywhere in between, the path to a sustainable future does not include fossil fuels.
President Obama can put these leaks, spills, and climate disasters behind us by stopping new offshore drilling in the Gulf and Arctic. Our oceans are not a sacrifice zone for oil profit -- take action!
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