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The American Power Act - First Reactions

by: WeatherDem

Fri May 14, 2010 at 08:19:04 AM MST

The Senate's version of climate and energy legislation was formally introduced yesterday.  Titled "The American Power Act", the draft is 987 pages long and includes darn near everything.  Reading any substantial amount of the bill is going to take a while; understanding it will take even longer.  Of course, by the time activists read and understand it, it will probably be in the process of being modified.  Regardless, here are two links that I'm looking at.  The first is the full bill; the second is a section by section summary.

S1733- The American Power Act (pdf)

21 page Section by Section summary (pdf)

There's More... :: (3 Comments, 911 words in story)

Offshore Drilling Disaster Tied to Weak Oversight, Strong Lobbying

by: Romanoff for Colorado

Wed May 12, 2010 at 16:19:32 PM MST

( - promoted by Fong)

Video of oil gushing from leaking well:

Three Key Steps to Minimize Future Risk

Andrew has posted an editorial on the Gulf Coast Disaster on Huffington Post.  You can read the full piece here.

Included in the post is a discussion of 3 key steps to minimizing future risk:

We need to minimize the risk of another such catastrophe. Three steps are key:

1. Enforce strict safety standards for all offshore rigs, wherever their parent company is domiciled. BP and the Deepwater Horizon were exempt from an environmental impact study regarding offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Every offshore rig should have the technology necessary to prevent the uncontrolled release of oil.

2. Raise the cap on liability for companies responsible for oil spills, and provide assistance for those affected. While an oil company must pay for the cleanup costs associated with a spill, the company's civil liability is capped at $75 million. For a company like BP, $75 million is a single day's profit. The interests of justice and effective deterrence warrant a higher cap on liability.

3. Provide for a swift and effective response to offshore oil spills. Existing technology could minimize the effects of a spill. Burn booms would allow for quick deployment and elimination of the oil in a controlled and safe manner. In the case of this recent disaster, the government had only a single burn-boom available but even it was not utilized in time. If we are to allow offshore drilling, we should also research and develop other means of effectively cleaning up oil on water.

Discuss :: (6 Comments)

1 million gallons of black gold per day

by: therebis

Sat May 01, 2010 at 22:45:58 PM MST

"The problem with the April 20 spill is that it isn't really a spill: It's a gush, like an underwater oil volcano. A hot column of oil and gas is spurting into freezing, black waters nearly a mile down, where the pressure nears a ton per inch, impossible for divers to endure. Experts call it a continuous, round-the-clock calamity, unlike a leaking tanker, which might empty in hours or days...

If the flow is not stopped, it will exhaust the natural reservoir of oil beneath the sea floor, experts say. Many months, at least, could pass...."

http://www.latimes.com/news/na...

"A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration video, shot as officials coordinated response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, shows that federal officials almost immediately worried that the oil well could leak up to 110,000 barrels per day, or 4.6 million gallons...

It only takes one quart of motor oil to make 250,000 gallons of ocean water toxic to wildlife. Are you starting to get the magnitude of this?"

http://www.dailykos.com/story/...

"...has been using four robotic submarines to try to fully activate the giant 450-tonne blowout preventer and shut off the flow of oil...."

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo...

Let's see 4 million gallons per day x 30 days x 3 months = 360 million gallons. If it takes 6, 9, or 12 months, but what if it humans cannot stop the flow?

Discuss :: (3 Comments)
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