Belief Systems at a Turning Point

[Karmadillo]

A thoughtful post. Worth reading

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6591

Belief Systems at a Turning Point
Posted by Gail the Actuary on June 13, 2010 - 10:43am
Topic: Environment/Sustainability
Tags: deepwater horizon, oil spill

It seems to me with the BP Horizon Blowout, we may be hitting a turning point in belief systems, in more than one way:

• Can businesses really be expected to regulate themselves, with minimal oversight?

• Can technology solve our all our problems?

• If there are technological solutions, can they be expected immediately?

• Can we really depend on the oil supply that everyone has told us is here?

<edit>

4. Can we really depend on the oil supply that everyone has told us is available?

I think this question is one that not just Oil Drum readers, but the general public, is beginning to think about. Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico seemed like a fairly secure source, and suddenly we have been disillusioned. The reserves of oil companies and of the USGS depend on resources like this. But now those resources don't seem so secure. What if we with the additional costs of the new safety systems, the wells are really too expensive to drill? Or maybe they already were borderline too expensive, and this just makes the problem more clear.

Besides deep water in the Gulf of Mexico, there are other deep water oil supplies that looked to be next in line for drilling in the next few years. Brazil has made a number of claims regarding deep water discoveries, and last October, at the Association for Peak Oil USA conference, Dr. Marcio Mello made a claim that possibly a half a trillion barrels of oil could be extracted from sub-salt area, from areas around the world (not just Brazil) that are not currently included in reserves.

Another area that seems to be in line next is the arctic, but we hear that Norway has cut off new deep water drilling, until the investigation by the US into the causes of the Deepwater Horizon blowout is complete.

We are running short of places to drill. If the areas that seemed to be promising no longer look quite as promising, then where does that leave us?

[xchrom]

1. i would say this about technology and engineering.

it seems to me that we may have to discipline ourselves not to recklessly do one thing because we can without adapting engineering and technology
to solve at least foreseeable problems.

one can't say a catastrophe like this wasn't foreseeable.

[izquierdista]

2. The engineers did foresee it

That's why they designed blowout preventers. It's the accountants and managers and executives who run the numbers and decide it's an unneeded expense that can be cut.

[Fumesucker]

3. It leaves us needing a Manhattan Project type program for alternative energy supplies..

It also leaves us desperately needing more energy efficient transportation in particular.

Not that I expect either question to be vigorously addressed, it would upset too many well established and influential applecarts.

[jwirr]

4. This is only a portion of our environment that has been destroyed

by drilling. The Exxon Valdes spill is still not totally cleaned up and the Nigerian coast is an even bigger mess. The ME is one big oil war and mess. I am sure that there are other areas but I do not know them.