by Ronald Wood

Created on: July 14, 2010

The Day the Ocean Died

Like a giant blood-sucking mosquito, a drilling platform on the Gulf of Mexico sunk its steel stinger through a mile of water then drilled deeper still through the earth's crust into a pool of black oil and volatile gas. The operation was routine in every way. It had been done a thousand times before. But people, like equipment, are fallible. Perhaps naive engineers thought they were too smart, or government regulators thought they could be lax, or greedy operators thought they could take shortcuts. But Murphy's Law says if anything can go wrong, it will. Accidents will happen. It is simply a matter of when, not if.  Tragically, eleven men were killed when safeguards failed and the rig caught fire and exploded. The platform sank, the pipe broke, and nasty oil spewed into the ocean at a rate beyond calculation.

Oil and water don't mix. Floating atop the aquamarine blue of the pristine gulf is a thin patina of oil, glimmering like a rainbow, but carrying deadly malodorous vapors toward shore. Mile-long sheets of blood-colored crude drape like a shroud atop the rolling waves. The thick oil slick chokes off the sunlight, sinks to the seabed, or washes up on the beach. It edges into estuaries along the shore where birds roost and shrimp feed. Besides killing people's jobs, it kills plants, oysters, and fish. Suspended plumes of brown sludge hang like a pall in the ocean's depths where millions of sea animals live. They now taste a bitter poison, something earth's wild creatures cannot cope with, escape from, or defend against. By our carelessness, we have hurt the earth and ourselves.

Now imagine this scenario: What if some run-away deep-sea well were to cause a permanent rupture? What if the barrier between ocean and oil was breached beyond repair? The punctured crust of the earth could leak oil into the ocean at a horrendous rate for years on end, a bleeding wound that won't heal. Could this nightmare happen?

What happens in the Gulf also affects the Atlantic. The oceans are all connected. So consider this question: How much oil would it take to kill the oceans of the earth? We may seal the leak this time. But life is fragile. Arrogance can kill you. Better ideas are required. Perhaps we've reached the limits of science and engineering.

If nothing else, our lust for endless oil has hit a speed-bump. There is a price to pay for taking the easy way, for failing to think long-term, for being politically expedient rather than acting like

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