So, what happened?
Well, dispersant agents and surfactants, even really hot water was thrown at the disaster area. Birds were treated, few were saved, and many lessons were learned throughout all the efforts on ways of cleaning up inevitable future spills, but, in the end, only about 10% of the oil was ever actually cleaned up, and the environment in the area is forever changed. Biologists in the area agree that most of the affected wildlife populations will never recover from the spill, and those indigenous peoples whose livelihoods were lost will never be the same. This all happened in one of the last places on earth that was untainted by the greed and suffocation of mankind and our impervious need for 'progress.' As one person testifying in front of congress in the wake of the 25th anniversary of the event said, speaking of this part of Alaska, "It is the majestic Eden in the minds of children, a masterpiece."
In the past 25 years, with the knowledge of the potentially devastating effects of such disasters, and in light of all of the knowledge we have gained about carbon in the environment and the atmosphere, we haven't done much. Prior to the spill, in the whole history of mankind, we had burned an estimated 300 million barrels of crude, and in just the 25 years since, we've burned a whopping 700 million more, more than twice! Atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased dramatically, and, among other regions that are feeling the brunt of climate change, over 50% of the polar ice cap area is gone. No scientists with any credentials worth their spit will argue that catastrophic climate change and ensuing disasters are born out of our obsession for crude.
Right now, since we've pulled all the easy stuff out of the ground, we're going back with explosives and high pressure to push every last little bit out of all of the porous rock we can find. Fayetteville, Marcellus, Bakken, Utica, Devonian, all names of huge shale 'plays' around the U.S. that are being busted up and wrung dry so that we don't have to change our way of life one bit.
All the while, our geopolitical stage is set with players that are balancing on a slick of oil. Politicians posture on the Senate floor using Russia's bad behavior as an opening to hopefully start selling U.S. natural gas reserves to the Ukraine and Britain. And no one, not even this bleeding heart liberal wants to imagine the possible effects if OPEC were ever to base their black gold on any currency but the almighty dollar. That's right folks, one of the big things that's keeping the dollar so stable in this multi-faceted world is the fact that oil is its base commodity.
Basically, if Saudi Arabia and Qatar want to sell their oil abroad, the value is based on the U.S. Dollar, and it benefits us greatly to have that privilege, because OPEC represents the big players. Somebody should fact check me, but I think FDR set the system up back in the 1930s. If, however, that system were to fall apart, and places like Iran and Syria got their way with basing oil prices on some other currency, it would greatly devalue the U.S. currency, our bonds, you name it, and that, everyone, leads one to wonder if we'll ever be rid of all the murky hydrocarbons floating around.
Ofcourse, we'll be rid of oil one day just by depleting every nook and cranny, but at what expense?
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