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A massive oil spill in the Pacific Ocean reached the Southern California coast

npr.org

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Re: A massive oil spill in the Pacific Ocean reached the Southern California coast

#31

Post by userbinator »

worstestes wrote: post #26
userbinator wrote: post #15

It'll just slowly go back into the ground where it came... I find it funny that a lot of self-proclaimed "environmentalists" who love to espouse the benefits of using "natural" stuff get outraged by things like this, as if oil wasn't a naturally occurring substance.

Isn't there a frequency difference between natural "leakage" and man-made disasters like this? Naturally occurring events made be damaging but happen at less frequency.

According to the subthread at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28740261 , oil has been coming out of the ground on its own for a long time. As in, before humans even knew what to do with it.

Re: A massive oil spill in the Pacific Ocean reached the Southern California coast

#32

Post by rsj_hn »

cptskippy wrote: post #18
xyzzyz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like the "massive oil spill" from the link is equivalent to half a year of natural seepage from this single seep field.

I have no idea how a surface spill compares deep water seeps but the seeps have been happening for hundreds of thousands of years. Not sure where I am going with this but I just thought it was interesting.

Perhaps this is why we have bacteria and other life forms that can eat oil.

Re: A massive oil spill in the Pacific Ocean reached the Southern California coast

#34

Post by foundart »

rsj_hn wrote: post #32
cptskippy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no idea how a surface spill compares deep water seeps but the seeps have been happening for hundreds of thousands of years. Not sure where I am going with this but I just thought it was interesting.

Perhaps this is why we have bacteria and other life forms that can eat oil.

Plant matter pre-digested to an energy-rich hydrocarbon sludge. It must be a real treasure trove for those creatures that can eat it.

Re: A massive oil spill in the Pacific Ocean reached the Southern California coast

#35

Post by conspiracist »

What’s the plan of attack? Feign outrage on the internet in hopes that someone else will do the hard work of holding these companies accountable? Have Greta stand another day in front of a building as a symbol of triumph of the youth in their struggle against these companies? Have BBC run a few more weeks of environmental destruction pieces saying how the damage is irreversible?

No wait, we got one - front page news: “N more species went extinct recently”. Yeah, that will show them.

Worked before, might work again, you reckon?

Re: A massive oil spill in the Pacific Ocean reached the Southern California coast

#36

Post by hristov »

userbinator wrote: post #15

It'll just slowly go back into the ground where it came... I find it funny that a lot of self-proclaimed "environmentalists" who love to espouse the benefits of using "natural" stuff get outraged by things like this, as if oil wasn't a naturally occurring substance.

Oil is not naturally occurring on the surface of the earth. It can only be formed underground, it is extremely poisonous, it kills almost every living organism. You can say that deep underground oil is natural, but on the surface of the earth certainly not.

Re: A massive oil spill in the Pacific Ocean reached the Southern California coast

#37

Post by koeng »

I walked along Huntington Beach’s beach today to checkout what happened. Although the cleanup workers did a great job, there were still puddles of oil on the sand, and you could definitely smell it in the air. The puddles were much clumpier than I imagined, but guess that’s just how crude oil is.

Re: A massive oil spill in the Pacific Ocean reached the Southern California coast

#38

Post by pokstad »

jaycroft wrote: post #28
rcpt wrote: post #24

Oil derricks right in the middle of neighborhoods? Great idea! Apartments? Not in my backyard!!1 Oil platforms a few miles offshore a busy public beach? Sure why not? Offshore wind farms? Illegal!!

I understand the sentiment, but in this case it's more like, neighborhoods built around oil derricks. Go look up pictures of HB from the early 20's. It was all farmland until oil was discovered, the city came later, with the first developments being built in the 50's. Just about every house in the city along the coast sits atop a capped well.

Yup, also check out photos of Signal Hill (AKA Porcupine Hill). Now every piece of land is developed around the remaining oil derricks.

Re: A massive oil spill in the Pacific Ocean reached the Southern California coast

#39

Post by nitrogen »

hristov wrote: post #36
userbinator wrote: post #15

It'll just slowly go back into the ground where it came... I find it funny that a lot of self-proclaimed "environmentalists" who love to espouse the benefits of using "natural" stuff get outraged by things like this, as if oil wasn't a naturally occurring substance.

Oil is not naturally occurring on the surface of the earth. It can only be formed underground, it is extremely poisonous, it kills almost every living organism. You can say that deep underground oil is natural, but on the surface of the earth certainly not.

Oil is not naturally occurring on the surface of the earth.

If it didn't naturally seep out of the ground, humans never would have discovered it and started using it. See this comment thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28740261

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