The real cost of oil
By Willy Bach
It is Thursday night in Brisbane. Late night shopping is on in the suburbs. That means lots of traffic on the roads as people use their cars to dodge from department store to supermarket.
I drive, alone for part of my journey, to the University of Queensland at St Lucia — sheltered workshop for the intellectually advantaged. It's bloody difficult to get to by bus at night.
I rev up at the red lights. Running late means impatient driving — and using more petrol. Even dedicated greens need that stuff to get to a Greenpeace lecture on why we should oppose offshore oil drilling on the Australian coastline.
We were there for a talk by the colourful and dynamic Kelly Quirke from the USA. Everything he said made good sense. Much was known to me already. I just hadn't taken the final step and added all the information together.
It is now clear that the oil production cycle in some ways resembles the nuclear fuel cycle. Seismic surveys, drilling rigs, pipe lines, tankers on rail and sea, the eventual combustion and release of greenhouse gases — all involve danger to the environment.
Oil spillage is not just alarmism. It takes place on a daily basis around the world. Most spillages are unreported; they make news only if they happen in places TV viewers are concerned about — where cute furry animals live.
Last year there were several spillages of similar magnitude to the Exxon Valdez disaster. We just didn't hear about them. There were 10,000 to 15,000 spillages in the USA alone in 1990. Clean-up technology is about as advanced as a broom and a shovel are ever going to get.
It's time to count the cost of our addiction to this supposedly cheap form of energy. "Clean-ups" have a 10-15% success rate in excellent conditions.
When we remember we wanted a lettuce from the corner store and make a special journey for it (and this lettuce has already been dowsed in herbicides, insecticides and fertiliser, wrapped in a plastic bag and transported up to hundreds of kilometres by truck — all courtesy of the major oil companies), we are contributing to the massive depletion of the ozone layer now occurring at twice the rate previously thought.
Add the military costs of protecting access and price. Kelly mentioned only the 500,000 US troops in the Gulf war. There are untold costs in devastated cities, burning oil wells, oil spillages in the sea, hundred of thousands killed and maimed, polluted water supplies, cholera epidemics, the Shiite and Kurdish massacres.
If you ever thought that voting for the Labor Party meant saving the environment, just remember, — there's an oily dollar behind everyone of them. Why would they send frigates to the Gulf war? Why give "resource security" to BHP to prospect and plunder e-calving areas? Why give US companies open slather in Australian waters?
There's more to this Labor government's corruption than just Laurie Connell.
Willy Bach was a Green Alliance candidate in the recent Brisbane City Council elections.