US auctions huge area of Gulf of Mexico for oil

[orthoclad]

from the Guardian:
"...Department of the Interior offered up a vast area of the central and western Gulf, including plunging deep water reaches, for drilling projects that will stretch out over decades, despite scientists’ urgent warnings that fossil fuels must be rapidly phased out if the world is to avoid disastrous global heating. "

snip

"In all, 73.3m acres (30m hectares), an area roughly the size of Italy, was made available to drilling companies, less than a month before the 13th anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. The sale, known as lease 259, had the potential to extract more than 1bn barrels of oil and 4.4tn cubic feet of gas over the next 50 years, according to the US federal government."

We learned nothing from Deepwater Horizon. Except maybe how oil companies get away with it.

snip

"“These leases were brought back to life by the IRA but there was no legal reason to offer almost the entire Gulf of Mexico to the oil and gas industry,” said George Torgun, an attorney at Earthjustice, which claims the drilling, aside from its climate impacts, will further burden communities of color who live beside polluting refineries along the coast and endanger the Rice’s whale, a species endemic to the gulf with fewer than 50 individuals remaining."

Oh boy. More Cancer Alleys.
And gasp! Earthjustice, the people that DHS put out a special fusion center bulletin in Ohio calling them "special interest terrorists" (along with Erin Brockovitch).

snip

"“The truth is Earth doesn’t care about politics, it cares about greenhouse gases in atmosphere,” said Alex Ruane, a Nasa climate scientist and lead IPCC author."

The Guardian says this is to mollify Joe Manchin. The Senate-thing for about 3 million people. He has a yacht, so I guess he's immune to disaster. He certainly won't die with his impoverished people in the flooded, burnt, landsliding hollers.

Link:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/29/gulf-of-mexico-oil-gas-drilling-joe-biden-auction

I fight hard against a climate doomer attitude, which is as destructive as climate denial, but...
Nature doesn't negotiate. It acts. Cat 7 storms?

[Mickju]

1. This is an abomination.

[Hope22]

2. Because it's worked so well in the past.

I don’t think the last disaster has been cleaned up yet and how long ago was it that they dumped dispersant chemicals in the gulf to hide the problem?

[orthoclad]

6. Tie that in with

MS spending millions to restore oyster reefs and failing.
I heard people describe opening Gulf oysters and seeing an oil sheen.

The reefs are like barrier islands -- they help protect the coast from storm energy. Besides the ecosystem services like filtering water and providing habitat.

I love the Gulf. It's very beautiful, and provides a lot of people a sustainable living. But the gold rush mentality wins.

[RockRaven]

3. What are centuries of famine, war, depopulation compared to next quarter, year, decade's GDP?

The choice is clear!

[Backseat Driver]

4. OK - that does it; anxiety off the charts

Climate change, refugees of war, disaster, domestic violence food-chain damage on land and sea w/DDT and microplastics; Marburg outbreak in Africa; more drilling where experts say there MAY be deep pits of abundant fossil fuel; fear of fascism and democratic voter suppression; species extinction and invasive species bans, gender identity and orientation, killing women's human right to choose - Will I live to suffer through the accellerating consequences of whatever is forced, banned, actually happens? I'm going to bed to turn off the paltry inadequate magic solutions of imagination and disregard critical thinking survival mode for a few hours; wish me luck!

[orthoclad]

5. Deep breaths

I know what you're feeling.

I hope you had a good sleep.