Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Technology , Accidents and risk Taking

The large spill, 267000 gallons, that occured on March 2, 2006 on the north slope of Alaska is another example still of the risks that we take in our never ending search for oil and our dependence on technology.

BP is the owner of the pipeline that developed that leak which is causing tremendous damage to the ecology of the area. No doubt BP did not wish for the oil spill to occur and I am confident that they have used the best available technology in the construction and subsequent operation of the pipeline in question. Unfortunately welds do weaken , metal does fatigue and a quarter inch rupture can go undetected. And yet we go on producing nuclear waste that we do not know how to dispose off and drilling for oil in ecologically sensitive areas in order to satisfy our voracious appetites for gadgetry.