GREEN Reactor: Vampire Blues
In the 70s Neil Young, sang…
I’m a vampire, babe,
Suckin’ blood from the earth
I’m a vampire, baby,
Suckin’ blood from the earth.
Well, I’m a vampire, babe,
Sell you twenty barrels worth.
Forty damn years later, long after we were supposed to be FLYING our cars and living in solar houses, we still SUCK. We’re sucking over 7 million barrels of crude out of the ground EVERY DAY in the US. And that doesn’t even count all of that horrendous fracked natural gas. The US is on track to exceed Saudi Arabia’s massive output before too long. Why are we here?
It’s primarily because Republican administrations keep undoing all the progress that had been made toward weaning ourselves off the dark stuff. They have decided that concern for the environment is a character flaw to be railed against, and that there are political points to be won by repealing or gutting the progressive acts of previous enlightened lawmakers, once in the driver’s seat. Add to that their mantra of “profit trumps everything” and whatever impedes big profits for Big Oil is fair game for the trash heap. Along with all the other trash fouling our Earth that’s of no concern to them.
Anyone with any sense knows we MUST get off the carbon-based energy dole if we want our planet to avoid moving toward the apocalypse so common in the movies these days. An apocalypse that’s not a fantasy – one that our children will begin to experience after we’re gone, and our grandchildren will know as “daily life”. We are on track to overheat the planet, lose much of our potable water and our productive land and sea — within a couple of generations. We should ALREADY be fixing this, but instead we’re proceeding full speed ahead at finding new sources of carbon-based energy. And spending tremendous sums to get it out of the ground and (after consumption) into the atmosphere. 
We’re even ignoring the dire warnings of our recent past in the quest to drill baby drill. The “Deepwater Horizon” oil spill – the worst oil spill in history! – was just 3 years ago. Yet Big Oil is pressing to expand into even more pristine (e.g., Artic Circle) and/or populated (near-shore Florida) areas. They are getting a welcome message from Teapublican governments of several states, and a big boost from the short memories of the populous. Though Deepwater Horizon was horrendous, an insidious effort to minimize oil-soaked birds (and beaches and other wildlife) left a lot of people thinking it wasn’t such a big deal. How could this be?
For the first time with a major spill, new barely tested “dispersant” technology was used to break up the slicks. Nasty chemicals did the trick and the oil sank to the bottom as toxic pellets. Beaches remained mostly clean! But there is more and more evidence surfacing that indicates the extensive damage is just out of sight (and out of mind for many). Now we know there’s a massive area of Gulf-bottom affected by all of that crap, and it will be for years to come. Much of the food-chain in the area and all over the Gulf has been affected, 
including mutated shrimp and fish, and even toxic sperm whales! Big Oil’s reaction: It’s normal for the Gulf. Scientists say: Bullshit!
But nope, now they even want to drill baby drill in Naples, Florida within miles of the pristine Big Cyprus Natural Preserve and the Picayune Strand State Forest. This is in the ever-shrinking free-range of the highly endangered Florida Panther. Many families (with drinking water wells) live in close proximity to the proposed well-site. This would be a no-brainer NO just a few years ago. Unfortunately now Florida’s state Dept of Environmental Protection has become the Dept of Environmental Rejection, and this thing just might get approved. But why, in these days we’re already pumping more than ever before, days were we SHOULD be moving more toward renewable energy, are they even ASKING to drill in places like this? It’s insane!
TOMORROW (Sat, Aug 31) there will be a march on the Governor’s house demanding that this be denied. Judging by Governor Scott’s strict adherence to the ALEC playbook, don’t expect any help from that quarter. But we MUST continue to organize and work together to find the stake to drive into the heart of this insidious vampire. Before it sucks the life out of us all.