

A natural oil seep in Ventura County, CA
California environmental group advocates drilling to reduce oil pollution on local beaches













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By CZroe on 8/31/2008 11:25:21 PM , Rating: 2
I'm all for drilling, but is this technically "pollution" if it is natural? I mean, I'm sure that it can't be a good thing when combined with the man-made oil spills and there may be a "balancing out" effect in preventing it this way, but it's hard to argue that we are saving the environment from itself if "seepage" is natural, long-running, and on-going.

Oil is a valuable resource that is finite and I am all for recovering what would otherwise go to waste as long as the impact is minimal. They should do studies into seepage to see if any life forms or ecosystems, however small, rely on it and see if they can survive on the oil introduced to the sea by man alone.

I also believe that the bans have more to do with conserving our supply until our economy is absolutely desperate as a means of buying us time for an energy-crisis change-over and generating revenue when world-wide production runs out. By then, there will be much more head-way into alternatives. I'm all for drilling our resources... when the time is right.

By MrTeal on 9/4/2008 12:07:31 PM , Rating: 2
I think the idea you talk about come at least partially from the widely held view of the earth as some giant organism that regulates itself. It is not; it's a giant mass of elements spinning out in space. Things like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and asteroid impacts are natural, but that doesn't mean they're good for life. Oil seepage, though natural, probably doesn't have a net positive impact on the environment.

