{"id":143,"date":"2012-10-30T11:54:30","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T16:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/?p=143"},"modified":"2012-10-30T11:54:30","modified_gmt":"2012-10-30T16:54:30","slug":"on-fossil-fuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/2012\/10\/30\/on-fossil-fuels\/","title":{"rendered":"On Fossil Fuels"},"content":{"rendered":"

Global warming deniers make me mad.\u00a0 Not because they are wrong, that\u2019s expected.\u00a0 They are no worse than creationists in that regard.\u00a0 They may be stupid, or deluded, or in it for the money, or just innocent rubes with no critical thinking skills.\u00a0 But they piss me off because of their arguments and how close to home (literally) it hits me.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m not going to go into the arguments for global warming.\u00a0 This is a really good place to start: Realclimate.org<\/a>. If you are interested in the science, then you can go there and learn a lot.\u00a0 In this post however, we’re going to look at some other reasons why, even if global warming didn’t exist, it would still be a good idea to get rid of fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

I mentioned that this hits close to home.\u00a0 I grew up and lived in a refinery town for over 30 years.\u00a0 My family members all worked for refineries.\u00a0 I grew up, literally, next door to a refinery.\u00a0 The waste gas flares would shake the windows at night.<\/p>\n

My high school was across the street from one of the top ten polluting refineries in the US.\u00a0 My best friend had asthma all through school, he couldn’t participate in any sports because of of it.\u00a0 He moved away from SE Texas 16 years ago and hasn’t had an attack since.<\/p>\n

My father has a variety of cancers in his face due to refinery work.\u00a0 You see, the “full body” suits do not cover the face.\u00a0 He has had 50% of his tongue removed due to an unknown cancer.\u00a0 Considering he doesn’t smoke or even drink that much, this is surprising.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s see what global deniers want and why they hate us.<\/p>\n

Not in My Backyard<\/h3>\n

First of all, my favorite argument, which basically boils down \u2018not in my backyard\u2019.\u00a0 This is the denier saying how ugly wind turbines are and how solar panels degrade the looks of buildings and the ground.\u00a0 This is what they don\u2019t like:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Wind-Turbine-Generators–Palm-Springs–California<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll freely admit that this isn’t pretty.\u00a0 Besides, the turbines are way too close together and not nearly high enough off the ground (though the scale is hard to judge).\u00a0 Here’s a more modern wind farm in Spain.<\/p>\n

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This, on the other hand is what the deniers want.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

sunoco-eagle_point_refinery<\/p>\n

Yeah, that\u2019s soooooo much better.\u00a0 And let\u2019s save the pollution talk for later on (hint: I wouldn\u2019t put my body in any water within 10 miles of this place).\u00a0 Pollution is a huge, epic sized point in favor of non-fossil fuel energy, but it’s so big it deserves another post.<\/p>\n

So remember, you guys who live in the mountains and deny global warming cause you got record snows this year\u2026 that refinery is what you want.\u00a0 And by doing so, you are saying that you don\u2019t care anything for the people who work in or live near these hell-holes.<\/p>\n

Oh, here\u2019s another picture, just to keep you warm at night.\u00a0 And this something that will never happen with wind turbines or solar panels.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

big_springs_refinery_fire<\/p>\n

Whoops\u2026 looks like someone had a little boo boo.\u00a0 But that\u2019s what global warming deniers want.\u00a0 They want the people near these refineries to die slow horrible deaths\u2026 or quick ones.<\/p>\n

What About Deaths!?!?!?<\/h3>\n

People die in refineries<\/a>.\u00a0 There have been 46 deaths in refineries from 1988 \u2013 2004 (according to that one source).\u00a0 Now this only includes direct causes (explosions and fires).\u00a0 It does not include the 15 dead at the Texas City BP explosion<\/a>, because those were not refinery employees, but outside contractors.\u00a0 It does not include incidents with fewer than 3 people killed.\u00a0 It does not include injuries (over 100 at Texas City in 2005).\u00a0 It is not international.\u00a0 It does not include deaths related to cancer, asbestosis, or any of a hundred other diseases that refinery employees regularly get.\u00a0 Note that many of these diseases can be applied not only to refinery employees, but to the communities around the refineries.\u00a0 If you think no one would build a city next to a refinery, well just come visit SE Texas.<\/p>\n

According to this: http:\/\/www.wind-works.org\/articles\/BreathLife.html<\/a> (and I freely admit that this is a nebulous source, but this data is difficult to find.\u00a0 There have been 12 deaths in the US directly attributable to wind turbines.\u00a0 All of them workers in the industry.<\/p>\n

What are Waste Gas Flares<\/h3>\n

I mentioned waste gas flares earlier.\u00a0 Those of you not familiar with the refinery industry don\u2019t know what these are.\u00a0 Here are two pictures.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is the burning of excess hydrocarbons (and rarely chemicals).\u00a0 Wait, burning excess hydrocarbons?\u00a0 Why would anyone burn this stuff?\u00a0 We need it don\u2019t we?<\/p>\n

Yes, we do.\u00a0 However, flares are exceedingly important to the life of a refinery.\u00a0 You see, excess pressures often build up beyond the ability of the refinery infrastructure (pipes and pumps) to handle.\u00a0 The excess pressure is dumped into the flare.<\/p>\n

If the pressure isn’t relieved through what is basically a giant Bunsen burner, the refinery could explode.\u00a0 Yeah, I\u2019ll take the flare over an explosion, especially since I lived next to a refinery.<\/p>\n

But, fuel is wasted.\u00a0 The energy of that fuel is wasted.\u00a0 Pollution is generated.\u00a0 All for no return.<\/p>\n

Some Hard Questions for Global Warming Deniers<\/h3>\n

How about the toxic fumes that literally stripped the pantyhose of women\u2019s legs as they walked to class (Lamar University)?<\/p>\n

How about the river that is so polluted by oil and chemical dumping that ships would travel up it to kill all the barnacles on their hulls? (Neches River circa 1975)<\/p>\n

Do you want your kids to go to high school across the street from one of the top five polluting refineries in the US (top 10 in the world)?<\/p>\n

Have you ever been confined to your house for two days because of an explosion or fire at a nearby refinery?<\/p>\n

You want to come with me to my mom\u2019s house and read a newspaper at midnight by the light of the waste-gas flares?\u00a0 How about listening to the windows rattle because of it?<\/p>\n

Have you ever seen a car that has parked in a refinery lot for a few years, with all the paint stripped off the hood, top, and trunk by chemical fumes?<\/p>\n

How about the direct deaths caused by explosions and toxic leaks in refineries?<\/p>\n

How about the indirect deaths from cancer, asbestosis and dozens of other diseases?<\/p>\n

You want to talk about the billions of dollars wasted when oil tankers ran aground or oil rigs failed and all the wildlife deaths caused by it and the shrimpers and crabbers who couldn’t work because of it?<\/p>\n

None of that would happen with wind and solar power.\u00a0 None of it.\u00a0 Everything on that list is preventable.<\/p>\n

Oil is disgusting.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t believe me, come stay with us for a few days and let\u2019s go on a tour of SE Texas.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just<\/strong> about global warming.\u00a0 It\u2019s about pollution.\u00a0 It\u2019s about quality of life.\u00a0 It\u2019s about sustainable living.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Global warming deniers make me mad.\u00a0 Not because they are wrong, that\u2019s expected.\u00a0 They are no worse than creationists in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,9,36,45,10],"tags":[93,94],"class_list":["post-143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-evironment","category-life","category-society","category-technology","tag-fossil-fuels","tag-renewable-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/smilodonsretreat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}