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Brian Briggs
Race, Poverty and the Environment
Professor Raquel Pinderhughes
Urban Studies Program
San Francisco State University
Spring 2004
Public has permission to use the material
herein, but only if author, course,
university, and professor are credited.
nobloodforoil.org
http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter08.html
Finding Oil
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oildrilling2.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling1.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling2.htm
Drilling
Directions on drilling
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling1.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling4.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling4.htm
The Rainforest Action Network in an article named Drilling to the Ends of the Earth, states, The
Uwa of Colombia, the Karen of Burma, the Nahua of Peru all of these indigenous peoples and
dozens more are threatened by the global expansion of the oil industry.
In the same article, it is said that, The World Bank plans to fund an oil pipeline through Central
African rainforests that will bring huge profits to Shell, Exxon, and Elf while causing environmental
havoc. Also, The oil companies are about to build a 600-mile pipeline from the Daba oil fields in
Chad to coastal Cameroon, slashing through fragile rainforest that is home to the Baka and Bakola
peoples, communities of traditional hunters-gatherers.
In Nigeria oil disasters are common and in one case 200 villagers died in a pipeline explosion in
2000. Often times safety standards are more lax in developing countries than developed countries
benefiting oil companies
The governments of nation states use bloody military tactics to quell uprisings and protests to oil
fields by indigenous people who are protecting their land. These states are given money to exploit
indigenous populations and are expected to protect the interests of the oil companies.
The dumping of a million liters of waste into an abandoned oil well by Shell
caused the presence of heavy metals at above acceptable limits and the
unusually high concentrations of ions make the substance toxic. If these
substances were to infiltrate the underground water or aquifer, it would have
serious environmental and health implications.
The World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Oil companies, and the
governments of the world overlook environmental impact studies which
conclude that oil extraction directly causes deforestation, poaching, loss of
community land, water contamination, and health impacts to people, animal
and flora life.
http://www.schoolscience.co.uk/content/4/chemistry/fossils/p7.html
Environmental Disaster
Numbers of Spills
over 700 tonnes
The coastal waters of north-west Spain support rich marine and bird life virtually all of which is threatened by the Prestige oil spill.
Scientists are concerned about the threat to the Balearic shearwater bird
because in 1991, the population was estimated to be approximately 3,300
breeding pairs, but by 2000 this had been reportedly reduced to between
1,750 and 2,125 pairs.
When the oil reaches coastal waters, it wreaks far more damage on fragile
ecosystems, some of them vital to local human economies.
It is possible for shellfish to be tainted by the toxicity of the oil over periods
of years.
This has severe implications for not only the shellfish populations
themselves, but the creatures, including birds and humans, which feed on
them
Oil spills occur all around the world and many disasters like this happened in
the past and will continue in the future, causing widespread devastation to
the environment and those entities which inhabit it.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling1.htm
Fractional Distillation
The steps are as follows.
1.Heat the mixture of two or more substances with
different boiling points to a high temperature. Heating is usually done
with high-pressure steam to temperatures of about 1112 degrees
Fahrenheit/600 degrees Celsius
2. The mixture boils, forming vapor (gases): most substances go into
the vapor phase.
3. The vapor enters the bottom of a long column (fractional distillation
column) that is filled with trays or plates.
4. The vapor rises in the column
5. As the vapor rises through the trays in the column, it cools.
6. When a substance in the vapor reaches a height where the
temperature of the column is equal to the substances boiling point, it
will condense to form a liquid.
7.The trays collect the various liquid fractions
8.The collected liquid fractions may pass to condensers, which cool
them further, and then go to storage tanks or go to other areas for
further chemical processing.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining5.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining5.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oilrefining5.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining3.htm
been detected in so many wells, lakes and underground aquifers across the
country that MTBE contamination is a major environmental problem.
In California -- home to 27 million vehicles and more than 9,500 gas stations
-- MTBE has contaminated 10,000 shallow groundwater sites, including
1,000 in the Bay Area. It has also been found in dozens of the state's lakes
and reservoirs, including Shasta, Tahoe and Donner in the north and
Castaic, Pyramid and Perris in the south.
The U.S. Geological Survey has found the controversial additive in more
than a quarter of the nation's shallow urban wells, as well as in streams,
lakes, rain and snow.
Researchers have found that MTBE can cause cancer in animals, and they
believe it is a potential carcinogen in human beings.
In South Lake Tahoe, leaks at underground gas station tanks have caused
the water district to close 12 of 34 wells.
http://www.detroithummer.com/weeklyspecia
ls.html
http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch5en
http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/non-renewable/oil.html
V. Waste Processes
Carbon dioxide is released to the atmosphere when fossil fuels (oil, natural gas,
and coal), are burned.
Plastics are dumped into landfills if not recycled and seep into the earth over time.
An oil well can produce at least 1,500 tons of toxic drilling muds which are
dumped into rivers, streams and soils.
The average refinery generates 10,000 gallons a day of waste that contains many
toxic chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, breathing problems and
other serious health effects.
Global Warming
VI: Conclusion
Focusing our attention on the aspects of race, class and oil, my
thoughts about the lifecycle of oil is that the world needs oil, just
not as much oil. It is unfortunate that oil companies profit at the
expense of the environment and people based on race, and class.
What angers me the most is the oil companies dont care about
their actions but instead are preoccupied with greed. I find it sad
that the top 20% of oil consumers consume 80% at the expense of
poor and minority communities who are barely benefiting from it, if
at all. Although the entire world is negatively impacted by oil
consumption, poor and minority communities are overburdened by
the Condoleezza Rices, George Bushs, Dick Cheneys, of the
world amongst others who highly profit from it. I find it also
disgusting that the above listed shady characters are the leaders
of the biggest oil consumer, the United States. Furthermore, not
enough is being done to implement alternatives, many of which
can be widely mainstreamed into society.
Alternatives
Bio-diesel: If 100 million hectares is brought under cultivation we can get castor seeds
of 150 million tonnes out of which we can get 50 million tonnes of oil
Hybrid Cars: an internal combustion engine with an electric motor that is used at lower
speeds
Wind Power: Uses wind instead of burning fossil fuels
Ride a bike: Stop being lazy
Public Transportation: Sit down and read a book. Also, public transportation should
focus on using an alternative to gasoline, and diesel.
SUVs: SUVs arent needed to drive around town. If you need one to go camping and
etc., rent one.
Solar power: Instead of burning fossil fuels for electricity, use the sun. Stop paying
Pacific Gas and Electricity. They are rich enough.
These and other alternatives can help save the environment and
reduce the negative impacts to people.
References
http://www.junkscience.com/dec98/sf
mtbe.htm
http://www.cbecal.org/alerts/oil/index.
shtml
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/globa
lwarming/what.html
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwar
ming.nsf/content/Impacts.html
http://www.ecoaction.org/dt/mad2.html
http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/
photos/exxon/exxon.html
http://acclaimimages.com/
http://chevron.com/
http://
www.shell.com/home/Framework?site
Id
=home
http://www.bp.com/home.do
http://www.76.com/
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oildrilling2.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-
drilling3.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oildrilling4.htm
http://www.moles.org/uwa/index.html
http://www.schoolscience.co.uk/content/4
/chemistry/fossils/p7.html
http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/phot
os/exxon/exxon.html
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oildrilling1.htm
ktvu.com
http://www.detroithummer.com/weeklyspe
cials.html
http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch
5en
http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/nonrenewable/oil.html
References
http://www.itopf.com/stats.html
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oilrefining2.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oilrefining5.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oilrefining3.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oilrefining6.htm