Unless you have been living under a rock for a year, you have heard about the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline (Oil Sands Pipeline) and how destructive it will be to our environment and water farms. This along with the enormous amount of water used by power companies is a serious threat to the planet and ultimately, all of us.
To quote from “Thirsty Power Plants Threaten Watersheds, Study Finds” : Kent Saathoff, a vice president of theElectric Reliability Council of Texas, who said last month, “If we don’t get any rain between now and next summer, there could be several thousand megawatts of generators that won’t have sufficient cooling water to operate next summer.”
Texas may offer a preview of what happens in a warming world. In 2007, there were blackouts in parts of North Carolina because a drought affected the Catawba River. “The thirst of the region’s power plants became incompatible with what the river had to give,” the report said.
•”To quote from “Power and Water At Risk”: Across the United States, our demand for electricity is colliding with our need for healthy and abundant freshwater….
Power plant water withdrawals and related water consumption can have significant impacts on local water availability for other users and for aquatic ecosystems. Withdrawals can also harm wildlife such as fish, turtles, and other aquatic species that are sucked into or trapped by intake mechanisms. As for water quality, coal and nuclear plants discharge water in the summer at an average temperature 17°F warmer than when it entered the plant. This warmer water can harm wildlife, as can chemicals such as chlorine, bromine, and biocides that may be introduced into the water during plant operations…..
This is no futuristic scenario—these risks exist across the country, collisions are happening now, and the impacts are being felt by the power sector, its customers, and other water users.”
Finding new reserves of oil and natural gas SOUNDS great but is it really? These new sources only work in the short run as a temporary “Band-Aid” that lulls us into thinking we can continue to run on fossil fuels and deplete our watersheds forever. Each new find slows the urgency to develop other sources. Regardless of where fossil fuels come from, they are not a renewable source. Regardless of how much electricity we need, the process depletes our global supplies.
Oil and gas companies have so much money, power, and politically pull, the urgency to find and fund new renewable sources is stunted and in some cases, stopped completely.
People WILL continue to fight corporations, politicians, and energy companies for clean water……look at what is happening with fracking? They have proven that the flammable and dangerous chemicals found in drinking water in many of the fracking areas……are chemicals ONLY found in the toxic mix used in this process. But I am sure many (who have a vested and financial interest in protecting energy companies) have their own paid “scientists” that say “the pollutions could not possibly come from the toxic chemicals and water blasted into the earth and into possible underground water supplies” REALLY? Are you kidding me?
Our natural resources like water, are not renewable. We have a finite amount and critical shortages are rapidly appearing around the globe. Future wars will be fought over this and if we continue to only work towards short term fixes, we will regret it as a species.
Many people, especially people in power, subscribe to the thinking that this planet is a temporary “weigh station.” They feel that the Earth is of little importance because of a supernatural being in control with his/her own plan to destroy the planet or remake it into “paradise.” Why worry about “investing in a new sewer system if you are waiting for someone to demolish the house?” This type of thinking, along with the belief that “man has dominion over all of the earth’s resources and animals,” just exacerbates the problem.
On one of my favorite t-shirts it says, “There is NO Planet B” Sadly, the type of future or progressive thinking along the lines of preserving the Earth for the future of humanity, is demonized in many political and corporate circles. Until there is a crisis of gargantuan proportions, such as glaciers and ice caps melting (Oh wait…..they are!) or until it completely upsets the global conveyer and weather systems……..no one will do what is necessary to stop upsetting the balance……and this is just ONE crisis looming on the horizon. Then again, the gargantuan crisis will be blamed on the supernatural being’s “plan” for the earth to be destroyed so…….those of us who would like to see the only planet we have, preserved along with its vast resources, are screwed……at least our future generations will be.
It’s almost like we are TRYING to destroy the planet and our species. If not, we are certainly giving it our best shot. Will we miss clean water when we are thirsty and there is nothing left to drink?
