1971_04 The Daily Collegian April 1971

              THE DAILY COLLEGIAN    Thuraday. April 22. 1971
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TODAY & EVERY DAY IS EARTH PAY | 0|L yp0N TR0UBLED WATERS...
By Si
e Soriano
During 1960, two hundred thirty-four ships carrying cargoes of
oil crashed into one another,
dashed themselves upon reefs, or
otherwise did themselves ln.
During 1966- the last year
for which such figures are available - toe waters of the U.S.
had 2,000 oil spUls of One kind
or another. Perhaps the most
publicized and best remembered
oil spill of the decade came ta
1969 wlto the blowout of Union
Oil's Platform 'A' five miles off
Santa Barbara in January of that
year. That catastrophe spread oil
over 800 square miles of the Santa
Barbara Channel and gooed and
blackened almost 45 miles of
beachfront. Estimates of the
amount of oil dumped Into the
ocean ranged from 200,000 gal-
Ions (Department of Interior and
Union Oil) to 2,000,000 gallons
(Independent expert Alan Allen of
General Research Corp.)
This year has already produced oil splUs which have
reached catastrophic^propor-
tlons. Spills Uke the Jan. 18,1971
spill which was caused when six
Standard Oil Company ships
crashed Into each other Just west
of the Golden Gate Bridge. That
crash dumped an estimated 840,
000 gallons of bunker fuel into
the Bay. Five days later on Jan.
23, 1971, Standard Oil Company's
Esso Gettysburg tanker ran
aground near New Haven, Connecticut, producing a spill of
386,000 gallons. Five days after
that Incident another Standard Oil
Company tanker crashed Into
some rocks on the WiUamette
River in Portland, Oregon, producing an-oil splUof over 1,000
The situation has advanced to
the point where off the coast of
Labrador some 350,000 birds a
year become sufficiently covered
with oil that they (a) cannot fly,
or (b) because of some natural
bouyancy has been lnterferred
with, cannot float, or (c) because
their food supply Is similarly
coated, cannot eat without being
poisoned.
The experience throughout toe
IS THE WORLD THE STAKES
IN THE BLACK GOLD RUSH?
world haa been that at least 90
per cent of all birds ao afflicted
by oil die, no matter what attempts are made Jo save them.
The Santa Barbara and S.F. Bay
oil Incidents alone caused the
deaths of over 6,000 sea gulls
and beach birds.
World wide, several million
birds are klUed by oil every year.
So are seals, otters, fish and
billions of undersea organisms
that they feed on. And the number
is growing.
Until recently the death of
•subhuman' creatures was not
considered worthy of comment.
But from an ecological point ot
view, oil on birds' wings is a
crime against evolution (oil Is not
a thing a species has time to
adapt to, like colder weather). It
Is no less an outrage than smog
ln human lungs or deadly pesticides In our food.
There Is also some human self-
interest Involved here. If we destroy enough of the oceans, we
may do outselves In. Everything
works together. W. C. Fields once
put lt this way: 'If there ain't
no chickens, Harry, there ain't
no eggs.'
It Is worth noting therefore,
that seven oil companies are
about to begin a project which
could produce, eventually, a variety of oil disasters which will
make the Santa Barbara and San
Francisco spills seem like the
puddles between the wheels of
your car. Here are the details.
Hot oil through the tundra
Because the new Environmental Policy Act requires it to do
SO, the Department of the Interior
recently reported on the environmental hazards of a proposed
789-mlle hot oil pipeline from
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, across our
largest remaining wilderness
area, to Valdez, Alaska, a sea- -
. The report states that the plpe-
llne will greatly Impair the Alas -
' just byltspres-
The report shows that the plpe-
llne would disturb wilderness and
countless species of wildlife In
hundreds of ways and goes on to
list several examples:
1. Each mile of the new pipeline will contain 500,000 gallons
dr oil, traveling seven miles an
hour, at a temperature of 150-
180 degrees F. Every mile of
pipe, therefore, wtll contain an
amount of oil greater than that
spilled In Santa Barbara. Only 12
shut-off stations are planned
along the 789 mile route - 60
miles apart - so a break ln the
line could produce an oil spill
equivalent to 120SantaBarbaras.
2. The effects of a splU In
Alaska are far worse than ln
temperate zones, where oil degrades after a few years. In the
fragile, cold tundra landscape, It
wlU remain, and pollute for centuries. What's more, the Alaskan
oil Is of a particularly toxic type.
3. The heat of the oil Inside
the pipe Is one reason why spills
as a brand new Los Angeles hospital recently was. The 'tank
farm*, storage complex at Valdez
ta actually located to anareathat
was totally destroyed during tbe
1964 Alaskan quake. Tbe oU companies teU us that if ihe tanks
should break ta an earthquake
the oil wlU be contained by a dyke.
But, ta the opinion of this writer,
any earthquake which breaks toe
tanks would also probably break
toe dyke.
5. The Interior Department
says, comfortingly, that 'safeguards* will be taken, but adds
this: 'There le toe probability
that some oil spills will occur
even under the most stringent
conditions.'
- 6. The oil wlU be put Into
ocean-going tankers at Valdez
which, ta addition to being ferocious earthquake country, Is also
one of the stormiest harbors ln
the world. The tankers themselves wtll be 15 Umes the size
of those that caused the San
Francisco disaster. If toe captain of one of those large Alaskan
tankers sees trouble ahead while
going fuU speed, it wiU take him
shores would almost certainly be
affected.
Perhaps toe most frightening
fact to come out of toe Department oflnterior's InvesUgaUon of
toe pipeline was toe tact that
after listing all of toe hazards of
the pipeline, toe Department concluded that work on toe line should
proceed 'promptly.*
Its reasons for supporting It
had nothing lo do wtth the envlron-
'lf there ain't ho chickens, Harry,
there ain't no eggs.' — w. c. fields
are likely. Running through a
permafrost landscape which is as
much as 80 per cent frozen, the
heat from the oil can be expected
to turn the ground to mud, causing slippage and landslides, leaving the pipe dangerously unsup-
4. Also, the pipe will climb
ford 350 streams, and
1 v e earthquake faults
■nap the pipe as easily
a full half-hour to stop the ship.
And If one of those ships was to
crash while carrying a load of
oil the effects of that oil spill
would not be restricted to Just
Alaskan shorelines and waterways. Because ofthe water routes
to be used by those tankers and
those routes any spill would most
Ukely reach most of toe United
State's   west   coast.   CaUfornla
to be about. It all
down to this: Tbe pipeline
Is terrible enrirorraientally but
we've got to towe tt anyway, for
•security' and 'growth*. Sogoee
Since the  effects of toe pro-
cltlzens has banded together to
toe hopes of staUlng toe immediate implementation of the pipeline. One of their goals la to
cease construction of the pipeline
until further Investigation as to
Its effects on toe environment
can take place.
Tbe group, which calls Itself
•Friends of tbe Earth,* was
formed to 1969 and spectaUzee
ln out-front poUUcal action. In
the two years of its existence lt
has gained a membership of over
15,000 active supporters.
It Is a unique group ln the
ough Investigations of environmental problems and reUes solely on factual documented proof.
Such is the case with Its involvement with toe pipeline controversy. The groupslmplybelteves
that no work should be initiated
on toe pipeUne until further facto
are gathered.
Any persons Interested to
learning more about toe Alaskan
pipeUne situation or Just oil pollution ln general are urged to
write thc group. Their address is:
Mr. David Brower
Friends of the Earth
452 Pacific Ave.
San  Francisco,   Calif.  94133
If you don't take it upon yourself to get the facts or to be-
wasttog what UtUe time you had.
& FOREWARNED
Let the Earth reclaim your waste
'If you want to save your environment...'
You can recycle, at home, much
of the garbage you've been throwing away. In the form of compost
heaps you can return back to the
earth anything that was once
alive, except for meat scraps and
Constructing a compost heap,
usually caUed a 'garbage garden,' can be probably the roost
beneficial action you can take ln
helping to alleviate the mounting
problem of waste pollution.
Worked ta well, compost lightens
the soil and adds organic material, thereby returning some of
then with a layer of woll, and
Soak lt weU. Turn the pile about
once a week, keep It about as
wet as a squeezed sponge and
covered wlto soil. Adding a few
earthworms wlU help to Increase
decay. The pile should decompose
thoroughly ln 3 to 12 months, although warm weather will speed
up the process.
The pile should be rectangular
with vertical sides to give maximum     termination,    and   flat-
in will si
t In.*
have taken away. And, building
and maintaining a compost heap
takes half the effort that building
and maintaining a regular garden takes.
Here are some suggestions
regarding making and taking care
of your own compost heap:
Place your compost heap ln a
place which wiU be more or less
permanent. Put lt close to water
and, It possible shield lt from the
sight of your house or. apartment.
Next, put anything on the pile
that was once living material:
weeds, hedge clippings, sawdust,
coffee grounds, tea leaves, dead
plants, pet deposits, etc. but no
bones or meat scraps. Add a few
handfuls of Ume or fertilizer,
cover with a layer of manure and
fence corner can provide two
sides of a compost bin. Use charcoal, gravel, branches, or even a
pipe for drainage at the bottom of
your compost heap.
You can make a simple compost
heap wlto leaves, grass clippings
and vegetable scraps. Dig a hole
ln the back yard 3 feet by 4 feet
by. 12 inches. FiU It wlto your
leaves   or   grass   cuppings   or
and top soil. Just keep the heap
moist and covered with a light
layer of soil and that Is all that
is necessary to keep the simple
compost heap functioning.
Compost heaps are easy to
make and fun to maintain and
can be built almost anywhere.
Why not be first on your block
to start one? Then you can Impress your friends by saying that
you grow garbage ln your garden.
What you can do about stopping
pollution ta your home, garden,
community and government ta revealed In a recently printed pamphlet entitled "If You Want To
Save Your Environment.* The
pamphlet gives tostght to many of
our pollution problems and offers
of them. It also discusses ti
Tbe pamphlet, which sells for
Fresno at 487-1275.
'•Ecology la about everything
that maltea lite poaalbte. It la
about the led that all theae
thlnga depend on each other, and
il one *»«. aff suffer - )uet like
a matter ol beh
DAVE WIDKLOCK
The Earth belongs to the people
Laundry detergent warning
In toe last issue of the Forewarned Column I urged toe usage oA
several blo-degradeable laundry detergents, one of which was
ECOLO-G. Now, because of new facts concerning the safety of
ECOLO-G, I am warning people NOT to use the product.
The Food and Drug Administration has discovered that ECOLO-
G's sodium metaslUcate - the detergent's environment saving poos-
phate alternative - is 'toxic, corrosive to skin and toe cause of
sovere eye lrritaUon.'
FDA officials have ordered toe seizure of ECOLO-G and have ordered the manufacturer to recall stocks from stores on grounds that
package labeling did not point out toe product's harmful effects.
If anyone has purchased ECOLO-G they-should return it to toe
place of purchase and demand a refund. If the store refuses to refund your money, report them to toe Bettor Business Bureau of
'The fight against ecological
disaster cannot succeed if it does
not recognize the common obstacle to toe solution of all these
problems: In America, the wealth
of society Is produced for profit,
not for people. And the small
elite that gains power and wealth
from this system will use every
weapon at their command topre-
serve It, no matter whether they
see toe threat rising from the
people of Southeast Asia, Africa,
Latin America or, the United
States Itself. Onoe*»re understand
these things, It will be clear that
there Is only one way to deal
with our ecology problem:
ATTACK THE PROBLEM AT
ITS SOURCE.*
The People's Press
Editor's note: Persons having materials or articles pertaining to any aspect of environmental pollution, and
organizations Interested to
poUutton which wlU be eca»r
ducting projects concerotoi
tota problem, are urgtrf-JW.
notify this column. Your jKg
tides or activities wlU be p*r;
UcUuittBand all roaterli"
formation, etc to -Steve
mo, c/o toe Dally