Carbon Chaos

Abstract

The mining, processing, and transport of fossil fuels by road, rail, and pipelines is inherently dangerous. There have been some spectacular accidents over the past few years, but most incidents are small-scale spills, leaks, contamination, and pollution that goes unreported by the media. Coal is the worst offender. It damage the health of miners, pollutes the environment, and emits large quantities of carbon dioxide when used as a fuel in power plants. The need to transport petroleum products over long distances has resulted in disastrous accidents almost everywhere in the world. Drilling rigs, oil tankers, and pipelines have all failed spectacularly—often with numerous fatalities and enormous damage to the environment. Transporting oil by train, which has become much more common in the US and Canada, has also resulted in terrible accidents. Offshore oil exploration and production has occasionally resulted in catastrophic accidents and enormous environmental damage. The Macondo (Deepwater Horizon) well disaster is examined in detail. Data on oil tanker accidents, oil train derailments, and pipeline spills and leaks are presented together with a review of fracking.