I Get Your Drift

In 1989, a large oil tanker, the Exxon Valdez, bound for Long Beach, California, struck a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound, cracking open and discharging a massive amount of ugly black Prudhoe Bay crude oil. No one knows exactly how much, but the estimates run between 260,000 and 750,000 barrels of oil. Remote and inaccessible, but located in an exceptionally sensitive natural environment, the leak decimated local wildlife, including otters, seals, salmon and other fish, orcas, gulls and other birds. Hundreds of millions of dollars later, the mess is still not completely cleaned up. “Despite the extensive cleanup attempts, less than ten percent of the oil was recovered and a study conducted by NOAA determined that as of early 2007 more than 26 thousand U.S. gallons (98 m³) of oil remain in the sandy soil of the contaminated shoreline, declining at a rate of less than 4% per year.” Wikipedia

That was the worst recorded oil leak – until the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and resulting uncapping of an under-sea wellhead into a very productive oil reserve in the Gulf of Mexico. 11 men were killed, and an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil leaked into the Gulf and the surrounding shoreline, decimating wildlife, shorelines, undersea environments and the economic viability of those who relied on beach-driven tourism, fishing or other occupations that generated income from the Gulf. The consequences have yet to be totally tallied or understood, but the dollar costs this time around were in the billions.

That was then, and that was oil. In March of last year, the 9.0 Great East Japan Earthquake unleashed a gigantic tidal wave that crashed into northeastern Japan, crushing people and towns in its path. One of the targets was the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power generating station that ultimately faced a full-on nuclear meltdown (actually seven meltdowns in three reactors) and contamination in the surrounding region, with life altering devastation for hundreds of thousands of people and a slam into an already trampled Japanese economy. Almost 16,000 people lost their lives from the quake and the horrific aftermath. The World Bank estimated that the overall economic cost this time around was in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Oh, and there is this one additional consequence, one that may impact the United States rather directly.

There is a huge sea of “floating damage” that has been drifting east with the Gulf Stream, heading for North American shores. The tsunami “swept up to 25 million tons of debris out to sea. That debris--including houses, gas stations, cars, and boats--is now floating around in the ocean. But where it will end up and how we will dispose of it is still up for debate.” FastCompany.com, January 26^th. “At this very moment, [that massive debris island] occupying an area roughly the size of California--is a on a collision course for the North American west coast.” Huffington Post, February 13^th.

Computer tracking (image above), done by our National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), suggests that this massive debris will hit the Pacific Northwest this spring or summer, and may leave a garbage load in Hawaii sometime this winter. Maybe. “‘According to modeling and minimal observations, the debris is currently kind of sitting off the northwest territory of the Hawaiian islands,’ explains Mary T. Crowley, the founder of Project Kaisei--which studies the Great Pacific Garbage Patch [see below] -- and president of the Ocean Voyages Institute. ‘Because it’s an important marine sanctuary area with lots of reef and ocean habitat, we hope that it will not land there.’ Crowley believes that the debris could be headed to Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia next.” FastCompany.com.

On the other hand, it could just join a massive accumulation of trash (some estimate 100 million tons) right smack in the middle of the Pacific Ocean known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, “The Patch is characterized by exceptionally high concentrations of pelagic plastics, chemical sludge, and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre. Despite its size and density, the patch is not visible from satellite photography, since it consists primarily of suspended particulates in the upper water column. Since plastics break down to ever smaller polymers, concentrations of submerged particles are not visible from space, nor do they appear as a continuous debris field. Instead, the patch is defined as an area in which the mass of plastic debris in the upper water column is significantly higher than average.” Wikipedia

So what do you do with this mess? “It’s hard to say exactly at this point how large pieces of tsunami debris can be cleaned up, but Crowley speculates that barges, cranes, and excavators--"ocean construction kind of equipment," she says--will be used… The Rozalia Project, meanwhile, is already at work removing ocean debris with a combination of nets, remotely operated underwater robots (they come equipped with a manipulator to grab trash), and sonar. But without giant robot manipulators and huge, ultra-strong nets, this won’t be enough to gather up at least some of the tsunami debris.” FastCompany. And then? Some say create a “recycled island.” Others want to turn at least some of the debris into fuel. But that big ugly mess in the Pacific is increasingly absorbing stray patching of oil as well. One big question remains: who’s going to pay for all this? Man and the environment – an uncomfortable duo.

I’m Peter Dekom, and as the world economy teeters, tyrants and rebels kill each other, greenhouse gasses accumulate, and as potential Iranian nuclear weapons dominate the headlines, we also have to think about garbage?