At first glance, we might see this as proof of their position. In fact, the opposite is true.

Their premise has been that, with sufficient political pressure, offshore drilling can be halted. This is simply not true. 150,000 jobs depend on oil drilling in the Gulf. The US is critically dependent on foreign oil, enough to fight wars over, enough to kill soldiers, enough to create huge budget deficits.  The massive spill in the Gulf, enough to fill three Olympic-sized swimming pools every day, is dwarfed by US oil consumption. That amount of oil is consumed by American every four minutes.

So no, offshore drilling can not be halted, not by any amount of pressure.

Given that fact, what is the reasonable goal of an environmental organization? Protecting the environment in spite of the drilling. A strategy of accommodation rather than prevention should be adopted when prevention is impossible.

The failure potential of blowout preventors is well documented, so the use of a single rather than a double one on  Deepwater Horizon recklessly endangered the crew and the environment. In spite of numerous indications from the well at Macondo Prospect that things we not under control, BP and Transocean continued “full speed ahead” to meet their planned deadlines, cutting corners, taking shortcuts, and disabling pesky safety devices that interfered. Why was this permitted to happen?

The “good ‘ol boy network” of drillers, regulators and lobbyists have reduced government oversight to the submission of boilerplate drilling applications and rubber-stamped permits. Inspections are lax, record keeping poor, and exceptions, exemptions and extensions are often granted. (The Deepwater Horizon’s last three safety inspections took under two hours to complete.) With no one minding the store, disasters like the destruction of Deepwater Horizon, precipitating the largest environmental disaster in history and the loss of eleven lives, are simply bound to happen.

And where were the environmental groups while all this was happening? They weren’t lobbying for more and better safety measures. They weren’t insisting on better and more vero thorough  safety inspections. They weren’t busy trying to accommodate oil exploration by making it safer for BP’s workers and the environment. They were persuing their “all of nothing” strategy of trying to prevent drilling.

It’s easy to see why. For one thing, it is hard to point to a lack of disasters as a success. Pointing to clean, accident-free offshore oil drilling is a difficult way to raise money. It’s much easier to vilify large faceless corporations as evil and blame them for whatever goes wrong.

Sadly, the BP Gulf disaster will probably be very good for environmental fund raisers, but the money raised is unlikely to make oil drilling safer in the future.

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Case in point: I traveled across Chicago tonight to Best Buy looking for two simple items that they should logically carry. One was a desktop tripod for a cell phone making it easier to take pictures with the built-in camera. The other was a pocket battery booster to give your cellphone extra life in case the battery runs down. Both are simple items, easily found on the Internet. But why not pick them up right now, while I’m thinking about it?

After a 20 minute trip to the store, I spent another 20 minutes with sales people explaining what I was looking for, then following them around while they looked for things and attempted to find other, presumably more senior, personnel. Complete failure. “We could order it for you and have it shipped to the store,” offered one young sales associate. Now if THAT isn’t the worst of both world’s, I don’t know what is.

In all fairness though, the 20 minute trip back from the store wasn’t wasted. While I sat on the train, I ordered the items I needed from two different Internet retailers at prices which, including the shipping, would have produced head-spinning margins for Best Buy.

And don’t think it’s just the folks at Best Buy who are dropping the ball. The week before, I read about a new best-seller book I thought I’d enjoy. I would have just ordered it from Amazon, but in a moment of enlightened self-interest, I thought “why not head down to my local Barnes and Noble and give them the business?”  Here’s why:

Not wanting to wait in line for an assistant, I scoured the shelves and end-caps. Not finding it, I waited in line. “That’s funny,” he told me “I see that we have them on order but they don’t seem to be here.” No estimated due date, no nothing.

I need to update my model of the world. I always thought that if you wanted it NOW or you needed some help with your product selection, you went to your local retailer. If you just wanted the lowest price and the greatest assortment, you ordered from the web.

Every day the web becomes a fiercer and fiercer competitor; the selection is better, the pricing is better, the information about the product is better, and it’s easier to find things.

The only advantages to retail are that you can physically touch the product and you can create an experience around shopping for it. But for the most part, retailers have just stayed the same. They are just standing in the trash compactor as it closes around them.

So today, it would seem, you are better off ordering the things you need off the web. Retailers are just for…uh… See? That’s where I get stuck. Why do we need retailers?

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Method:
Place all ingredients in jar and shake vigorously until mixed.
Keeps for several weeks in refrigerator.

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Classic Potatoes au Gratin

This is a classic winter side dish, hearty enough to make a meal when served with a green salad.

Ingredients:

4 C  Potatoes, thinly sliced

1 t  salt

1/4 t  pepper, freshly ground

1/8 t  nutmeg, freshly ground

1 clove  garlic, finely minced

1-1/4 C  Gruyere cheese, grated

4 T  butter, melted

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 C  heavy cream

2 T  Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Method:

Preheat over to 325 F

Butter a 1-quart covered baking dish.

In a large bowl, toss potatoes, salt, pepper, nutmeg and garlic together to coat evenly.

Layer potatoes and Gruyere cheese into baking dish 1/3 at a time; potatoes, cheese, potatoes, cheese, potatoes, cheese.

In a small bowl, beat together eggs and cream and butter. Pour evenly over potatoes. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Bake covered for 35 minutes. Remove cover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

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1. Easy French Vinaigrette