Hurricane Katrina had a major impact on the U.S. economy, some of it temporary, some of it of longer duration. One of the most significant impacts was the temporary spike in gasoline prices related to damaged offshore production platforms and onshore refineries. The Colonial Pipeline, which carries Gulf Coast refined products to East Coast markets, was not significantly damaged and was back at full capacity within days.

But the temporary gasoline and fuel oil shortages could have been a blessing in disguise had they caused more Americans to think about the importance of developing our own oil and natural gas resources. They may even have caused some radical environmentalists to reassess their mindless opposition to offshore drilling and production in Florida’s offshore waters.

But that may be asking too much. It did not go unnoticed that the one thing Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was not shooting his mouth off about in the weeks after Katrina was the massive oil spills that he expected to blanket the Gulf Coast from hundreds of deep water production platforms being blown off their moorings.

The reason Kennedy had nothing to say about oil spills directly related to Katrina is because there were none. The down-hole safety valves that oil producers install beneath the ocean floor, valves that automatically stop the flow of oil when a production platform burns or is blown off station, worked to perfection… which leads us to question why environmentalists have lied so shamelessly about the potential dangers of oil and gas production in Florida’s offshore waters.

What has been the record in California and in the Louisiana and Texas offshore? How much oil washes ashore on the beaches of those states and what are its sources?

A comprehensive Smithsonian Institution presentation, titled Ocean Planet, tells us that oil pollution in the oceans comes from a variety of sources, including discarded engine oil, routine shipboard maintenance, natural seeps in the ocean floor, major oil-handling spills, and offshore drilling. And while radical environmentalists would have Floridians believe that the greatest danger of oil fouling our beaches comes from offshore drilling, the exact opposite is true.

In order of magnitude, by far the greatest amount of oil pollution in our oceans comes from discarded engine oil. When Barbra Streisand, Sean Penn, and Robert Kennedy, Jr. have the oil changed in their SUVs, a portion of that used oil ends up in our rivers, streams, and oceans. The Smithsonian study tells us that 59.1% of beach pollution, some 363,000,000 gallons per year, comes from that source.

Routine maintenance on ocean-going vessels accounts for another 137,000,000 gallons per year (22.3%), natural seeps from fissures in the ocean floor account for some 62,000,000 gallons per year (10.1%), major oil-handling mishaps account for approximately 37,000,000 gallons (6.0%), and spills related to offshore oil production account for some 15,000,000 gallons per year, or just slightly more than 2.4% of the total.

As radical environmentalists and showbiz dilettante’s parade up and down the California beaches, sipping peach tea and nibbling on vegetable quiche, some may get their beautifully pedicured toes soiled by black, sticky, globs of tar. Their first reaction is to call their liberal congressman or state legislator to demand that offshore oil production be immediately curtailed. But what’s the truth of the matter?

According to the Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the U.S. Department of the Interior, one of the most heavily studied seepage areas in the country lies off the coast of Santa Barbara. According to MMS data, natural ocean floor seeps in this one area of the Santa Barbara Channel amount to as much as 160 barrels per day, or 2,452,800 gallons per year. In addition to crude petroleum seepage, a single large concrete dome placed over a major seep in that area collects more than 1,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas per day.

The MMS tells us that, between 1954 and 2006, oil companies have produced some 147.9 billion barrels of oil in the U.S. outer continental shelf, or 11.4% of U.S. production. And in spite of the presence of more than 3,900 offshore production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, there has not been a single spill larger than 1,000 barrels in the past 15 years.

Between 1971 and 2000, U.S. outer continental shelf offshore oil facilities and pipelines have accounted for just 2% of oil spillage in all U.S. waters. And in the 15 year period between 1985 and 2001, loss of well control from offshore drilling operations accounted for just two spills greater than five barrels – a 100 bbl. blowout in 1992 and a 200 bbl. blowout in 2000.

What Floridians apparently fail to understand, with some assistance from environmental propagandists, is that natural oil seepage in the floor of the Gulf of Mexico, totally unrelated to oil and gas production, is estimated at 120,000 barrels, or 5,040,000 gallons per year.

We should be telling Floridians that they have two options: either get with the program or park their SUVs and turn off their air conditioners. They can either decide to be part of the solution or they will continue to be part of the problem.