sea water is corrosive to metal. as more of these things age, a natural result will be more of them snapping off, or breaking, or otherwise beginning to leak.

there are many good reasons to, as you pecked out, "get off of oil," and environmental degradation is tops on the list.

to adjust your other comments, peak oil will dictate our "getting off of oil" whether you like it or not.


the question is: are we going to do it the smart, easy way, or the stupid, hard way.

all indications from those who share your "reasoning" indicate it'll be the latter.

but, hey! the good news is that there's plenty of sand out there to bury your head in.

Some of it with oil.

Mmmmmmmmm...delicious oil...Mmmmmmmmmm