A high school English teacher once told me, “While college is often all theory, life is putting it into action.”
I’ve heard an awful lot of theories about addressing the oil wound British Petroleum inflicted on the Gulf of Mexico. So far, the only action taken has been finger-pointing and corner-cutting. Today marks the one-month anniversary of the deepwater horizon disaster. Oil from the bleeding earth has entered the “loop current” and is headed toward the Atlantic Ocean. Despite this tragedy, the current Kerry-Lieberman bill still plans to expand offshore oil drilling.
It’s time to take some action.
Last Thursday, President Obama vowed to end “the cozy relationship between the oil industry and regulators.” Turns out this cozy relationship enabled the largest environmental catastrophe of our lifetime. As the Gulf oil spill continues to unfold right before our eyes and accelerate in its devastation, we should examine how this was allowed to happen.
Oil corporations are among the most profitable in the world. With money comes power, and mark my words — our oil tycoons have a scary amount of power. So much power that when BP, Shell and Exxon first proposed drilling the Gulf, they successfully lobbied the Minerals Management Service out of giving them the proper permit.
They weren’t required to assess the potential for an environmental disaster, which enabled BP to install bare bones, cheaply constructed Transocean valves despite their multi-billion dollar profits. Seventy-five million dollars would have ensured they didn’t take any shortcuts. Seventy-five million out of billions. But why would BP fork up the money for safe valves when they spent $16 million lobbying in Washington last year?
Maximize efficiency at all costs. Even if that cost is the entire commercial tourist industry, commercial fishing industry and sea life from Louisiana to Florida. And the loop current isn’t going to stop in the Southeast. Soon the entire eastern seaboard will get to line its beaches with oil-booms. It’s no mystery why Chris Oynes of the Minerals Management Service announced his resignation Monday.
So far, BP has made several attempts to stop the oil geyser from fouling the Gulf waters. Between lowering a 100-ton “top hat” container, frantically trying to activate emergency valves and installing exit tubes — the spill carries on. For a month now, the mainstream media has reported that the estimated amount of oil entering the Gulf is around 5,000 barrels a day. But sure enough, BP and Transocean have been suppressing the truth.
Last Monday, the New York Times reported that BP has “resisted entreaties from scientists that they be allowed to use sophisticated instruments at the ocean floor that would give a far more accurate picture of how much oil is really gushing from the well.”
Tom Mueller, a BP spokesperson, insisted that Americans didn’t need to know the true estimate.
“The answer is no to that. We’re not going to take any extra efforts now to calculate flow there at this point. It’s not relevant to the response effort, and it might even detract from the response effort,” Mueller said.
You got it, Tommy. I’m sure telling the truth to the American public would really “detract” from our response. Sounds more like you’re scared of the Louisiana fishermen who will show up on your doorstep when they find out how you afforded that extra weekend in Vegas. Heck, maybe you’re afraid the truth will land you and the BP peanut gallery in a federal penitentiary!
As oil heads toward the East Coast, I think the appropriate charge might be “treason against the environment and economic security of our nation.”
Guilty on all counts.
So how much is BP underestimating? Some scientists think the real amount of oil gushing into the Gulf is around 80,000 barrels per day. That’s a repeat of the Exxon Valdez tanker oil spill every three days. And it looks like this rodeo won’t be finished for another three months. It sure pays to be the largest oil-consuming nation in the world.
We need clean-energy legislation now.
The effects have become painful and graphic. Industry and ecology are being destroyed on a scale never seen before. Rush Limbaugh and offshore drilling advocates argue that we need to drill to protect our national security. They say renewable energy is too expensive.
Well I have a question for Mr. Limbaugh.
If we can spend more than $995 billion fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, why can’t we spend a quarter of that investing in a clean-energy future for our own country?
We need a rude awakening of our country’s leaders, communities and campuses. We need to wake people up to the toll oil is taking on our planet. We need to tell our leaders we oppose offshore drilling on any coast whatsoever. We need to demand the United States invests in solar and wind power.
Attend next Wednesday’s “Crude Awakening” demonstration in the EMU Amphitheater. We’ll have live music from environmentally conscious bands, a visual demonstration of what’s going on, street theater and a petition to squash this awful bill. We’re going to have live streaming footage of the event to set a nationwide example. We’re going to awaken the masses.
We’re going to have a “crude awakening” ourselves and demand clean energy legislation now. And it’s going to start right here in Eugene.
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