We Are Halfway There (bad news)

May 13, 2010  

As of May 16, the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico will have spilled about half as much oil as the Exxon Valdez did in 1989. The Gulf leak is pouring about 5000 barrels of oil a day into the water, the Exxon Valdez spilled 250,000 barrels into the Prince William Sound. If the oil leak in the Gulf is allowed to continue for 50 days we will surpass the Exxon Valdez disaster.

Here's the rub. All oil drilling platforms outside of the U.S. are subject to much stricter safety and environmental standards. In 2009 the U.S. agencies charged with maintaining safety and environmental regulations attempted to impose those stricter standards, BP fought them and, like usual, won. The fact of the matter is that blow out preventers, BOP's, are not dependable and require secondary safety systems. These secondary systems are what BP fought against citing that BOP's were sufficient. We all know better than that now. Here are some disturbing facts.

"Agency records show that from 2001 to 2007, there were 1,443 serious drilling accidents in offshore operations, leading to 41 deaths, 302 injuries and 356 oil spills. Yet the federal agency continues to allow the industry largely to police itself, saying that the best technical experts work for industry, not for the government."

Lipton, Broader, New York Times

The bottom line is that this entire situation could have been prevented with the secondary safety systems that are required on most oil drilling platforms around the world, Not here in the U.S. thanks to BP and all the other criminal oil companies. This is a perfect example of big business getting their way here and we the people and the environment once again get screwed. I, for one, am sick and tired of this and it must be stopped. Our so called "representatives" in Washington need to grow a set (testicals) and stand up against the oil companies. Other countries have so why cant we? I'll tell you why, because we allow our government to be run by these evil corporations. The only thing at this point that will stop them is the will of the people. Write letters, make phone calls, get involved, it is our only hope. I cant stress that point enough...

Mr. Green