Geez, been a long time since I wrote here! Anyway, what brings me here is the current environmental screw-up called the BP oil spill (among other things.)
Now I'm part of the auto generation. I don't see any possible way for me to bike to work, and even if I lived around the block from work, when it rain, snows, is hot, or I feel like I'll drive. I also understand the need and complexities of for and of getting oil from the bottom of the ocean. That said, BP and the politicos that are running this show are screwing us over!
BP fucked up. It happens. No one's perfect, deal with it. Stop it, fix it, clean it, and move on. But that's not what they did. For a while I was willing to give BP the benefit of the doubt, but I spent enough time in the oil field to KNOW that oil wells can be killed. That means that the oil flow is stopped. Some methods stop the flow temporarily, others stop it permanently.
What BP has been has been trying to do is collect oil! OK, considering the cost of drilling, I can understand BP wanting to try and recover some of their losses. They tried the dome, fine, it didn't work! Now it's time to cut the losses and stop the damage.
While they are trying to maximize profits, millions of gallons of oil are being dumped into the gulf. Ignoring the environmental impact for now, in the sake of BP profits they are destroying the gulf fishing industry, the tourists were canceling reservations before the oil even hit the beaches. Both of those industries support countless others: the companies that supply nets and fuel to the fishing fleets, the hotel and food industries that house and feed the tourists, the shipping that supplies the food industry and transports the fish. All of these are at serious risk, all so BP doesn't loose potential profits.
As I watch the TV and internet coverage of the "cleanup" operations, the terms I hear used are collected, or recovered. What they are tracking is how much oil they are managing to sell from the waters!
To add insult to injury, today on the TV I hear them talking about the fact that BP has (within hours of the initial explosion apparently) filed some kind of legal action to LIMIT THEIR LIABILITY. If their liability is limited, what incentive do they have to fix the mess?
B.P.s LIABILITY SHOULD BE LIMITED BY THEIR ASSETS! IF IT TAKES EVERY CENT THEY OWN TO FIX IT, THAT'S WHAT THEY SHOULD PAY!!
* Shove a rubber plug in the pipe and cement on top of that to stop the oil from coming out.
* Start using those trucks that aren't going to be shipping that oil to move absorbents to the coasts.
* Hire those fishing boats, ALL OF THEM!, to dump and collect the absorbents.
* It's taken long enough now that they can take all those employees and the BP execs and put their buts out cleaning the beaches and marshes.
* I'm sure BP has labs than can apply themselves to restoring the fish to the gulf and maybe even come up with some clean-up technologies.
The big thing is that BP needs to get off their fat British Petroleum butts NOW and start fixing their fuck-up!!
