Oil spill raises questions
The tragic explosion of the offshore oil rig that killed eleven workers off the coast of Louisiana underscores the reason why there have been limitations placed on offshore drilling for decades. Obama has recently lifted the ban, and the reality is that most Americans are in favor of the drilling, another example of the uninformed lobbying against their own interests.
If you couldn’t care less about the impact that 1,000 barrels of oil per day polluting the sea has on marine life and the overall ecosystem, well, I guess that your knuckles get mighty sore as they drag along the sidewalk while you’re walking. But even if you do think that way, why would you support the right of international corporations who gouge you at every turn to have the right to extract their product from public property?
Who “owns” the oil that is sitting under the waters of the United States? Do BP and Exxon-Mobil own that commodity? It would seem to me that it is the “property,” as it were, of the American people. Were you asked if you would like to drill for oil offshore? I know I wasn’t, but I wonder why these companies are given access to this oil while you and I are not.
My other question would be this: what is the penalty for this type of immense violation of our shared environment? Can you imagine the impact on the habitat of the species that live in the area (the size of Hong Kong at present) that is being devastated by this oil? We have laws against cruelty to even one animal here in America (you can ask Michael Vick) but some of the same people who wanted to see Vick hung couldn’t care less about the mass devastation to life that this oil spill is causing.
By the way, BP and Exxon-Mobil provide oil to more than 100 different counties. So this notion that offshore drilling has something to do with America doing for self and decreasing our reliance on foreign oil is pure, unadulterated BS. These companies are perfectly free to sell the oil that they extract off our shores to over a hundred different foreign countries!
It is not necessary to drill offshore, and it is dangerous. It will not make gas any cheaper for me or you. It will not decrease dependence on foreign oil in any significant way. It simply gives free access to public resources to private companies, and if you support it, you are giving away something that is rightfully yours for free, to global corporations who do all that they can to rob you blind day in and day out.
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