Offshore Drilling A Disaster

Those of us, who have opposed offshore drilling, have held our breaths for years awaiting the big spill disaster somewhere on the U.S. coast. We were disappointed when President Obama extended this accident waiting to happen. Although he had nothing to do with the current mess in the Gulf and the government is not equipped to take over the capping of an undersea oil well, he will have to pay a price, because he has endorsed drilling. The President's opponents are the "drill, baby, drill" crowd who are defending BP to the last man...and woman, yet they will find a way to reverse the charges and blame him, forgetting how they stood shoulder with BP.

The environmental damage this spill will ultimately do in the Gulf and elsewhere is enormous. Coastal fisheries and wildlife in that area will be damaged for years to come. Some scientists believe that some of the damage may be irreparable. Such are the shortcomings of our insatiable thirst for oil and our politicians' insatiable thirst for the wealth and power that the support of big oil brings.

It appears that little research, preparation, and enforcement have gone into precautions that would prevent or contain such a spill. Like the big banks, big oil has a power base in Washington that controls a "look the other way" mentality on the part of government watchdogs. Eight years of big oil men running the government did not help the situation. BP and the rest of the oil industry have been allowed to reap obscene profits over the past several years. Obviously, few of those dollars have been spent to ensure the safety of offshore drilling.

BP will be very lucky to survive this disaster, but there will be another company waiting in the wings to absorb it and continue the rape of the coastline, Alaska, and other pristine lands in this country and around the world. We will continue to use fossil fuels at an alarming rate, as the world slowly burns from the damages wrought by climate change. The sad part is that, ultimately, it will have all been for nothing. The oil supply will finally run out, and the world will be left a crumbling shadow of its former self. Meanwhile, the deniers of climate change will continue to bury their heads in the sand, stuff their pockets with big oil money, and say it must be "God's will," because there is no way that man could do this by himself.