Thursday, June 3, 2010

Hello everyone. Welcome to the newest installment of a really real life. I think today I will write about the horrible events unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico. We all know the situation there is devastating locally but also nationally. I love seafood. Seafood and summer are like Ben and Jerry, Abbot and Costello, Fried and Chicken, Water and Melon.

Now, BP has ruined my summer. This is as important to American history as the 9/11 attacks. The attacks affected over 3,000 people immediately, the Gulf situation affects tens of thousands immediately. There are tens of thousands of people unable to make a living, provide for their families and cannot pay their mortgages. True, the attacks affected the nation immediately. Sadly, the Gulf spill has affected the nation immediately also and like the attacks generated sweeping legislative changes, so will the Gulf spill generate those same sweeping changes.

According to Rachel Maddow of MSNBC News, the potential for BP to be fined under the Clean Water Act of 1972 over 10 billion dollars, just from what we know to have been spilled. We cannot believe anything that the BP representatives say because it is not in their best interests to tell the truth. Dang, all those wasted ethics classes that the BP executives took. The potential for a 10 billion dollar fine, plus the cost of cleanup, plus reimbursement to the people in the region whose livelihood were affected will run into the hundreds of billions.

I just hope the people we sent to represent us in Washington, DC do not let this company off the hook and after the usual donations, they sell us out leaving us to bail out this corporate giant by paying cleanup costs. This should establish a new standard, sink or swim on your own. If your company is in the business of making profit then recklessness can ruin financially ruin your company.

I am all for off shore drilling personally. I just want the appropriate standards of safety and responsibility to be in place before we allow anyone to drill. Ensure an appropriate plan of action is in place to deal with a sudden emergency. Thankfully the people at Three Mile Island had an effective plan. We require this of the nuclear industry why does the oil industry get such a break? A plan A must be established as well as a plan B and hell, half a plan C should be in place. Do you hear that sound? That is the sound of the oil lobbyists running to Washington to make their "contributions". My reallyreallife will surely be affected by BP. As a matter of fact, why have we not yet boycotted BP and all of the products they produce as an incentive to step up and do what needs to be done without further delay. We cannot let this leak to continue until August. That is insane.

1 comment:

  1. Morris - your last sentence completely sums it up. Insane.

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