The disaster in the gulf is by any measure tragic. What I can't get over is the response of the average John Q. It seems they can only find blame with BP. Does BP own the well that went kerblooey? Sure they do, no doubt about it. Are they responsible for fixing the mess? Absolutely. Does all the blame rest squarely on BP?? NO!!!
Does anybody actually believe that years ago the execs from all the oil companies got together and decided the best way to make money from oil was to drill in over a mile deep of water? How mentally challenged can people be? For the oil companies, the most profitable place to drill is on dry land and it's also the easiest. The real question people should be asking is why they are drilling in an environment that increases their costs and risks so dramatically. If you guessed it is because the government mandates that they drill that far off shore, give yourself a prize. If you guessed that it was because that's where the oil is, kick yourself in the ass for having a bad case of terminal stupidity.
If I were the CEO of BP, I'd be on every major media outlet explaining exactly why they have to drill in an environment that not only increases their costs exponentially but also precludes being able to fix the problem. If they were drilling in 200 feet of water, do any of you realize how easy this would have been to fix? Send a few commercial divers down and in 1-2 days, crisis stopped, over, done, finito!! Had they been drilling in ANWAR, a couple of hours and the crisis would've been over. The government and the not in my backyard group needs to accept their culpability in this.
The sad reality is that we live in a society that absolutely needs oil to live. This disaster only further illustrates the need to find a safer (not safe, safer) compromise. Drilling for oil is a dirty, dangerous business. It is also a necessary one.
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