Oil Spill Disaster 2010, 300 Comercial fisherman loose livelyhood
Now I am sure we all have an opinion on this, I am sure we all believe this is a global disaster, not just something centered in the Gulf Of Mexico. If you look at other countries outside of the United States, we have to ask ourselves if the USA has regulations and watch dogs to insure these sorts of Oil spill disasters never happen, what is going on in the rest of the world? If the oil companies are not in the game to protect the wildlife, what do you think is happening off california, Oregon, Alaska, etc.?
Mexico has several of these oil rigs off Cancun. Can you imagine the Global Level Disaster it would be to have this guey sludge cover the coral reefs, white sand beaches, and poison the colorful seas live Cancun thrives on. Could you imagine our beloved Tortugas or Turtles having to swim through this sludge just to get to beaches and lay their eggs? Or our Whales in the bay of banderas, can you imagine them having babies in the bay with this oil sludge… of course, this is not happening, but the point remains. How would we feel or react to find our life changed in moments!
The commercial fisherman that start their shrimping season just this week see their season over before it ever started. The protected Shrimp areas where the majority of the Louisiana shrimp breed are smack dab in the way of the traveling oil slick. This is a disaster of mega proportions. Now the fisherman are getting paid by BP to be part of the effort. This is not a consolation job, this is those in the industry doing what they can to survive and try and mimimize the damage to their future livings. Being from Mexico, Being in the fishing industry myself, I view this with heartfelt sympathy and concern.
The more that comes out about this, the more obvious it is that as usual responsibility is being handed off. Finger pointing is rampant, plenty of blame to go around, but in the end, it comes down to one thing… US!
We are the ultimate responsible person(s) for all of this. We are the ones who let deregulation turn into keeping hands off on the oil business through out apathy. After all those SUV’s with a five foot woman driving it needs that precious fuel! So the oil companies were given carte blanch. Oil regulations were ignored, instances at the rig previously were ignored, those in responsible positions turned their heads. I wonder what the pay off was…. Probably not much since the concept of a disaster, especially off the Louisiana coastline where nobody can see the rig more than fifty miles out. It gives a realistic twist on what is actually happening. You see, when you can´t see what is happening, you have no reason to ask the question(s) that would cross our minds. I am sure there are millions of people who had no clue these oil rigs even existed in the area. Naturally it makes sense, but again, out of sight… never mind!
Now with the call to ¨Just Drill Baby¨ ringing out throughout the land, there will be plenty of people looking at these oil rigs differently. I recently learned that these platforms don´t sit on the bottom, like the shows I have seen on the discovery channel, they float. Anchored to the sea floor, robots essentially do all the work. The basic situation is if anything did happen, the oil head is more than a mile straight down! The plan to have the head shut off did not work for some mechanical reason! The back up plan to have a pulse sort of switch to shut down the oil head was not installed due to regulators and BP fighting over the necessity of such over kill precautions.
We need to make sure these platforms are regulated like nuclear power plants. We can not allow the Corruption that is creeping into every corner of govt. threaten the natural resources we all rely on for a living or quality of life. Animals deserve to be left alone and not deal with the Humans insatiable appetite for oil. Oil is obsolete, it has been for a long time. Alternative avenues need to be visited and they need to be cheap products, not expensive.
Since this disaster will be paid for by our tax dollars, and in our loss of one of the largest oyster beds in the world, we have to act as a group! We all need to phone, or send an email to our senators, congressmen, governors and President .. …. Let them know we are sick of being abused by govt. watchdogs not doing their appointed duties in the name of the Public. Not in the name of big oil companies (wall st. and banking) who shift the blame and ultimately get away with this ….. BP paid the company they rent the platform from. The platform was operated by who?? BP or the platform company?? Either way, where the hello were those who make sure these sorts of disasters never occur?
Our govt. officials at the top are responsible to make sure oil, banking, wall street, air / water quality management, power and more are being watched by trust worth people who will be held accountable for their lack of action. I also believe negligence laws need to changed where people in fiduciary positions are held to three times what maximum penalties or minimum penalties are for such high importance positions in govt!
Personally, this gives me shivers just thinking of the damage, loss of income for the long-term over a few bucks. They say the impact will more than likely last for twenty years. When you think of the filtering oysters do, they will survive, but they will be inedible for many years to come. Now with the decimation of the shrimp and oyster industry, two huge industries, we will all suffer.
The attached photo is of a beach with oil booms trying to protect the beachs… lets hope it works.
