WHAT IS THE BP SPILL TRYING TO TELL US?
If you read the Consumers Guide to Gasoline by clicking the icon on this website, you will understand that what we are experiencing in the Gulf of Mexico has been experienced by people around the world wherever oil is drilled.
Oil spill, Niger Delta
A section of swamp is cordoned off after being affected by an oil spill from a Shell pipeline near the Engenni community of Joinkarama 4. Since the discovery of oil in Nigeria over 50 years ago, the amount of oil spilt has represented the equivalent of one Exxon Valdez disaster per year. www.marcusinafrica.blogspot.com/2006
Moreover, as documented in articles on this website, wars are being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan because of oil, regardless of how unpopular such a commentary may be in the United States or the United Kingdom. See also http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1733912.ece and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charlotte-dennett/tony-blairs-great-game-to_b_454058.html for information on BP's involvement in Iraq.
BP is a major supplier of petroleum products to the US military:
TOP PETROLEUM SUPPLIERS TO THE PENTAGON
FY 2006
|
BP |
$1.190 Billion |
FY 2007
|
Shell |
$2.108 Billion |
FY 2008
|
Shell |
$1.715 Billion |
FY 2009
|
BP |
$2.201 Billion |
Source: Defense Energy Support Center
The message, in my opinion, is that, to stop environmental disaster, war and global warming, the first, quickest steps we can take here in the United States are: (1) immediate gasoline rationing; and (2) a crash program to build mass transportation.
The urgency of these steps has been apparent for years. I hope the BP spill will effectively demonstrate that we have to act immediately.
Nick Mottern, Director Consumers for Peace