ABC's George Stephanopolous recently pointed out (as shown on the following segment of "The Daily Show"), that in the past three years, while Exxon committed one "egregious, willful safety violation", BP committed 760.
With the Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion, BP is now known for having perpetrated the greatest oil spill in the history of the world.
Not only that, but BP's refinery fire in 2006 was the worst industrial accident in the United States in several years.
But it gets worse. Earlier that same year, British Petroleum was responsible for the worst oil pipeline spill in history.
It seems, suspiciously, as though BP is so intent on crafting its image as a "green" energy company, that it scarcely pays attention to its safety responsibilities. I certainly hope that its worship at the altar of climate change doesn't garner it any special favors when it comes to the environmental devastation that it has caused.
BP's safety record is atrocious. If the costs for the cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico were to put BP out of business, that would probably be a net benefit for our environment.
I read somewhere that BP spent more on their greenwashing ad campaign than they invested in alternative energy.
ReplyDeleteWhether you believe in manmade climate change or not, we need to realize that fossil fuel is simply not a safe or secure way to power our economy. Our lust for oil has destroyed the beautiful Gulf Coast and cost the lives of thousands of soldiers in the Middle East. Our lust for coal has cost the lives of scores of miners, destroyed our landscape and polluted our air. Our lust for nuclear energy can only be met with massive government support for the nuclear industry and poses insurmountable catastrophic risks should we have a power plant failure.
ReplyDeleteWe need to use far less energy than we do now, and we need to stop subsidizing fossil fuel industries, halt all offshore drilling today, and invest in sustainable technology.