I’m not a scientist, not by any means. As much as I’ve been following the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, I am not satisfied that I’ve learned enough to know what’s really going on. Those reporting the news of the disaster are no more learned than I am, so the result is a dumbed-down version of the important points.
What we know is that, under the ownership and direction of British Petroleum, the Deepwater Horizon drill rig didn’t follow the rules which resulted in the April explosion and sinking of the rig, taking 11 lives in the process. Now, oil and natural gas are streaming into the Gulf from the hole in the ocean’s floor, and several attempts to stem that flow did not work. First, a huge containment dome, then a ‘top kill’ attempt to push the oil back into the ground with heavy drill water and junk, and now a top hat is in place. The top hat has one pipe up to the Discover Enterprise and several vents, which allows it to capture 6,000 gallons of escaping oil a day so far; a mere third of the oil spewing from the hole.
For well over 40 days and 40 nights this disaster has been going on with the oil effectively blanketing miles and miles of the sea, smothering every life form in its path. And, it continues and continues and goes on and on. Livelihoods and lives are destroyed, both human and sealife alike, yet it goes on and on.
Now, why is that?
My theory is that whatever effort BP makes in staunching the unbridled flow of “black gold” preserves the oil giant’s ability to resume mining that gold mine, and nothing that they have done so far to contain the spill goes against that end goal.
No matter what the cost in lives, livelihoods and life, BP will continue to make their profit from that oil gushing from the ocean floor in the Gulf of Mexico. The company has suffered no losses in this astronomical environmental disaster and is still quite comfortably posting gains.
I have no doubt that this is the way it is. Look at the equipment in the photo and you can see for yourself that the amount of money invested in drilling offshore is way beyond my ability to fathom. No matter the cost of equipment and labor to produce a paying well, the profits are exponentially more and long-lasting.
So, instead of plugging up that gushing hole, the company is only looking to “contain” it, to continue to reap the profits. If they had been working to stop the oil from gushing out of that hole, it would have been plugged up within the first week.
Lives, livelihoods and life mean nothing compared to BP’s profits.
Prove me wrong. Please.
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