Big Oil Simply Cannot Be Trusted

BP has been asking us to trust them, and they've promised to pay for the damages they have caused to the Gulf of Mexico and our coastal states. But trust is one thing they have definitely not earned. While they and their political shills are trying to label the Gulf oil disaster as an "accident", we have learned now that the "accident" was really caused by BP officials demanding that safer traditional drilling procedures be abandoned and much riskier procedures be used -- just so they could maximize their profits.

We now know this effort to maximize profits not only caused an ecological disaster, but cost the lives of several employees on the off-shore rig. Now we learn that the cause of the disaster was not the only thing they have been lying about. They have also been lying about the size of the continuing oil leak -- probably in an effort to minimize the damages they will have to pay.

BP has been telling the public for weeks that the leak is dumping 5,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf. It would be bad enough if that were true, but it's not. Scientists from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) originally estimated that the leak was somewhere between 12,000 and 19,000 barrels a day (2-4 times as bad as BP had said), but now the USGS has revised its estimate.

The USGS is now saying the leak is closer to 40,000 barrels a day (8 times as bad as BP admitted it was and more than half of it is still leaking into the Gulf). BP now says it is capturing 16,000 barrels a day, but can we even believe that after the other lies. It's incredible that BP wants the American people to trust them since they have been lying about nearly everything since the first days of the oil disaster. I'm wondering now what else they are hiding. They have made the employees they hired for the clean-up sign a confidentiality agreement.

What are they trying to hide with that? The extent of the damage to wildlife and the coast? The toxic effects the oil and dispersants are having -- not only to their employees, but to innocent civilians and wildlife? Don't all the lies make you wonder if they intend to keep their word and pay for damages?

But BP is not the only member of Big Oil that is assuring the public of safety while cutting as many corners as they can to make an extra dollar. All of the oil companies are doing it. The Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety is currently meeting (a meeting that BP didn't bother to attend).

Testifying before the subcommittee, Jordan Barab (deputy assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health) said that federal inspectors are finding an appalling lack of compliance with federal safety regulations at refineries. Barab said, "Time and again, our inspectors are finding the same violations in multiple refineries." These are well-defined and well-known safety regulations that Big Oil is just ignoring.

It should be obvious to anyone with even half a brain by now that Big Oil is willing to risk the lives of their own employees, the lives and health of the general public, and serious damage to the environment just to make a few more dollars (and earn bigger executive bonuses). And these are the same people that are assuring us that the drilling and refining is safe. They simply cannot be believed.

And many Republicans are now demanding that drilling be increased, even before the extent of the current disaster is known. Does that make any sense? Isn't it time we had a sensible energy policy that sinks enormous amounts of money into the development of safer and hopefully renewable sources of energy (and I'm not talking about something as silly as "cap and trade")?