There is a great chance that you have heard about how the recent BP oil spill will affect the Gulf Coast, but what most people have not heard about are the causes of the spill. CNN has reported, in a recent interview with one of the oil rig survivors, that a BP executive ordered the Deepwater Horizon oil rig to replace heavy mud used to “keep the well’s pressure down, with lighter seawater to help speed a process that was costing an estimated $750,000 a day and was already running five weeks late.” This “shortcut” most likely led to the oil rig explosion, 11 deaths on the oil rig and the resulting oil spill that has ravished the people and environment within the gulf coast.
This oil spill may cost anywhere from 3 to 40 billion, which makes you wonder about the purpose of the 75 million dollar cap on oil spills. Why do oil companies have the ability to make a huge mistake like this, throw 75 million to the government and be done with the whole situation? Oil companies, NOT the general public, should have to pay in full for all the expenses resulting from their mistakes. There has been a renewed push to remove this cap on liability by Democrats, which is being fought by some Republicans. Now is the time to act, we must do whatever we can to clean up this oil spill, and we can worry about BP and their liability later. The more time we spend arguing, the worse off the environment and people of the Gulf Coast are.
To look at a recap of the BP oil spill events, make sure you look at this summary at CNN of everything that has happened so far.
-James
