The first major oil spill was the Torrey Canyon, back in 1969 but...

[TreasonousBastard]

that was in England, so who here but its insurance underwriters gave a damn. Like we didn't give a damn about the Amoco Cadiz, Ixtoc, or the destruction of the Aral, Black, and other lakes and seas by the Soviets with their hopelessly inept oil production. Nobody gave a shit about all that Iraqi oil Saddam dumped with our help, or any of the North Sea or South Asia blowouts, either.

But the world will end because of this spill? It's bad, but it's not over yet and the planet has shown this amazing ability to survive no matter how we try to screw it up. Maybe not as pretty or vibrant as when we started trying to kill it, but it survives. It hass its own, far more efficent and spectacular ways of self-destruction.

Curiously, after all the hoopla over rivers catching fire, cancer alleys, and some of our own major oil spills, after the first impacts are over everyone in this country just forgets about it and goes back to their old ways. And it's not just us-- civilizations thoughout history destroyed their local environments, and sometimes themselves, by just not caring.

So the polls say high gas prices are more important to Americans than the environment. Until this week, perhaps, and a week after they cap the well and the beaches aren't "that bad" and the price of shrimp goes back down we'll all forget about it once again.

There are almost 4,000 rigs in the Gulf right now, with more on order. And that's without drilling in Florida waters. FOUR THOUSAND OIL RIGS each producing oil and gas to keep your fucking cars, heat, and air conditioning running cheaper than damn near anywhere else on the planet, and employing thousands of people.

All owned by those "greedy, corrupt oil companies" but in all those years how many of them have caused problems?

BP probably did cut a few corners here and there and they will pay for it, but the real problem is that new oil fields are miles under the ocean and technology hasn't caught up with the pressures and incredible problems drilling down there.

As we get back to building housing again, we're building bigger houses (with more area to heat and cool) and getting back to selling 15 million new cars a year is a good thing. The most popular vehicle in the country is still the Ford F-150 pickup, so Detroit IS making what the people want, and it burns a lot of gas.

Biofuels, solar and all sorts of other things are on the horizon, but they're not going to be here next week, so unless someone can figure out a way to get the whole country to start bicycling to work, we're gonna keep drilling somewhere.

In a few words, it sucks, but suck it up, cause most people just don't get it.

[secondwind]

1. An eye-opening post! K&R