Archive: Opinions

EditorialMy current two favorite jokes both came from Jay Leno.  Leno said that they've come up with a new auto engine that runs on water.  Unfortunately the water has to come from the Gulf of Mexico.  A few days later he said that the CEO of BP is much more dangerous than Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.  He says that Ahmedinejad only threatens to destroy the world, but BP is actually doing it!

It is hard to believe, but that second joke is actually true.  The magnitude of the disaster is unimaginable.  When New Orleans was devastated by hurricane Katrina I couldn't wrap my mind around an American city being destroyed.  That only happens in horror movies like 'Independence Day,' doesn't it?  Or Godzilla?  But it really did happen.  And now this oil spill is a lot worse in so many ways.  It will do irreparable damage to the region, to jobs, to the economy, to people's lives -- an not just people.  Birds, fish... it's unbelievable.

BP was responsible for 760 'egregious, willful' safety violations, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).  The next highest number was a tie: Sunoco and Conoco-Phillips each had eight, Citgo had two and Exxon had one.  Using my highly evolved math skills I have deduced that 760 is a whole lot more than eight.  And the first question that came to mind was, 'Who is BP paying off to get away with that?'

I have jokingly said that the way to clean up the oil spill is to dump barrels of Dawn dish soap into the gulf -- it will soak up the grease and leave the fish and animals squeaky clean and smelling fresh.  Unfortunately the things BP has tried so far are about as effective as my harebrained idea.  And it makes me wonder why nothing was proactively in place to keep this disaster from getting worse.

I believe in Plan B.  Come up with a stellar plan A, but have a fallback just in case.  I look at my toilet and I figure my plumber had a good Plan B.  I am a huge fan of indoor plumbing, but if a leak develops my plumber installed a faucet near the floor that will turn off the water.  If he needs to do some work, up to and including replacing the whole toilet, he can turn off that little faucet and do what he has to do without flooding the bathroom.

I don't know the science, but it seems to me that faucet idea, or a functional equivalent should be able to be applied to oil rigs.  With the potential to do so much harm to the one and only world we get to live on, it just makes sense to be 100% sure we're not going to destroy it.  Not 99% sure.  That's not enough.

It seems like the other companies have been able to handle that.  I thought Exxon was the oil company everyone loved to hate, but one infraction vs. 760 is looking pretty good right now.  I like oil and I'm not against excavating it.  When I get in my car I like it better when it goes, and for now I need gasoline to make that happen.  But to get it out of the ground it wouldn't hurt to have a Plan B.  And a Plan C and a Plan D.  Viable ones that will work.

Locally the same applies to the hydrofracking issues we have been trying to understand for the past year or more.  There are a lot of unknowns, and legitimate concerns.  What if something were to go wrong?  What would happen to our water, to the lake, to the economy?  I wasn't sure where I stood on those questions as I have tried, like most people, to figure out whether the anti-fracking movement is born of science or hysteria.  I've got to say that they're looking like mighty fine questions right now.

Meanwhile I'm not thrilled about cars that can run on water.  I don't think anybody is.

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