By William Rivers Pitt | Truthout.org
Editor’s Note: This article, which just came in from Truthout, is an attempt by the alternative media to bring a spiritual or at least social consciousness dimension into the BP oil spill issue. Decide for yourself if the approach works; and let’s get a sense of why or why not. I think that the author, who is a knowledgeable guy, leaves out some key points. Yes, it’s your ‘fault’ if you have a car, eat or sit in a heated home in the winter. But is it your fault that oil companies for decades have been buying up alternative energy patents and concealing them from us? Is it our fault that the oil business killed mass transit in the 40s or the electric car in the 90s? And what are we going to do about that? — efc
There were hearings on Capitol Hill this week regarding the Gulf oil disaster, and virtually everyone involved – from witnesses to experts to government officials – had a grand old time throwing rocks at British Petroleum. The Obama administration and various government agencies have also been taking it in the teeth over their failure to quell the oil boiling up from the bottom of the sea. Beaches are closing, animals are dying, livelihoods are being destroyed, and unbelievable as it may seem, the worst is yet to come. New reports indicate the well may have been releasing oil equivalent to the Exxon Valdez spill every eight to ten days since this whole thing started.
BP is taking the lion’s share of the beatings, and justly so. They ran a shoddy operation out there on the Deepwater Horizon, and knew even ten years ago that such operations were incredibly risky. They lied and lied again about the scope of the disaster. They have been attempting to limit press access to the disaster zone to keep people from finding out what is actually going on. Their corporate officers have denied the existence of oil plumes beneath the surface, and have held pity-parties for themselves on television over how trying this whole situation is for them.
This mess is their fault, and the world knows it. Their stock value has cratered, and even the BP shareholders are beginning to revolt. They are going to be sued for God only knows how much money, and will be saddled with the cost of the clean-up, which may take years.