BP: Another Oil Spill

British Petroleum once had a great solar energy program. I once believed they cared about this planet. I know their offices in Frederick, Maryland closed a few years back. Those offices worked on the solar energy stuff. I am sure there are a few people working for BP who care about the environment and the planet.

However, I watch them say the gulf is fine and now four years after their disaster oil still finds its way to the shores of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Probably Texas and Mexico too. I see them try to weasel out of doing more, for taking responsibility, and perhaps it is a disaster that can't be made right. It is business and BP wants more funds going to their profits than going to clean up projects. Most companies would do the same thing.

Our government sames to want to let them off the hook. I didn't like the way Bush handled Katrina and I don't like the way Obama handled the oil spill in the gulf. I want the gulf cleaned up at least as cleaned as it was before the spill. New Orleans appears to have healed from Katrina but I would like the levees improved to help the city survive the next Katrina. Maybe I have too many I wants.

I want to enjoy the salt life, the bayou life, the swamp life instead of making due in the crude life. Then if I think things might be getting better there is the news of another oil spill by BP. It is a smaller spill but it stings a bit knowing they haven't cleaned up their big spill.

As I teach my daughter how to fish the waters of the gulf, something I am learning as well, I wonder when she has children will she be able to teach them?

A Difference

Over $1500 was raised yesterday, at a Bluesgate jam fund raising concert at Longshots in Charles Town, West Virginia. The concert featured over 12 bands, several jams and over 9 hours of music. The gig was broadcasted over the internet.

The concert was raising money for the fisherman in the gulf. Now $1500 is not $20 billion dollars. However, it is $1500 which will help the fisherman. This was just one concert, in one bar, in one community. These were not the huge names in music. They were talented blues players playing a fitting blues fund raiser. Across America their are a lot of  communities, a lot of talented musicians, and an chance to make a difference.

Questions on the Gulf Oil Spill

It should never take this long to stop an oil leak from an oil rig. The damage will be incredible. Hopefully, we will learn valuable lessons from it. It needs to be stopped! We also need to focus on how to clean up this mess and minimize the ecological damage.

How do we clean up the damaged gulf? How do we stop it from spreading to the Caribbean?  How do we stop it from spreading to the Atlantic Ocean? How do we clean up the damaged wetlands? How to we reverse the damage? When will it be safe for the shrimpers to go back to making a living? When will it be safe to eat gulf shrimp again? When can the commercial fisherman go back to fishing the gulf? When can I take a charter fishing trip in the gulf and catch healthy safe fish? How many animals are going to go extinct over this? How many will go endangered? What is going to happen to the waterman who can't make a living? What is going to happen to the tourist towns on the gulf who will lose visitors? How do we make sure something like this never happens again?

Not everybody at BP is evil and BP does do some good things. The government isn't all bad. It isn't a blame game. We don't have time for that. Yes BP should cover the cost. However we have to work together and answer the questions I asked and I am sure there are more questions to be answer. Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and Florida all deserve better. It is another slap to the regions face, just like Katrina. And this tragedy effects more than the five states mentioned it effects us all.