Big Oil Explosion and Politics-It's Shameful

THE DOCTOR IS IN
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Hello America, and how is the world treating you?

On April 20, 2010, we experienced one of the worlds worst oil spills in history. The spill in the gulf off of the coast of Louisiana is leaking approximately 210,000 gallons of oil each day and with a third leak occurring in the structure beneath the sea you can expect even more oil to pour into the ocean. Today the oil slick is over 100 miles long and is expected to hit the Louisiana shoreline sometime today.

This oil spill is just another example big oil business BP, (British Petroleum)sacrificing the environment for the sake of the almighty dollar. BP has been fighting against any new regulations being placed on the oil industry. BP owns the oil rig that exploded and they lied to the government and administration about the size and scope of the leaking. The leak is five times more than BP said it was.

BP and the other oil companies have no real regulation. Our government has been letting these oil giants regulate themselves. Needless to say the past few administrations have sided with big oil interests and literally let them have any thing they wanted.

This oil rig sank to depths of over 5,000 feet into the ocean yet our politicians and lawmakers failed to have big oil show a plan of how they would cap and stop any leaks prior to letting BP sink this well. The oil companies had no backup plan nor did they have any idea how a leak at that great depth would be resolved. Their battle cry was only "Drill baby drill."

It should be noted that Brazil explores and gathers oil from the ocean also but in their country it is mandatory that each rig have a backup valve in the event the first one fails. But here in the U.S.A. for the sake of saving and making money this rig had no such backup valve. It would have been an inexpensive investment but---money wins out.

The oil companies cut costs and now fragile sea life, birds, and environment and loss of jobs, especially the ones dependent on the sea for their survival will suffer the consequences for decades to come. Even if our government can get this one oil rig valve shut down it will be 30, 40, or even 50 years before the area gets back to even a somewhat normal condition.

According to estimates, it may take 50 days to get this leaking valve shut down and with 210,000 gallons, and climbing, of oil spewing out each and every day, you do the math.

My view, the government has to regulate the big oil industry with tough and rigid legislation and rules. There should also be a limit of how deep an oil company can drill. If the oil company cannot show precisely how they can stop an oil leak at specific depths then they should not be allowed to drill below the depth of which they can actually handle an oil leak.

Our lawmakers believed the oil companies when they said "trust me." Our short-sighted lawmakers failed to hold these money machines accountable hoping not to get on the wrong side of big oil. They wanted all of those large contributions and now we, the general public are paying the price for the politicians greed.

How many of these large catastrophic oil spills can our oceans stand before they too begin to look like our polluted rivers and waterways. We should be drilling for less oil, not more and we shouldn't be drilling off shore in sensitive nature areas. We have wind. It will never run out. The money we spend on exploration and drilling for more oil could be spent on wind, natural gas and other safe alternatives.- And, that's my opinion.

Dr.Bradley W. Kuhns, Ph.D., O.M.D.
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Dr. Kuhns can be reached by e-mail at:
bradleykuhns@gmail.com