Tuesday, May 11, 2010 | 2:03 a.m.
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Despite the BP oil spill’s damage to the environment and coastal businesses, some say offshore drilling is an acceptable risk. Before I’d take that risk, I would want to know the downside, as well as the reward side and who gets those rewards.
I do not see how any American citizen benefits from offshore drilling, unless he is a politician or has stock in oil companies. With global climate change about to become a major problem, clean, green energy is the future for our entrepreneurs.
Enough oil is available to bridge that transition, but very little of it is available in this country. Further, all oil is sold on a global market. There is no chance that all the oil produced here stays here to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
It is also expensive. We spend more of our tax dollars on the military than most other countries combined. Much is spent to protect our oil interests.
The right wing has called the BP spill “Obama’s Katrina,” but Katrina was a natural disaster. The Federal Emergency Management Agency should have responded.
The offshore drillers made campaign contributions to politicians and BP got limits on its spill responsibilities. Of course, the government must come in to help clean up, so the taxpayers bail out BP. It seems to me that taxpayers take all the risks, and oil companies get all the rewards.
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