Demand for oil a reality in our modern world

Bob Jack, North Las Vegas

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 | 2:03 a.m.

Regarding Jerry Bitts’ Tuesday letter to the editor, headlined “More offshore drilling wouldn’t help citizens,” in which he questions the value to society of offshore oil drilling and production:

The oil spill off the shores of Louisiana is a tragedy. The BP-leased oil production rig that exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico was operating in water a mile deep. Operating at this depth is an enormous technological feat.

As someone who has experience in a deep-ocean drilling project, I believe the petroleum industry performs a major service for society, investing many billions of private dollars in research and technology, operating in an extremely high-risk environment and consistently making safety a priority in its operations. Although accountability must be assigned for catastrophic events like the BP crisis, it serves no useful purpose for the federal government to stigmatize corporations and create a punitive culture in which businesses like BP operate.

The negligence of the federal government in managing the business of the peoples’ tax dollars far surpasses any negligence of companies like BP that regularly conduct their operations in high-risk environments with capital supplied by investors. Let’s hope that the Obama administration and Congress will deliver to the people the same day-in, day-out level of performance that BP delivers to the global society.

We still do live in a hydrocarbon-driven society, and this will continue to be the case for decades. Society’s reliance on the technological achievements of the petroleum industry will, therefore, be a reality for a long time into the future.