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Yet another oil spill…

NEW YORK, Dec 26 (Reuters) – An undersea crude oil pipeline ruptured on Sunday after being hit by a ship’s anchor, spilling over 20,000 gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico and leaving a half-mile long oil slick on the water. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation said the extent of the damage to the High Island Pipeline, which is operated by Plains All American Pipeline L.P., was still being evaluated. “Investigations are still ongoing, but it appears the pipeline was struck by a tanker’s anchor,” said a DOT spokesman. A 60-yard-wide oil sheen was visible on the water extending half a mile from the site of the accident, which occurred about 30 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas, a Coast Guard spokesman said. “(The pipeline) is still leaking about 80 to 400 gallons per day of oil,” Coast Guard spokesman Adam Wine said.

I find it amusing that any time anyone speaks out against off shore oil drilling that person is labeled as a leftist environmental wacko who hates progress. Maybe people who speak out against such “progress” are really just sane human beings who are tired of hearing excuses about why we should continue to acquiesce when it comes to our nation’s obvious addiction to energy. Is it too much to ask for- some real leadership in this country that isn’t beholden to big energy corporations?

Accidents happen right? Remember that crazy, drunken oil tanker captain that spilled oil all over the Alaskan shoreline? I bet you didn’t know that, “Exxon has been eligible for as much as $2 billion in Valdez spill-related tax deductions.” Yup, not only did the company cause a devastating environmental disaster, we the citizens of America helped pay for the clean up. And for all the capitalists out there screaming about how the free market will solve all our energy problems none seem to mention that after the little 3 Mile Island mix up, the nuclear power industry couldn’t get insurance and investors wouldn’t invest without it. So the U.S. government passed a law limiting the liability of the companies that own and operate nuclear facilities. Sure nuclear energy is safe (insert a smirk and a wink) but why then did the industry needed something other than the free market to prove it? It’s the same old story, privatize profits and socialize the costs. I wonder what a truly free and responsible market looks like.

I guess I’m just tired of watching energy companies behave badly and cause accidents that range from moderately environmentally damaging to threatening of entire regions of our globe. Then when anyone criticizes them or offers an idea that might limit growth or the profits of fat cats like this Jabba the Hut look alike, that person is demonized. (Remember Lee Raymond, the Exxon exec. that took home a 400 million dollar retirement bonus before being nominated by Bush to head a study on solutions to our energy crisis? No I couldn’t make this stuff up even if I tried.)

Perhaps one day the American people will recognize the truth; that the wonderful tools associated with the availability of cheap energy have forced us into enslavement with the citizens of our country horribly dependent on a few super rich corporations that also run our government. The following isn’t a picture of a return to the dark ages, it’s a picture of the breaking of our bonds.