Thursday 6/17

Oil Still

America lives on disasters.  It’s a vicious cycle.  A disaster or an outbreak occurs, followed by some degree of panic.  Then, all the blaming fingers start pointing.  Then we realize it’s probably no one entity’s fault.  Things start to settle and we all forget we were even worried.  Finally, we twiddle our thumbs until the next round.  It’s sickeningly benign, in retrospect.

Unless you’re living under a rock, you’re obviously aware of the currently clamored-about catastrophe: the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  (It’s more like an oil spew if you ask me.  I mean, see for yourself.)

Right now, America is somewhere between panic and pointing fingers.  Today, a BP executive is being grilled in a congressional hearing.  Also, I’ve been hearing a lot of this, lately: “Gas prices are going to be increasing as a result of this.”  (That’s the panic part.)

First of all, BP CEO Tony Hayward is in the congressional hot seat today.  Poor guy.  I understand that he’s responsible, in a way, for all of the going-ons within his company, but I don’t think all of the grilling he’s going to get in the hearing is going to solve the problem.  (They’ve already got Kevin Costner and his oil separating machines on the job, what more could they want?  Miley Cyrus cleaning seagulls?)

And, everyone needs to stop worrying about gas prices.  Removing the oil production of the Gulf of Mexico from America’s oil portfolio (or portf-oil-io) would make an unnoticeable dent in our supply.  Gas prices are only going to up this summer because, well, it’s summer.  It happens every summer, in case you haven’t noticed (especially around Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day, the usual price hike holidays.)

It could be worse.  If the oil refineries on shore had blown up or something, then we’d be in trouble and walking to work.

By: S. Cole Garrett