Thursday, May 20, 2010

Junk Shot

No, the junk shot is not a photograph of a man's genitals. Instead, it is BP's suggestion of dumping junk--golf balls, old tires, etc.--into the pipeline to jam it up and stop the oil from leaking into the gulf. However, I believe they have overlooked one type of junk that could be fired into that pipeline: BP executives.

2 comments:

  1. Blaming BP is understandable and satisfying, but it is partially misplaced. Those of us who put gasoline in our cars and natural gas or fuel oil in our homes are to blame. Especially those of us who scream bloody murder to our government officials every time the price of oil goes up.

    BP is doing exactly what we pay them to do. MMS is giving BP the level of regulatory oversight that we have demanded.

    I propose a $55 per barrel tax on all oil produced in or imported into the United States. The increased government revenue should be used to clean up the mess in the gulf, with any extra going to subsidize alternative energy sources.

    So says one pissed off environmentalist libertarian.

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  2. More than one person or group can be to blame. The more the story comes out the more it seems that BP cut corners and repeatedly lied about the spill, and MMS let them get away with murder. It's hard to see how there's a libertarian solution to this since people generally are not aware of where their fuel comes from or the dangers its production causes. We really do need more government regulation of this (or perhaps banning this kind of drilling). But it is true that all of us who drive contribute to these problems. (I don't complain about gas taxes, for what that's worth.)

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