To drill or not to drill? What length of investigation are 11 human lives worth?

In the wake of millions of gallons of oil ruining, perhaps forever, life as we know it in U.S. states abutting the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration sought to halt deep oil drilling for six months to allow for an investigation of the risks of deep water drilling with regard to BP's problem rig in particular and the risks of deep water drilling in general. Oil interests and other business interests filed suit to protest the temporary stoppage and won their first court decision from a judge in Louisiana. Now Obama et al will file an appeal.

Is a six month moratorium on deep water oil drilling a common sense safe guard to prevent further disaster? Or is it a knee jerk reaction born of fear? Even worse, is it merely a political maneuver to push energy reform?

Do we know how and why BP's rig exploded? Was it a one-in-a-million happenstance or was it an indicator of wide-spread shoddy drilling practices embraced across the oil industry to keep costs down?

What length and depth and breadth of investigation are eleven human lives worth?

How many oil rig workers are actually out of jobs because of the moratorium? How many lives would be put at risk by another explosion?

If another rig is crippled, how would the resulting leak further affect the Gulf states? Are oil rig workers' jobs more vital than protecting the eco-systems and the Gulf area from another disaster? And if the oil company responsible for a hypothetical disaster is American, would the money required for mitigation bankrupt that company? Would it bankrupt the American oil business?

How high or low is the risk of another explosion or leak?

Until we know the answers to these questions, can we make a prudent decision on this matter?

Scud Downing

Americans who pay for foreign oil enable terror

It seems that the tragedy unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico may have brought the CLEAN Energy Bill back from the dead.

British Petroleum has raked in record profits estimated in the tens of BILLIONS of pounds and dollars - much of them coming from AMERICAN coastal waters. The BP rig that exploded didn't boast state-of-the-art safety measures - like the technology mandated by Great Briton from any company drilling in the North Sea or by Brazil for companies deep-water drilling off Rio. In fact, US safety requirements for oil drilling and transporting haven't been beefed up since a burst of activity just after the Exxon-Valdiz disaster some 40 years ago.

The US regulators responsible for policing ocean drilling were too busy throwing sex parties for and buying drugs from oil company executives to notice the problems and deadly short cuts with this particular rig as it was being constructed. Their perceptions, dimmed by sated lust and drug/alcohol hangovers didn't discover the dead man listed as a contact on environmental documents and other incredible (and criminal)gaffes perpetrated by BP reps.

There's a fabu commercial being shown on TV that lays out the reasons for supporting a sustainable energy bill NOW - and the environmental crisis in the Gulf is but one of these. The others include the billion dollars America sends its oil rich enemies EACH DAY, the idea that wind and sun are US resources and would never have to be "imported" and that clean energy jobs will gradually wean off American workers from oil jobs and also employ AMERICAN CITIZENS exclusively. We ain't gonna run outta wind and have to buy it from ... Iraq for example.

America currently has the energy policy she deserves because her citizens have not challenged it or probably in many cases, even been aware of it. No more pleading ingnorance - contact your representative or senator TODAY and demand CLEAN ENERGY for America's prosperity AND her security.