Follow up to previous posting

As this issue is far to important to remain hidden, I am responding to the comment Ms Tree made to my previous posting with a follow up posting.

I am aware that the oil could reach British shores. The simple fact is that this has already become the largest oil spill in US history, and the larger the volume of oil from any spill, the greater the chance that it will impact other shores. That could include Britain. Such is the nature of environmental pollution. Pollution does not respect the political boundaries, it just follows the wind or sea currents.

Also I am aware that people cleaning up the oil need to be trained. After all if they don't know what they are doing they may cause more harm and may damage themselves if they are not trained. The point I was trying to make was that BP were trying to keep independent eyes from seeing what was really happening. When Exxon dealt with the spill in Alaska, they steam cleaned the beach and the rocks. This created the illusion that the beach was free of oil but in fact the steam drove the tars under the surface. Therefore creating the illusion of a good clean beach, rocks, shore while sterilising the shore of all life and hiding the problem. This is exactly what BP was trying to do.

If no independent eyes were there to see oiled and dead birds, BP could try and claim that the impact was far less than had been feared. Just the same as BP tried to do regarding the out flowing of the oil. BP claimed that it was five thousand barrels per day. Yet the US Geological survey says its forty thousand barrels per day. To put that into context that's two million litres per day, every day for three months.

I fully agree with Ms Tree that this is a travesty and I have equally avoided posting about this as too feel extremely angry about this. It has taken me a while before I felt that I had enough accurate information so I could post something meaningful.

One aspect that should not go without being commented on, the area of the spill is the breading ground for the Blue Fin Tuna. This is a species that is already seriously endangered, and over fishing of immature fish (By Europe and Japan) is already preventing breeding of the fish. The spill has occurred just as the Tuna had been laying their eggs. The oil will kill at least seventy percent of the eggs and fry. What is most upsetting about this is the efforts of the US within the Gulf of Mexico was really the last and only hope that the Blue Fin Tuna and the Yellow Fin Tuna would not become extinct. It appears that we can say good bye to sushi as a direct result of this spill.

As I write I am now hearing on the radio that the oil leaking from the well head is in fact sixty thousand barrels per day. And while I do understand that the costs of sorting out this mess will impact the pensions of normal people, especially if the costs drain BP of cash. But had more people been much more concerned about ethics then they would never have invested in companies that abuse people and human rights, as BP does in Nigeria. And regularly pollutes, again as happens regularly in places like Nigeria. Therefore BP has to pay for the cost of cleaning this mess up.

This accident was predictable, and had it been a terrorist action I doubt that people would be any less angry. BP actions across the globe shows that they have a very poor attitude to safety and the environment and had it not been that America is a developed country would have happened much sooner.

While BP is supposed to be a British company, half the shareholders are in fact American. But in reality it is a global company that has no loyalty to any state or nation and only cares about making money. It was this attitude to making money at all costs that caused this, so if BP falls I will not be shedding any tears for it.