Oil companies continue with wave of destruction

The oil rig Deepwater Horizon owned by BP and operated by Transocean Ltd. burned and sank last week in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven workers were killed. Now as well as destroying these workers lives the well is pumping millions of gallons of oil into the water and polluting all in front of it. The coasts are being polluted and the fish life and the animals. This is just the latest in environmental catastrophes caused by the profit addicted oil corporations.

There are back up systems which are supposed to be installed on rigs to prevent spills. These were not on this rig. BP has a record of contracting out its rig work and then not supervising its contractors to make sure they keep to the regulations for back up procedures. This saves it money. As a former BP engineer in Alaska testifying before the US Congress said: There is no doubt that cost-cutting and profits have taken precedence over safety and environment." This is what has happened in the Gulf.

The capitalist mass media tries to say that this is the fault of people for driving cars. But the capitalist system will not provide the high speed rail, the mass public transit, the environmentally clean energy. It forces us onto the polluting fossil fuel transport because there is more profit in this for them. this is the reality.

Sean.