Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Exxon's 19-Year Stench


Clean Energy Residue
Originally uploaded by mdt1960
As oil prices hover at a record $100 per barrel and we dish out over $3.00 per gallon at the pump, I found myself sick with sarcasm to hear this morning that after 19 years since the tragedy of the Exxon Valdez, Exxon is still resisting court orders to pay a modest $2.5 billion in punitive damages.

Exxon claims they have paid out enough. They've spent money attempting to clean up their mess... as they should. Yet, they do not believe they should be punished for allowing an employee with a colourful alcoholic history to return to the helm of a giant tanker resulting in over 11 million gallons of crude oil, spread across 600 linear miles — larger than the distance between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta. Their defense, they didn't profit from that incident. But what of the continued activity? They still profit highly from that, do they not?

And to think, this is the same company that boasted of record profits in 2007—$40.6 billion. And their squawking about paying an additional $2.5 billion. What really gets me is that our society simply sits back and lets it all unfold in front of us—doing nothing about it. Just saying, "Hmmmm."

When will the people take this country back? When will the people declare a boycott on the oil companies—where no one purchases gasoline for an entire week? Imagine pulling that off a couple times per year.

Oh, how I hope to see the day that the oil companies of Exxon, Chevron, Shell go by way of the old typewriter manufacturers named Underwood, Royal and Remington.

1 comment:

haiku curmudgeon said...

Hmmmm. Sir you want me to change my life style for justice and health? I may own shares of some of the oil companies you mention - who knows what my retirement fund managers are doing! I won't be able to buy the new Winnie Maxie 475 hummer with a cut in my dividend check.

Get a life mister grumpy old guy. This is America! Freedom to spend our cash however we want is a Constitutional right!!!

Spud Lundgren