Congress kept from knowing about oil spills in Alaska

[donsu]

http://www.counterpunch.com/leopold05162005.html

ANWR Prelude: Unreported Spills and Huge Fines
BP Stains the Arctic


While the hacks working for mainstream news organizations were busy chasing the story about the Runaway Bride late last month, a real scandal was just beginning to unfold as Congress inched closer to approving a controversial measure to open up a couple thousand acres of the Artic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration.

It was then, unbeknownst to the federal lawmakers who debated the merits of drilling in ANWR, that the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation started to lay the groundwork to pursue civil charges against UK oil and gas behemoth BP and the corporation's drilling contractor for failing to report massive oil spills at its Prudhoe Bay operation, just 60 miles west from the pristine wilderness area that would be ravaged by the very same company in its bid to drill for oil should ANWR truly be opened to further development.

-snip-

The latest charges against BP stem from claims made recently by BP whistleblowers who exposed their company's severe safety and maintenance problems that have caused at least a half-dozen oil spills at Prudhoe Bay-North America's biggest oil field-and other areas on Alaska's North Slope, which the whistleblowers say could boil over and spread to ANWR if the area is opened up to further oil and gas exploration.

Despite those dire warnings, neither Congress nor the Senate plans to investigate the whistleblowers claims or plan to hold hearings about drilling in ANWR, according to aides for Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M, chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Even more troubling is the fact that the federal Environmental Protection Agency still refuses to investigate the whistleblowers claims of frequent oil spills and BP's alleged attempts to cover it up.
-snip-
-----------------------------


so, let's just go slow on using other energy sources. let's let oil despoil and damage as long as possible. who cares.........

[kwolf68]

1. Nothing to see, move along

We can't hurt nature, it will reginerate...we can drill safe, only 2000 acres, lots of animals teaming there, its cold up there, we need oil, national secruity, onward Christian soldiers as we rape and pillage.

I just did a big report on energy policy and Nitrogen-oxide emissions from the oil fields are more than twice the total emitted in Washington, D.C. and more than 5 million gallons of toxic substances have been spilled on the North Slope since oil was found in Prudhoe Bay.

Want to see further evidence on oil-exploitation, I submit Nigeria, the 6th largest oil producer. The local community where the oil drilling takes place is ravaged with poverty, the local river where the peasants live off of is practically dead, abject squalid is abound, the environment is wrecked, and wildlife are rare. Someone is making a mint off that oil, but NOT THE PEOPLE of the land.

Everytime I fill up my car with gasoline I am literally sick and play a part in the exploitation of a people and their land.

[EC]

2. You'd think they would be concerned

with what this would do to their other industries like fishing...you know, King Crab and Salmon and such...or how about how beautiful this would look to the Tourist industry Cruises? Just to get their drilling rights they are willing to put the rest of the state out of work and ruin the environment? Talk about Myopic....