How are we harmed by oil companies making a quick buck?

Can you say Exxon Valdez? She only spilt 37,000 tons of oil, she's failed to make it to the top 50 spills. Still the damage is felt & now Alaska is dealing with another spill from the Selendang Ayu built 2001 as a SINGLE HULLED TANKER. Another fairly small spill but it's potential as an enviormental disaster is growing presently. There's no dollar amount that can be estimated for the damage caused by the E.V. spill. BP payed out in fines, clean up, to the peoples that made their living in the fisheries. They still decline to say who was responsible. Now 37,000 tons is hardly considered a major spill. So who bears the brunt these spills? Not the oil industry, they've some how managed to continue building single hull tankers, off loading & transfering cargo at sea, putting to sea with untrained & shorthanded crews & these are only a few of the ways to save a buck.

Here's only a partical list of spills over 100,000 tons.


1967/Scilly Isles/the Torrey Canyon/119,000 tons

1972/Gulf of Oman/Sea Star/115,000 tons

1976/Spain/Urquiola/100,000 tons

1978/Amoco Cadiz/Brittany/223,000 tons

1979/Alantic Empress/Tabgo/287,000 tons

1980/Irenes Serenade/Greece/100,000

1983/Castillo de Bellver/South Africa/252,000 tons

1988/Odyssey/Nova Scotia/132,000 tons

1991/ABT Summer/Angola/260,000 tons

1991/Haven/Genoa/144,000 tons

and list goes on & on & on &on. Lioyds a few yrs back said that 52% of tankers that can carry over 10,000 tons of oil are still in operation. The Exxon Valdez still sails with oil for her cargo, she's just under a different name. The Odyssey still transports oil but is not allowed in Nova Scotian waters (slap my wrist will ya) It's thought that over the past 35 yrs that at least 5 1/2 million tons of oil has been spilt into the seas. This kind of corprate behavior is not capitalism, it's outright international RAPE, a violation of the enviorment. The fish we eat, if their high on the food chain, is either farmed or toxic. The costal habitat is slowly becoming dead zones. Clam, mussel, scallop & oyster beds are constantly closing. Tuna, Swordfish, Halibut, Shark, Marlin & other large species are becoming less available & more toxic. We're now selling & eating fish that only a few decades ago would've been considered not fit for eating (mussels & sharks are some good examples).

This is only a part of the damage that oil companies bring to our waters & they're not very good stewards when it comes to land & air either. It's all in an innocent days profit.

Barry