To begin with let me be clear about this. I am just as upset as everyone else regarding the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I live 1.5 miles from the beautiful, white, sandy beaches of the west coast of Florida and I know how devastating this will be for all of us.
People here are carrying signs and protesting at BP gas stations everywhere and calling for a boycott of BP products. I understand their desire to punish BP and I believe BP should be punished but there are three points I would like to make.
#1
It will be very difficult to completely boycott PB. They are a HUGE company and many of the things we use every day and don't even think about are made by BP. The soda can you drink out of may be made by BP. The asphalt on our roads is very likely made by BP - and the list goes on.
#2
But lets say we were able to boycott BP and drive them into bankruptcy (their stock had already take a really big hit). What happens then? Who is going to pay for the cleanup of this awful mess? I can tell you who - the American taxpayer. Quite frankly, I don't want to pay for it with my tax dollars. So, even though I don't presently use BP gas, I am going to start. I need gas anyway and their gas costs the same so I will help them out until they get this mess taken care of.
#3
For the most part, BP doesn't own gas stations. They are owned by and independent station owner. He is a guy who has a wife and family just like the rest of us. He may live down the street from you or go to your church. His kid may play on the same little league as your kid. The money he makes from his station he spends in his community - your community. So when you boycott his station and deprive him of his livelihood, you are really hurting your neighbor and your community.
2 comments:
I know it's hard for BP to be boycotted, but I will try not to buy BP gasoline. On top of the spill, they had the refinery explosion in Texas in 2005 which killed many workers, and were one of the driving forces to install the Shah in Iran back in the fifties. As far as the people. Yeah it sucks that they are private owners, but they should know about the company they work for before they get into it. I know if I was offered a job with Halliburton or General Electric, I'd decline. And as far as their holdings, I know they own BP, BP-solar, Visco lubricants, Castrol lubricants, US Amoco and Arco gas. How does that relate to soft drinks? If you could provide evidence I'd gladly give up my Jones Soda or whatever drink they own.
I think some of us are being a little harsh toward BP. A lot of people depend on them for salaries, income, pensions. As in other industries, accidents happen. When we started deep water drilling we should have known accidents would happen. We didn't think that far ahead. We wanted to drill, find more oil. What's surprising is that we haven't had a number of these accidents before now and it could have happened to any one of the companies drilling in the Gulf. We could as easily blame the politicians who pushed for deep water drilling as BP. This oil spill is the consequences , harsh as they are, of previous decisions made, when oil companies pushed for and our elected politicians agreed with them and allowed, drilling in the gulf. Had it been Exxon again, we'd have wanted to 'tar and feather' them also. What we have here is a life changing accident, which may be as much our fault as theirs.
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