Oil spill crisis: Follow the money!

Published 09 June, 2010, 04:07

Edited 09 June, 2010, 10:14

The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has now gone on for 50 days. Many argue that the spill is a result of money, and lots of it.

“The money that plays into this is the enormous quantities of lobbying and enormous expenditures in lobbying that BP and the rest of the oil industry have been pouring into congress, particularly over the last two years since
the Obama administration came into play. During the eight years of the
Bush administration they were able to essentially legislate from within
the government and we’re seeing the results of that legislating and
lobbying now; which is essentially a complete lack of oversight,
regulation and enforcement,” said Antonia Juhasz, the director of
the Chevron Program at Global Exchange.

This trend goes back further into history than the George W. Bush administration. The oil industry has been a dominant force in US politics, expanding significantly during the year 2000. During the same
time frame, there was also an increase in environmental accidents by oil
companies.