OIl Tanker Safety

Canada is considering shutting down a series of coastal lighthouses on their West Coast. Oil tankers pass along this coast, heading to and from Valdez, Alaska. This is of concern because it increases the chance of a tanker accident, leading to an oil spill.

Relating this to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, we see that our society is not investing the effort required to keep our petroleum infrastructure healthy and safe. We depend on crude oil for our way of life, but we have to be willing to bear the costs. If we try to duck paying them, one day the bill collector will catch us in the form of a horrible accident. Gas does not come for free. We pay for it at the pump, but there is a whole host of steps it has to go through before arriving at that pump, and as a society we have to pay for those too.