Wisdom from Fannin County, Texas

I used to live in Fannin County, pop. 17,000. It's an agricultural area and the biggest town is around 9000. I still keep up with some of what goes on there even though I live in the big city (pop 26,000) of Greenville. Gene Marshall of Bonham publishes a monthly newsletter and I unashamedly reproduce part of his latest here. Read on.

Drilling for Crude in Your Pantry

Gene Marshall
Bonham Citizen

Messing with black gunk where you store your supper is a gross idea, but this is what we are doing in the Gulf of Mexico. This is one of our pantries, a huge source of food. Even New England tuna fishing is effected by any damage to tuna spawning in the Gulf. We have been risking the destruction of this food pantry with poorly regulated oil companies drilling in deep water without safety nets for their exceedingly complex and risky ventures.

Why can’t we just say “NO” to such practices? Because we are oil addicts, and oil addicts share similar qualities with drug addicts. U.S. drug addicts have turned Mexico in to a war zone financed by U.S. drug purchases.

Our oil addiction is also creating horrific tragedies. Oil spills are only one, but a big one. All the oil so far spewed into the Gulf of Mexico is, I hear, close to the amount that the U.S. burns in one day (maybe we are up to two days now, since we are unsure how much oil is spewing.) Our oil addiction is so vast we have nothing to compare it with. We might compare it to smoking three cigarettes at a time, ten hours a day. If such a lung pollution is unthinkable, let us also notice how unthinkable is the extent of our carbon dioxide pollution of the atmosphere. Whole islands are being drowned. Hurricanes are becoming more intense. Ecosystems are being destroyed. Fresh water is being reduced. People keep saying that when the situation gets bad enough, we will do something. THE SITUATION IS BAD ENOUGH!

Some oil companies are trying to sound responsible by saying that they want to invest in alternative energy, that we need to increase ALL energy sources. But that is not so. We need to decrease SOME energy sources, namely oil and coal as well as natural gas. But try asking an oil company how much they are going to reduce their oil sales this year. You would surely receive a blank look to such a question. “We can’t quit oil production right away,” they might say. Then you might say, “True, but when do you intend to start reducing oil production and where do you intend to start reducing it?” When no answer comes back, you might continue, “What about reducing drilling for oil in our Gulf of Mexico Food Pantry?”

Such conversations would quickly teach you that the narrow, perpetual-growth thinking of these “Drill Baby Drill” companies does not deal with the real solutions to our energy crisis, but only with market share, profits, and benefits for arrogant and deluded oil company executives. In spite of what these false optimists tell us, we do not know for sure if we will ever be able to shut down this wound in the bottom of the Gulf. We may have a permanent leak. We have wounded our planet and it is bleeding. Perhaps we will get by with it this time. But next time? Whatever they say, there will be a next time. We not only need a moratorium on deep-water drilling until we figure this out, we need a permanent moratorium on all types off-shore drilling. Sooner of later, Gulf oil workers will need to look for other work. Perhaps we need a jobs program to help them with this, but “change” means CHANGE! We can’t get sentimental about it.

Oil companies, like all corporations, are dangerous organizations -- only because they are doing what they were invented to do -- making returns for their investors. How can these dangerous organizations be disciplined to actually serve the public in a manner that the public needs to be served? Your democratic government is the only force in existence with clout enough to force this to happen.

But as we all know, our governments (national, state, and local) are not truly democratic organizations . They have become house pets of the corporations. Governments no longer sternly restrain corporations; governments coddle them, deregulate them, and collude with them for accruing short-term economic benefits and political power. The long-term solutions to our onrushing crises are neglected.

So what is the answer? Citizen responsibility! It is not enough to write letters and complain. We need clout. When Fannin County citizens vote for Republicans they are voting for oil companies, for the oil addiction, and for go-slow changes in our energy patterns. Democrats are considerably better on this issue. So, let’s get out a big Democratic Party vote in Fannin County this November. Let’s begin now putting together the organization that can do that. Yes, it is true that some Democrats, even the best of them, can also be slow footed. But Republican Congress members are going backwards; they cannot be counted on at all on this topic and many other topics.

Do you want to do more? Talk to your friends and acquaintances, Republican and Democratic, in language that makes sense to them. Take a few risks at becoming a controversial person. Along with Jesus, Buddha, and Superman say what is true, do what is needed, and smile at the scorn of those who don’t want to face reality. This might be fun. Do you want to avoid scorn? Get over it.

P.S. Please listen to this speech that Rachel Maddow wishes that Obama had made on this topic.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/articles/2010/washington-post-06-17-2010.html