As many people watch the aftermath of the oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico on their televisions, they see the pelicans and other wildlife coated in thick oil washing up on shore. Those that survive are being rescued and cleaned by volunteers.
As the images flash in front of our eyes, the outcry against BP (British Petroleum) increases as the livelihoods of the area fishing and tourism industry have come to an abrupt halt, crippling two vital economic forces for the region.
As the outcry increases and people wonder what is going to happen to prices at the pump and the cost of the next lobster tail at an elegant restaurant, they are perhaps forgetting that 11 men lost their lives in the explosion that brought down the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20. A recent article posted on the Internet by a wife of a worker for Transocean, who has the incredibly challenging task of capping the leak, has shed light on another side of the situation; the affected families of the workers, the families who are not only grieving the loss of loved ones and co-workers, but also facing threats from those angry at BP and those who are opposed to the petroleum industry in general.
Walking the Fence, written by a Louisiana woman whose online moniker is merely Tiffany Divine Jeane, tells the story from the eyes of an oilfield wife, whose husband is risking his own life to cap the leak.
While people protest and threaten the oil and gas industry, the writer makes a very valid point in saying that the protesters need to stop and think about what it is they are protesting. Crippling an industry that the people in North America are heavily reliant on will do nothing more than raise prices of many consumer goods, not just at the gas pump. If the industry were to slow down to a trickle, it would only lead to a higher dependence on foreign suppliers.
When people think about the oil and gas industry, they only think about it as being an energy source; but many everyday products are derived from petroleum, including ammonia, antiseptics, asphalt, plastic goods, bandages, carpet, computers, denture adhesives, heart valves, and long list of other items that one would never connect to the petroleum industry.
In the article, she writes "if you boycott us, you are making a huge mistake. You are putting thousands of men and women out of a job, you are raising the prices of everything we take for granted. You are making us depend on another country to sustain our way of life...Whaterver your decision, just quit walking the fence because it is ridiculous to think you can have it both ways."