BP

I usually refrain from posting on issues about which I know no more than the general public, but I am breaking that rule to post on BP. The news media suggest not only that the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was from a BP well, but that BP has been the subject of many more actions due to unsafe conditions than other oil companies. There are also stories that BP has been less than forthcoming with information on the crisis.

There is also a story in the media that BP lobbied for the release of the Lockerbie bomber. Not coincidentally there is a lot of oil in Libya for which oil companies are competing. I take this quite personally as one of my friends was killed on Flight 103.

Now there is a move in Congress to remove subsidies for the production of ethanol. Note too that there are tariffs that protect American ethanol producers from the competition of Brazil's efficient ethanol industry. These moves would both promote use in the United States of a renewable fuel and save the consumer money. I have heard that BP is benefiting from a significant portion of the subsidies and protection of ethanol. I hope that BP lobbyists will be ignored if they seek to protect that transfer from the consumers and tax payers to BP coffers.