While states along the Gulf of Mexico are fighting to control the terrible effects of the most recent big U.S. oil spill, there comes news from faraway China that it is suffering an oil spill that has spread over more than 165 square miles of the Yellow Sea.
So we are alerted that such difficulties may not be “rare.”
That’s why ExxonMobil, Chevron, Conoco Phillips and Shell wisely are pooling a billion dollars to form a new company to respond to any future undersea oil spills.
They want to get ahead of future potential problems. That obviously is sensible.
With thousands of underwater oil wells around the United States’ coasts and those of many foreign nations, our problem in the Gulf of Mexico surely is not the last one we may face.
We need oil in huge quantities. So “planning ahead” to avoid problems – which surely will occur – is certainly reasonable.