NUGENT: Oil spill is our fault

OPINION:

With the possible exception of the tobacco industry, no industry is held in more contempt and scorn than big oil. This is strangely foolish in that tobacco has been proved to cause cancer and has no beneficial use whatsoever, whereas oil literally fuels the American dream. Another clear example of the disconnect that brought us President Barack Hussein Obama.

This clueless condition is a direct result of woefully ignorant Americans with hypocritical attitudes. Surely the unprecedented quality of life in the United States has spoiled too many Americans, who insist on driving gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles and also demand to fill them up with cheap gas. Similarly, some other irresponsible Americans eat massive quantities of junk food, refuse to exercise, poison their once-sacred temples at every opportunity and then demand that someone else pay for their health care. Maybe the band Green Day had it right with its song “American Idiot.” Takes one to know one.

When gas prices go up, Americans condemn big oil for making profits. When catastrophes happen, such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Americans demand that big oil be severely fined, demand more government oversight of the industry by a proven incompetent Fedzilla and demand that more safety features be implemented to prevent another oil spill while expecting gas prices to stay low.

Mining for energy has always been a very dangerous and risky business. Future oil spills will happen, and more coal miners will get killed. It’s the nature of the beast and also true because man has his imperfect hand involved. We should all be thankful these horrible things don’t happen more often. We should thank the energy companies for that.

I’m convinced the energy business could make mining for energy virtually risk-free, thereby making the risk of an oil spill very low. Few if any coal miners would ever get hurt or killed again. However, if such a risk-free model were adopted, the cost of energy would skyrocket and kill the American economy. Seven dollars or more for a gallon of gas, anyone? BP and other energy companies are not evil enterprises that are out to rape the environment. They are in business to make a profit and provide us affordable energy while taking prudent measures to protect the environment. Consumer demand drives production, pure and simple. No one escapes guilt from this guaranteed cause and effect.

When catastrophes such as the oil spill in the Gulf occur, energy companies should be required to clean them up, and BP has stated it will. If Fedzilla weren’t strangled by corruption, a multitude of contingency plans would have been in place for any and all scenarios such as leaks, ruptures, spills and explosions. I’ve never had a fire in our home, but we have fire extinguishers in every room. It is insane to think the time to put together a fire plan is after a fire breaks out. In essence, it appears that is what BP did. Fedzilla has done nothing. Bizarro.

Fedzilla, with all its redundant, counterproductive bureaucracies, is just as guilty for not demanding such precautions and safety measures. How’s that EPA working out for you? Environmental Protection Agency, my foot.

The facts about green energy are in, and they are uglier than an oil spill in your living room. All the wind, sun and hydro energy currently provide us with about 5 percent of our energy needs. That’s all the energy they are going to provide for many years to come. At this point, green energy is a fool’s game that will not provide us with meaningful energy that our energy-gluttonous, unsophisticated society requires.

Nuclear energy is also despised by energy empty heads, yet it is the cleanest, safest and most efficient energy on the planet. America hasn’t built a nuclear power plant in more than 30 years because of completely unfounded fears and sleeping bureaucrats, yet the 104 nuclear power plants we do have provide roughly 20 percent of America’s energy needs.

America still moves by petroleum mined by BP and other petroleum companies. All the produce and goods in your grocery store got there by truck. You drive to work because of the oil that was mined and refined into gas that is in the tank of your automobile.

We can’t have it both ways when it comes to energy. The goal remains for America to be energy-independent. Don’t be an American energy idiot.

Drill, baby, drill; demand state-of-the-art intelligent preparation and hold the ineffective, criminal decision-makers accountable.

Ted Nugent is an unstoppable American rock ’n’ roll, sporting and political activist icon. His best-selling books, “Ted, White & Blue: The Nugent Manifesto” and “God, Guns and Rock ’N’ Roll” (Regnery Publishing) are available at Amazon.com and TedNugent.com.