The BP Gusher

I like to think that my undistinguished working class family does have one claim to fame. My ancestors labored in the industries most responsible for California's environmental disasters. When ridding the Sierras of redwoods was the main thing, my people were lumberjacks. In fact one great-grandfather, a master carpenter, designed and built the world's longest wooden flume (later used as a thrill ride) to bring lumber 60 miles down from Hume Lake to Sanger. When the redwoods gave out, my forebears moved into the oil fields of the Big Valley in time for the Lakeview Gusher, which blew oil a hundred feet into the air for 540 days, which brings me to this.

The BP "oil spill" in the Gulf is not an oil spill. That's BP rubbish. An oil spill takes place when a tanker springs a leak. What BP did, in the name of greed, was bring in a gusher in water so deep the well couldn't be capped. They killed nine workers. All of that should be a crime.

--Gary Goss