The BP oil spill that occurred in 2011 was the first many of us saw of the dangers of oil digging, but it was not the first time an issue like this occurred. In 1969 an oil platform six miles off the coast of Santa Barbara, California experienced a malfunction that caused oil and natural gas to shoot up into the ocean. This event had catastrophic repercussions, but the government was not able to learn from this disaster and allowed it to reoccur just 42 years later. After the spill in 1969 Congress passed a bill that banned off shore drilling on 85% of America’s coasts and was intended to hedge against another incident. This bill though ended in 2008 under the Bush administration and Bush pushed to reopen these drilling territories as gas prices were skyrocketing. Eventually the sanctions on drilling were loosened and America once again began to drill in its oceans. This ended up being a horrific decision as the BP spill occurred just shortly after. The author of this article is able to convey his point of American’s desire for things now while ignoring the past through his simple use of an abrupt ending to his article. The author never specifically states his disappointment with drilling or his disgust with the spill, but he ends his article with simply stating the death toll and areas affected from the spill to show how truly catastrophic it was. This abrupt, and unpleasing ending shows how he disapproved of the decision to keep digging and gives us the idea that he knew something like this would occur again.
http://ic.galegroup.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ic/ovic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&u=psucic&currPage=&disableHighlighting=true&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=e&catId=GALE%7CAAA000008417&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CPC3010999290
I liked your mention of how the author went about opposing the bill. He didm’t directly state his opinion, but instead used a death toll, which makes a powerful message.
The BP oil spill really was a terrible event. I liked the way you showed the rhetorical appeals of the article and how devastating off-shore oil drilling can be