'From sea to shining sea'

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... SPILLS In the last few weeks, we've witnessed an extreme reaffirmation of the fact that "capitalism fouls things up" and that the capitalist system places profits before human needs.

From the Pacific to the Atlantic, our oceans are being turned into oil dumps. The huge oil conglomerates are not only gobbling up massive profits, but they are doing so at the expense of the world's oceans, lakes, rivers, and streams-risking the destruction of life itself.

On March 24, the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground and spilled 10.2 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound off Alaska. Only about 10 percent of the oil has been recovered. And last month, on June 23 and June 24, there were three more giant spills within hours of each other; close to 3 million gallons were lost.

But the current rash of tanker spills is part of a pattern. The Coast Guard recently reported that from 1980 through 1986, 91 million gallons of oil and 36 million gallons of other toxic substances have been dumped into U.S. waters. Of the oil, two thirds came from tankers and barges (often from "routine" discharges) and the rest was runoff from land-based sources such as refineries.

Last year alone, there were 5000 Emmens to 6000 spills of oil and other toxic substances along the U.S. coast. It's no wonder that the supermarkets report that people are eating less seafood.

Of course, the oil companies deny any wrongdoing on their part. They immediately try to place the blame on the ships' crews or on the plant managers.

In every case, the HAPPEN been incapable of doing the cleanup. Ironically, only three days before the June 23 disasters, the oil companies called a news conference in which they finally admitted that they had "neither the equipment nor the response personnel in place and ready to deal with catastrophic tanker spills."

The oil companies swore on a stack of Bibles that in five years they would have an emergency program in place. In the meantime, they left it up to the Coast Guard or local environmentalists to organize clean-ups. Teams of workers were forced to use pitchforks-the most primitive tools imaginable-to remove globs of oil from the banks of the Delaware River. The damage will be impossible to erase completely.

Why these continuous disasters? The oil companies, in order to increase their profits, have built enormous tankers with single hulls (the cheapest ships possible) and have continued to decrease the personnel on these unsafe tankers. The government-from congress to the president (a former oil man himself) —has been in the pocket of the oil oligarchies since they were formed.

As long as corporations are allowed to place profits above all human needs and as long as the politicians continue to act as the guard dogs of the profit system, they place our planet's existence in jeopardy. This cannot continue.

The oil companies must not be permitted to plead "poverty" as they foul our soil, water, and food. Open the companies' account books! Their profits and assets should be taxed up to 100 percent in order to clean up the environment and prevent further disasters.

If the bosses are unable to take the necessary steps, then the oil corporations should be nationalized. Let the workers take control.

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