How Convenient

NY Times snippet: "Biggest Oil Field in U.S. Is Forced to Stop Pumping
The emergency at BP's Prudhoe Bay operation in Alaska drove
world crude oil prices to just under $77 a barrel."

I heard about this on NPR yesterday.
Seems British Petroleum's (psst: Tony Blair's reason for cuddling up to Bush) big drilling operation in Alaska has for two years neglected to check on pipeline soundness, resulting in corrosion that suddenly has them shutting down one of their main pipelines for repairs and replacement.
It could take weeks or (more likely) months to get back to normal.
This will cause the West Coast to lose a double digit percentage of its needed petroleum, causing those Blue Staters to have to pony up even more for gas. That'll teach 'em. Naturally, the shortage will soon trickle down to the rest of us in terms of cost per gallon.
Meanwhile, the enormous reserve the U.S. has in oil is located in the Gulf, so it would take a while to get it to the West Coast.
What this means to you and me is a $77 dollar barrel of oil, which will drive up gas prices even more absurdly than Bush and Condi's sweetheart deals with Exxon Mobil and all their buddies.
Two things come to mind.
-If BP legitimately forgot to get their pipelines checked for the last two years, according to petroleum industry regulations, they should be fined whatever the difference is, to be used toward the soaring cost of oil to consumers.
-The idea of Bush holding any petroleum company liable for any mistakes they make is about as likely as my becoming the next White House Press Secretary.

Is there a fix in?
Ha.