Only a week after the official report on the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, oil companies are making news north of the border as they try and convince the National Energy Board (NEB) of Canada to let them drill in the untouched Arctic waters.

The main concern about drilling in the Arctic is the possibility of another blowout similar to the BP oil spill and the ability to respond to such an event in conditions such as high wind, high waves, and fog. Oil companies have suggested some controversial methods of cleaning up spills such as “using fires set from helicopters to burn oil.”

Are we running out of oil so quick that we must tap into Arctic reserves to create more supply? Surprisingly the answer is no! Oil output is expected to reach its highest point at an average of 30.15 million barrels per day in August leaving many, including myself, to wonder why we need to further risk or possibly harm the fragile environment in the Arctic to get more oil.

Rules and regulations can’t plug gushing oil wells and with companies like BP cutting safety standards, we may see a similar disaster… or worse.

Just over a year after the biggest oil spill in history was finally plugged, a federal report from the U.S. government puts the blame mainly on the shoulders of BP while also including other companies (such as the rig owner Transocean) with partial blame. Even though the story is a year old, the aftermath and the blame continues to go around with BP and its partners suing one another in court denying responsibility for the oil spill.

The most disturbing fact to come out of this report is that it once again found BP was compromising safety in order to cut costs. Performance evaluations of 13 BP employees involved at the same well, showed 12 of them were cited to be doing cost saving work in their reviews. However, BP is not a small oil company; BP is the fourth largest company in the world based on revenue.

So it begs the question, why is it risking the safety of its workers and the environment to make profits? Was the 200 million gallons of crude spilled, 11 workers dead and billions of dollars in damage worth those safety cuts?