There it is. My light is on. I’m here and I am not going away.
I’ve had the oil spill in the gulf on my mind a lot lately. It’s a terrible thing, for sure, but how does it affect us here in Austin? The question isn’t rhetorical. I’d really like to hear from everyone about this.
A number of people I’ve talked to lately have commented that they are boycotting the Austin Auto Truck Plaza and Watt’s Cooking because the truck stop is a BP station. I personally haven’t 
gone there since the spill. I didn’t intend to boycott the place originally but now that I’ve put some thought into I am in no hurry to give them my business. What am I to do? I believe in supporting local businesses (and I love the food at Watts) but I do not want to support BP in any way.
Does boycotting BP alone make any sense? The blow out in the gulf happened under the wing of BP but what if it had happened to another company? Would anything be any better? Certainly if another oil company had a viable solution for stopping the flow of oil they’d race in and help. BP, no doubt, would pay astronomical sums for something that would help make this situation go away quickly. I’m stuck with the belief that the problem isn’t one company or another so much as it is a problem with the offshore oil industry itself.