Privatized Oil Profit and Socialized Risk, As Explained by Pipeline Safety Official

Want to know why oil companies can turn billion dollar profits and leave taxpayers at risk of oil spills? Listen to what Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) official Bill Lowery told DeSmogBlog's Julie Dermansky, keeping in mind he's supposed to be one of the good guys:

At a Public Safety Trust conference on Nov. 21, Lowery was asked, "Knowing what you know about the problems in the Keystone XL's construction, what would you do if your house was in its path?"

His answer: "Here is what I did when I bought my house — I looked on all the maps, I looked for all the well holes. I found there is nothing around me but dry holes and no pipelines. And it's not because I'm afraid of pipelines, it's not because I think something will happen. It's because something could happen. ... You're always better off, if you have a choice...."

He trailed off before finishing his sentence, but added that, "If I was building a house, I wouldn't build it on a refinery, ... I wouldn't build it on a pipeline, because they're all industrial facilities. That's just the reality."

Again, this is a federal pipeline safety official saying he wouldn't let his family live next to an industrial oil facility - yet the agency he works for permits those same facilities near residential areas like an over-eager third base coach waving runners home. This is how the deck gets stacked in favor of Big Oil and against the average citizen.

As I often ask, where's the Tea Party outrage? If the Tea Party is really about looking out for the little guy against Big Government Tyranny, shouldn't they be furious that pipeline safety agencies are letting oil companies build facilities in our communities that they wouldn't accept in their own backyard?