If someone hits a fire hydrant, typically there is a breakaway point that keeps the hydrant from spewing water for hours until it is repaired.

But if an oil well is broken off at any point, it seems it can spew the dangerous black substance into the environment for weeks without any way to stop it.

Should there not be some sort of breakaway safety on oil well operations? Would some sort of cut-off valve at the lowest point where the well pipe enters the earth not have alleviated much of the spill that continues even today, more than a month and a half after the April 20 explosion that sparked the spill.

Being no engineering expert and not admitting to knowing a lot about the process of drilling for oil, surely there must be some way of making certain another event similar to the ongoing situation in the Gulf of Mexico doesn’t occur again.

And all the while, innocent animals and fishing, tourism and other industries vital to the Gulf coast’s economy are struggling to live on due to the waves of thick black oil now coating the marshes and shores of the coastline.

Yes, attempts have been made to stop the leaking well, but none have been successful. Wouldn’t it have been easier to have a way to curtail the leak from the beginning than to have to go back now and clean up all of the damage that has been done?

There are other sources of energy being researched and implemented that would ease the nation’s need for so much oil, but nothing is happening fast enough to get away from that necessity.

Shortly after the spill, news broke that people were upset that the FAA had approved the first offshore wind farm to be placed off the coastline of Nantucket, which, according to Cape Wind, the company developing the wind farm, “will create jobs, increase energy independence and contribute to a healthier environment.”

A large number of groups are opposing the wind farm in a movement known as the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, and while these groups may have valid reasons, some include protecting migrating birds and violations of tribal rights by the Wampanoag tribe, if oil spills continue to occur, or aren’t stopped in a timely manner, then there may be no birds left to migrate, or fish to protect.

Maybe I’m being a little over dramatic, since it’s not likely that one oil spill, or even two, will kill every bird and every fish in the water, but there must be some better source for providing energy. And I doubt any solution will please everyone, there always is that group of doubters and opposers no matter what the problem is and the solution.

It would just be nice to have a clean, environmentally friendly way of doing everything, unfortunately I’m starting to believe it will never be possible.

Wendy Byerly Wood is the associate editor of The Mount Airy News. She can be reached at wbyerly-wood@mtairynews.com or 719-1923.