Why not storm shelters for OK schools?

Don’t be silly, you can’t ask oil companies to give up their tax breaks!

So why aren’t there storm shelters in every school? Certainly Oklahoma, which boasts the 5th largest oil production in the United States, could afford to do it. They’ve claimed that they couldn’t afford the cost and that they’ve applied for grant money from FEMA to do it, but when the state gives over $200 million in breaks to the oil companies, there’s no excuse why they couldn’t supply every school and government building with a shelter that could survive the worst of twisters. It’s not that they can’t, it’s that lobbyist money has bought and paid for legislators who will advance the profits of the 1% over the lives of the residents of Oklahoma and their children.

Forcing these companies off corporate welfare isn’t going to cause them to pack up and leave. You can’t pick up an oil field and move it to a state with a lower tax rate. So what if it causes the price I pay at the pump to go up a few cents because the multi-billion dollar drilling businesses have to play by the same rules as the small business owners? Local communities should be able to provide something as common sense as a storm shelter, and the fact that this hasn’t been done is not only mindboggling, but absolutely tragic.

H/t to Maryland Motorcycle Accident Attorneys, Price Benowitz LLP.