About BP and the Oilspill

Deepwater Horizon on fire. Photo U.S. Coast Guard

The oilspill in the Gulf is the all consuming news story in America these days. Week after week as we watch helplessly, things just seem to get worse and worse. At first it seemed like a high school science fair project gone wrong. Lately, with all the oil soaked birds and desperate people, it’s feeling more like Armageddon.

BP, Trans Ocean, Halliburton and Congress continue to argue over who is to blame and who will pay what, when we all know that there are some things money can’t buy. All the finger pointing is not helping  the situation, but it is shining a light on just how inept both corporations and government bureaucrats are, as well as how vulnerable the world is when it comes to being at their mercy.

BP has thousands of oil rigs all over the globe and they are not the only bad actors on the block. Remember Union Carbide in Bhopal in 1984, or the Exxon Valdiz  in Alaska? When it comes to the damage, it is all the same thing.

Now I know how the people in Bhopal must have felt. India just put several of the people responsible in jail and they are asking the United States to extradite the former head of Union Carbide for trial.  Maybe we should give this some thought in terms of our oilspills.  Corporations might be more careful if their executives had more liability.

Take a look at all the oil soaked birds and dead fish, the  fishermen with no livelihoods, the  tar covered beaches with no tourists and ask yourself if it is worth it.  BP took unacceptable risks to save a few million dollars and look what happened.  They bear part of the blame, but a corporation is in business to make money. It is governments who are in business to protect people and to regulate on behalf of the nation.  Corporations have a responsibility to their customers, but they tend to care more about their shareholders and executives.  Governments have an obligation to  citizens, but they tend to care more about covering their asses and getting re-elected or in the case of government agencies, re-appointed.

Oil covered pelican in the Gulf of Mexico

More than a physical clean up is called for here.  This is a clarion call for an overhaul of the entire system.  This is a final chance to really focus on making renewable sources of energy our chief sources of energy–to make deep water drilling environmentally safe in the short run and to phase out fossil fuels entirely in the long run .  If Denmark and Brazil can find innovative answers to the problem of dependence on fossil fuel, why can’t we ?  The answer is, we can, and this worst of all possible environmental disasters is the tipping point.

This time we must really stop ignoring the reality of both peak oil and global warming. Time for everyone (BP,Trans Ocean, Halliburton, the Obama Administration and the American people) to stop playing the victim and step up to the plate and make some major changes before it is too late.  It is already five minutes to midnight for planet earth.

A Little History

We have been here before and started to do the right thing and then stopped.  Let us not forget that Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the White House during the first oil crisis, and Ronald Reagan tore them off. Let’s also remember that the original 1969 offshore oilspill near Santa Barbara scared the pants off America and resulted not only in serious restrictions on offshore drilling, but also in the creation of the Envronmental Protection Agency by President Nixon.

For a time, the EPA functioned well and we got lead removed from gasoline, better gas mileage in our cars, and some protection for our nature and wildlife. But from Reagan to Bush, on and off, the EPA became a patronage pond and a tool of the oil patch. The oil lobby bought and sold congressmen like penny candy and government regulation became a joke. The fox was guarding the henhouse.  Now we are paying the price.   Like the grasshopper in Aesop’s fable we have danced and fiddled instead of planning for the winter ahead. Time is running out.

BP and Safety

BP has the worst accident and safety record in the business and had repeated warnings and fines from regulators. Its most notable lapse before the Deepwater Horizon debacle was a 2005 major explosion in its Texas City refinery which was clearly caused by negligence.  Yet in that same refinery, just this year OSHA found more than 700 violations  Not good.  This along with the Public Relations gaffes on the part of CEO Tony Haywood, bespeaks a corporate culture of incompetence if not downright stupidity. According to the New York Times:

…. the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found more than 700 violations at the Texas City refinery — many concerning faulty valves, which are critical for safety given the high temperatures and pressures. The agency fined BP a record $87.4 million, which was more than four times the previous record fine, also to BP, for the 2005 explosion.Another refinery, in Toledo, Ohio, was fined $3 million two months ago for “willful” safety violations, including the use of valves similar to those that contributed to the Texas City blast.

“BP has systemic safety and health problems,” said Jordan Barab, the deputy assistant secretary of labor for OSHA. “They need to take their intentions and apply them much more effectively on the ground, where the hazards actually lie.”

With a track record like that, why didn’t the American government come down on them harder and sooner?  I can only think that it has to do with a cozy relationship between big oil and big government which , of course, really has to do with big money doesn’t it?  Time for a change.

Offshore drilling continues after a judge lifts the moratorium

What We Can Do

President Obama put a temporary moratorium on deepwater drilling in the gulf so that a total review can be done and recommendations made about how to proceed safely and sanely.  Yet yesterday, a judge lifted the moratorium as “overbearing”! When deep water drilling is re-instated, I hope it will be done under much stricter regulatory supervision and with much clearer environmental and safety guidelines.

This oilspill has shocked us all, but self rightous anger won’t do much for the planet, and in the end, it won’t do much for us either. Let’s stop  talking and start doing. Let’s insist on open, transparent, government regulation that works, and let’s keep our eyes on the big, multi-national corporations.  In the long run there are  more of us than there are of them, and they want our business.

And last, but definitely not least, if every family that can manage it would take one step towards a lower carbon footprint and a greener lifestyle, the collective savings would be meaningful even now and with time would become even more important.  Whether it is putting solar panels on the roof, buying a hybrid car, or using tap instead of bottled water or carrying your own cloth bags, pick one thing and do it. It will lower your frustration level and make you feel a lot better every time the TV pundits start talking about BP, Congress and the oilspill.