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Oil Spill Shows Why We Must Plan for the Worst
The Washington Post reported Saturday that "BP's own exploration plan, submitted to federal regulators in February 2009, minimized the danger of a spill." The company said it was unlikely that an accidental oil spill would occur from use of the Deepwater Horizon rig to pump oil from deep below the Gulf of Mexico.
BP's plan added that while a spill could damage wetlands and beaches, "due to distance to shore (48 miles) and the response capabilities that would be implemented, no significant adverse impacts are expected."
After the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers, a confident BP had many believing that the company was on top of the situation. They would throw a switch and - voila! - the well 5,000 feet below the surface would be capped. But as the inability of BP to stem the flow of oil pouring into the gulf became obvious, the question arose: How long will this go on? Some experts said perhaps a year. Whoa, Nelly! Signs of panic were noticed. Spokesmen seemed to be asking for sympathy: "This is a very difficult situation."
A BP spokesman cried, "We're breaking new ground here. It's hard to write a plan for a catastrophic event that has no precedent."
Are we to believe that this is the first time BP thought about it? No backup plans?
And the Obama administration's response? "I don't think anyone is sanguine about the situation," said Administrator Jane Lubchenco of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Boy, am I happy about that.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar didn't exactly inspire either. The Post reported that he urged BP to "work harder and faster and smarter to get the job done." Heck of a job, Ken. Good message - work harder!
Did anyone in Washington, including Salazar, think about a disaster of this magnitude while approving new wells off the coast of Virginia a couple of weeks ago - which they then put a hold on after the gulf disaster? If not, why not? The question should not be "What are the odds?" It must be "Is there any chance?" If there is any possibility of an oil spill, pause before issuing permits. Please. In the Army I learned the six P's: "Prior planning prevents piss-poor performance." Apparently, no one taught the six P's to BP.
Finally, Tony Hayward of BP said, "We are determined to fight this spill on all fronts." One would expect no less but don't you wonder why the BP "experts" did not have a clue about how to avoid a catastrophe if plan A failed to stop the flow of oil?
Are you thinking what I'm thinking? The oil gushing from the ocean floor may never end. The Gulf of Mexico could be dead by year's end. How can it be that on the day following the explosion, we were told not to worry?
Is anyone in the administration "planning" for the big one in San Francisco? How about another nuclear accident like the one at Three Mile Island? Could a meltdown occur? The nuclear experts, like BP, will borrow from Huck Finn: "I don't speak the truth - I speak what ought to be the truth." Not to worry: "Nuclear energy is safe," nuclear energy experts tell us. An accident is very unlikely, those experts say. But suppose an earthquake hits directly under a nuclear power plant. Any problem? No? Oh, good.
Ed Garvey is a Madison lawyer, political activist and the editor of the fightingbob.com website. comments@fightingbob.com
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22 Comments so far
Show AllWhat amazes me is the way the sources of energy extraction is performed with apparent disregard for risks, or a plan in place to deal with those risks, should any of them happen. How many decades have we had nuclear reactors - I was in my early thirties when nuclear power was becoming a reality, and two towers near where I lived were nearly completed when a friend took me for a ride in her small plane. She circled the towers, giving us a great birdseye view into the towers. I'm an elderly has-been now, yet what to do with the nuclear waste is still up in the air, while more plants are being built across the country and around the world.
How many times have there been massive oil spills in the ocean, with untold numbers of deaths to wildlife, and damage to the oceans and land where the oil was washed ashore? We can only wring our hands at the destruction, trying one thing after another in a feeble attempt at cleaning up the spill and getting ahead of it to stop the destruction, while those responsible scramble to fix blame.
It's obvious that money trumps finding solutions. After all, if possible threats and the cost of stopping them from happening were ever a part of the process, none of the extractions would ever take place.
Obama's immediate response to this disaster was limited to putting additional offshore drilling on hold FOR NOW (meaning until public opinion can again be bolstered to support DBD (drill, baby, drill).
"A BP spokesman cried, "We're breaking new ground here. It's hard to write a plan for a catastrophic event that has no precedent."
Sounds like the same excuse we've been hearing from the financial banksters who created those marvelous investment insrtuments that nearly collapsed the entire global economy. They were "breaking new ground" too!
Now, how much money in subsidies will the U.S. taxpayer give to BP so they can clean up the disaster they created?
Of course, subsidies is just another term for "corporate welfare"!
Since BP is too big to fail AND too big to care, they are guaranteed jumbo corporate welfare to get their proverbial tit out of the proverbial wringer.
We live in a country where safety is of paramount importance, as long as it doesn't reduce profits.
The verbage of the various spokespeople for the Industry and the Corporations is exactly what one would expect it to be.
Do we really believe they would say something like "WE really Got no clue what to do" ? or "We are only diverting a limited number of resources to deal with this". ?
None of these WORDS mean a thing.
How about this.
"BP Cannot possibly pay for all the damages that have occurred due to their negiligence. Since Corporations shareholders are protected under the Corporate Charter of "Limited Liability" all BP assets in the territory of the United States shall be seized with out compensation, the proceeds of such to pay for damages."
I bet you Chavez would do it.
Just for a little bit here ... imagine if ALL who live in just the U.S. spent as much time and effort caring for the environment/Mother Earth as is spent talking on cellphones, texting, facebooking, twittering/tweeting(?), youtubing, mall shopping, internet shopping, drive-thru eating, reality television watching ... imagine how much could get accomplished.
Now ... imagine if All who live in just the U.S. spent their time in school learning how to be a guardian, a protector of the environment/Mother Earth and put it into practice. Imagine if ALL U.S. business could only exist if the environment/Mother Earth was kept safe and secure. Imagine if ALL U.S. students in MBA programs took an oath to 'do no harm' and their work was for the safety and security of Mother Earth! Imagine if just the U.S. economy operated on 'for the good of the environment/Mother Earth, for the good of the people, for the good of the country'.
Now expand the concept to every country ... we could have Peace ... we could have cooperation ... we could have thriving oceans and rivers and streams ... we could have clean water to drink, wild and wonderful mountains to revere, air so clean each breath would be almost intoxicating ... food so pure and rich that little would go far ... we could have everything we as humans need and perhaps leave Mother Earth the way it would be without human interference/existence.
very very beautiful comment!
The key to true and sustainable peace lies in defeating the main culprit, authoritarianism. The 1980s and 1990s were technically "peaceful" but as long as the authoritarian ideology was never conquered, military spending behind the scenes and building fossil fuel based gadgets to fuel ignorance and arrogance ultimately defeated those false signs of "peace". Defeating the authoritarian ideology is the key to securing respect for Mother Earth.
What do we do with the boots on our chest?
The 'BOOTS ON OUR CHEST' have been there, for most of our society since inception. Born into fear. Go along to get along. Too much fear, too much debt, too many attachments, too many things, not enough in your face pain/suffering, and certainly not enough knowledge coupled with backbone ... all adding up to a zombie populace. They've got the populace exactly where they've wanted it. Like I've said before, our society is no better than a country full of junkies ... addicts ... yeah, there's the prescription drug mind altering thing going on but our society is so addicted to so many things and have so much debt that they can't tune-in(to issues), turn-on(others to the issues and organize) and drop-out(of the acceptable job, apartment, car, huge flat-screen television, hooked on cable and video games, etc ... way of life).
IMHO, the activists from the 60's and early 70's ... who found their hearts and minds through education, reading, rigorous debate, understanding the corporate structure of our government, believing the U.S. had a responsibility to right its wrongs, knowing that sitting back accepting the status quo of imperialism would imperil any form of democratic future, having the strength of their convictions to stand up to 'authority', to challenge 'authority, to break the rules, to organize, to strike, to sit-in ... marches, protests, teach-ins, moratoriums, boycotts ... have to be enlisted, if not in body at least in spirit.
All that was accomplished was without computers, cellphones, etc...
Imagine what is possible with the technology we have today. People are starting to organize in opposition to the latest Arizona round-up. With all the technology today organizing should be easy.
As I've said before ... for ordinary people to exact change without too much involvement they're going to have to make it happen with their money. Until corporations get their acts together they simply won't get our business. We'll talk to everyone we know and get them to join in and then they will talk to everyone they know and so on. Strong arm the corporations by not giving them your money.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE NOW!
ECONOMIC JUSTICE NOW!
SOCIAL JUSTICE NOW!
Organize! Boycott!
John Lennon could.
Yes ... and I usually acknowledge John when I 'imagine' ... it was a senior moment ... and simply forgot.
Remember back when some planes flew into some buildings, and the buildings collapsed? How the President of the day said to go shopping and not worry our pretty little heads about nasty old things like death and disaster?
This is the result.
We have a culture that is risk averse, that avoids contemplating the worst case scenario because we might find it upsetting.
That attitude has made most of Western society into emotional weaklings, unfit to bear up when something unpleasant or even really dangerous happens. We are content to sit in the wreckage and wait for a 'rescue' that is never going to arrive.
We are content to let 'someone else' do the dirty work, whether it be cleaning up an environmental disaster or dying in a far away land so we can steal the natural resources needed to make our electronic crap that is then sold to us as 'essential' for our over-consumptive lifestyle.
Do you know what the *REAL* US disaster response plan is?
It's to wait until the dust settles, and escort those who rescued themselves out of the disaster zone. The US is utterly unwilling to examine the real costs of what it would mean to be prepared for disaster, and they are damn well not going to spend a penny more than they have to for a pretty and useless PR package.
The Exxon Valdez.
9/11.
Katrina.
Any fatal industrial incident.
All of these incidents have one thing in common. NO ONE wanted to think about 'what *might* happen'. Because you don't want the responsibility and the cost, in money and human life.
*Your* hell. *You* live there.
To call this an "oil spill" is a bit of a misnomer. A oil spill usually refers to a fixed amount of oil that is leaking from a ship for example. It seems to me that here we have something that is better described a an oil volcano, or an oil geyser, that has the capability of dumping more oil into the environment than any ship ever could.
If this geyser is not plugged, and if the oil slick makes it into the Gulf Stream this could contaminate the east coast of the US and even possibly Europe. This has the potential of being a true catastrophe.
redundant comment deleted.
BP's plan said it was unlikely that an accidental oil spill would occur. BP's plan added that in the event of a spill, "... no significant adverse impacts are expected." And afterward, a BP spokesman cried, "We're breaking new ground here. It's hard to write a plan for a catastrophic event that has no precedent." That comment deserves a headline. BP admitted it had no plan for a leak because it could not imagine a leak.
I read that the oil slick tripled in size in two days. That was three days ago. So what's next?
I also read that the US is the only sea drilling country not requiring a remote device to close the valve cap at the bottom of the pipeline. Now how could that be? A friendly interior Dept regulation for the oil industry? Like not requiring double hulled tankers (which would have saved Prince William Sound)? And even after Exxon Valdez, they still aren't required. So what might come out of this spill? Another taxpayer giveaway to Halliburton?
Actually a lot of noise and tax dollars spent and little action. I know, Obama is promising BP will pay for this, but we've heard that before. And just how much did Exxon end up paying to clean up after itself?? Oh that's right. While Exxon claims to have paid $3.4 billion, it actually paid only $1.7 billion. It also had the criminal case fine, which could have been up to $350 million but was set at $125 million, and then reduced to $25 million. And Prince William Sound is still immersed in oil. So that is pretty much what we can expect from this current disaster. On top of no lessons learned.
There is one lesson that we the suckers had better learn. Corporations play, citizens pay. That won't change unless we take charge of our country. Do not vote for corporate politicians. And that includes almost all of them.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
And I might add:
"Whenever we compromised, we lost."
These words were spoken by one of the greatest environmental leaders of our time, David Brower, 1912-2000. Brower was the first Executive Directer of Sierra Club but left over SC's endorsement of nuclear power. He then founded Friends of the Earth, Earth Island Institute, and the League of Conservation Voters. He died shortly after casting his vote for Ralph Nader.
Be wary of some of the large, corporate supported environmental groups. Research and then send your money to Friends of the Earth, one of the very few environmental organizations with integrity.
The new environmentalism: compromise the earth away, have yourselves a big rich club with big rich donors. Pretend to be radical but compromise, compromise, compromise until nothing is left.
Many people here knew Obamageddon would be a disaster. Many were not fooled by his lies.
But, either way, the USA would have had a corporate candidate elected. It was either the Smiling Al Jolson character, Obama, or the mad bomber/mass murder McCain.
Good Grief.
Disaster after disaster, from war failures to financial meltdowns to environmental catastrophes, lessons are rarely learned thanks to the authoritarian infrastructure of this nation that teaches us to "obey" the top crooks, give them credit for success, and blame ourselves if they mess up. We may have issues with our life style habits but this gives the top crooks no excuses to make matters worse. Until the authoritarian ideology is abolished, no disaster will be able to convince the brainwashed masses to prepare for the worst case scenarios.
For those Fox News anti-government propagandists, all of a sudden the government is good enough to intervene, and help out. But it was good enough to regulate the drilling in the first place. BP, Enron, Citibank, GM, health insurance companies that deny payments and raise rates to the moon,... Fox News enthusiasts continue to bad mouth government while at the same time get screwed by private industry. BP had no plan other than crossing its fingers.
there is not a single survivor (witness) to the crime -
is there a perfect crime? we will know when the inspection takes place
there is only one weapon against terrorism - democracy everywhere
edweg
democracy will spread when you start it somewhere