Six Things to Do About the BP Gulf Disaster

Instead of sitting helplessly on the sidelines, here are six
things every American can do.

BP has failed repeatedly to stop the gushing oil disaster
in the Gulf. It's trying again--using a technique that risks making
matters
worse--and saying that there may be no repair until August, when it
finishes
drilling relief wells.

The media, meanwhile, is treating much of the news from
the Gulf like it's a contest between the "Drill Baby Drill" crowd and
the Obama administration. It's not. It's a national disaster.

While those of us outside the world of deep-sea
engineering have limited knowledge, there are some things we can and
should
demand:

1. The federal government needs to take charge and put BP under
   temporary receivership as recommended
   by
   former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. BP was dishonest about the
   quantities of oil flowing into the Gulf, and their
   initial repair efforts have failed. The federal government is
   accountable to the American people, and it needs to decide what
   to do to protect our nation's water, wildlife, and shorelines of the
   Gulf (and wherever
   else the oil travels). As Reich argues,
   receivership would allow the government
   to act with full authority and accountability, and to call on all the
   expertise available (not just BP's) to help make the difficult calls.
   
2. The
   cleaning and protection of coastlines needs to be ramped up.
   Whether that means hiring more local fishers, bringing in National Guard
   troops, or deploying citizen brigades on the beaches, the response needs
   to be
   aggressive and sustained. Even if the oil stopped flowing today, the
   contamination would continue washing up in sensitive coastal regions for
   months
   or longer. All workers should have training, equipment, and protective
   gear to
   keep them from being sickened by the oil and the toxic dispersants.
   
3. There
   should be generous pay for the armies of bird-rescuers and beach
   cleaners, and those out protecting shorelines with boats and booms.
   Families who are the immediate victims of the disaster
   should get first crack at the jobs, and their wages will help sustain
   the region through this economic storm. Charge BP (and any
   other companies responsible for the disaster) the full costs for as long
   as it
   takes to get this region clean, whether it's months or years.
   
4. Use
   the least toxic chemical dispersants and insist
   on full
   disclosure of the makeup of all the dispersants being dumped into
   the
   Gulf. The U.S. EPA should determine which dispersants, if any, are used
   based
   on the long-term health of the Gulf and its shorelines and estuaries,
   not based
   on which companies have
   ties with BP or which chemicals will be most likely to hide the
   effects and protect BP from
   embarrassing images of oil slicks. Use emergency powers, if necessary,
   to get a full disclosure of the makeup of the dispersants from BP or
   whoever is refusing to release it.
   Without this information, there's no way to keep the emergency
   responders safe,
   to properly treat stricken birds and sea life, and to assess the
   long-term
   damage.
   
5. Boycott
   BP, but also other oil companies. They are all
   spilling oil (see what Shell
   is doing in Nigeria, for example),
   and causing direct environmental damage. But using oil, no matter what
   company pumps it, is putting our entire planet at risk through disruption
   of
   the climate. Melting ice caps, changing rainfall patterns,
   mega-storms and
   failing crops are already happening, but that is only the beginning if
   we start
   hitting climate
   tipping points. We must kick our fossil fuel addiction.
   This is our part of the solution.
   
6. Begin a massive conversion to energy
   efficiency and
   renewable energy. There is a lot of
   blame to go around for this disaster, from the practice of putting
   cronies in charge of regulation to the corporate culture of putting
   profits
   above all else. But this disaster is above all happening because the oil
   that is easy to get
   to is already taken. Now oil companies are trying to get the oil that's
   hard to
   reach, from deep under the oceans, from hostile regions of the world,
   and from dirty and destructive sources like tar
   sands. We've entered a time that
   analyst and author Michael Klare calls "The
   Age of Tough Oil," and
   the costs--human, environmental, economic, and strategic--are rising with
   each
   new barrel. Making our economy more energy efficient and building a
   renewable
   energy infrastructure offer immediate benefits in terms of jobs and
   economic
   stimulus and will sustain generations to come.