Gulf’s Biggest Threat: BP or Obama?
The oil spill that followed the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon platform in the Gulf of Mexico will plague the regional environment for years, even decades, to come with devastating effects on the regional economy that will be felt across the nation. The ongoing destruction from the leak, the endless investigations, allegations and law suites will fill headlines indefinitely and emerge again as some argue for greater government regulation while others use it as another example of how dismal government regulators are at the task with which they are charged. While there are a multitude of looming questions, some of which may never be answered, it is quite clear that a string of terrible decisions began with the inception of drilling, continued through the government response, and go on day after day with no end in sight.
What ever decisions British Petroleum made the repercussions of how they were decided extend beyond environmental and economic damages. It must be remembered that 11 men lost their lives when the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20. They were fathers, sons, husbands, brothers, loved ones and friends of survivors who’s suffering will be revived with every retelling of the story. Weather or not there was any criminal negligence will bring little solace. If such negligence is found or if it is found that the Mineral Management Service accommodated a cover up of infractions at Deepwater Hoizon the outrage will be untenable, particularly if there is no prosecution of those at fault.
British Petroleum Shortcuts
Just like any business British Petroleum is out to make a profit. Just having the rig owned by Transocean on site runs $1 million per day for the lease and contractor fees. Whether or not the decisions they made were prudent will inevitably come out in the ongoing investigation of the disaster. But some evidence has emerged that would suggest they disregarded recommendations of experts servicing the well. One example came with the discovery of an email in that Halliburton suggested that 21 centralizers, an important mechanism that insures the casing runs straight through the well bore, be used at this site. This is of particular significance considering BP went with a “single-string” well design that presents a greater risk of natural gas rising outside the pipe compared to safer more expensive designs. Part of BP official Gregory Waltz’s reply via email was that “… it will take 10 hours to install them [centralizers]…” Only six of the critical items were used.
Minerals Management Services Oversight
Responsibility for overseeing drilling operations in the Gulf falls to the Minerals Management Services of the Interior Department. At Thursday’s House Subcommittee on Minerals and Resources hearing Interior Department Acting Inspector General Mary Kendall said she is
“presently in the process of identifying gaps, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement in MMS operations and regulations, with a focus on the permitting process, the inspections and enforcement programs, environmental and safety requirements, and the regulations governing post-incident review or investigation.”
But problems with this project were no secret and neither was the fact that British Petroleum had accumulated an over abundance of safety violations far and above those of it’s competitors; OSHA has issued 760 fines for BP compared to 1 for Exxon. BP began drilling in October 2009 and shortly thereafter had problems with gas seeping into the well. Next a hurricane damaged the rig which had to be towed to shore for repairs. If that weren’t enough the rock around the bore was so brittle it cracked and the drilling mud just escaped. Other processes such as circulating the mud to detect gas seem to have been below recommendations and not monitored by the regulators. It’s not as if there was no indication of problems at this site or that BP’s track record didn’t warrant more scrutiny.
Obama Administrations Feeble Response
“Since Day One” became the administrations mantra on April 29, more than a week after disaster struck. As the public became alarmed with the images of crude oil spewing out of the broken well head into the Gulf, threatening the livelyhood of thousands in the tourist and fishing industries they also perceived an administration incapable of reacting to real world emergencies. Obama’s detractors pointed out from the start he lacks executive experience that would qualify him for the job. This was now becoming apparent to his supporters as well.
Political Agenda Trumps Needs of the Citizens
While disaster loomed in the Gulf the President was castigating Arizona’s governor, state legislators, police officers and residents for promoting a racist agenda for legislation the state passed to protect it’s citizens from the Administrations failure to secure the boarders. His April 24th radio address the President is focused on Wall Street reform and calling on his supporters, particularly minorities to protest Arizona’s new law ignoring the fact that an American city, Phoenix, is second only to Mexico City as the kidnapping capital of the world sacrificing the lives of citizens in an appeal to accommodate illegal aliens.
Now the President has assembled a panel to investigate the oil spill. Only one of the seven members can claim a strong engineering background and that is in the fields of optics and physics. Another is an environmental scientist with with expertise in coastal regions. The others are experts in policy and management. One of these is Frances Beinecke who has called for bans on drilling offshore and in the arctic. Two others, former Florida Governor Bob Graham and Donald Boesch of the University of Maryland have previously made public pleas to ban offshore drilling. As Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute put it, the investigation is “an exercise in political theater where the findings are preordained by the people put on the commission.”
Meanwhile, in the real world, three days after the explosion oil skimmers offered by the Dutch who have a great deal of experience with cleanups. One would only presume this was pursuant to the Jones Act or Merchant Marine Act, another progressive era measure passed during the Wilson Administration designed to assure that union workers would be protected by stipulating that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried in U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents. In the aftermath of Katrina President Bush suspended the act so U.S. citizens could get the relief they needed. Just the day before the U.S. Coast Guard claimed it had all the assets it needed. Yet 3 days latter it became apparent resources were lacking, particularly fire booms that were abundant at other locations. It would be May 1 before sufficient booms would arrive.
Locals Dread the Fed Making Matters Worse
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal requested permission shortly after the spill to crate sand bars to help shelter marshes against the surging oil. It took weeks for a variety of federal agencies from the Environmental Protection Agency to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to determine whether this would be an effective strategy. Similar requests to burn off some of the oil met with the same objections from the EPA who wanted to study the effect on air quality. What was known for sure is that if the marshes weren’t sheltered or the oil burned off marshes would be destroyed. And if that doesn’t test believability the Coast Guard shut down 16 vacuum barges that were sucking up crude from the marshes had to be checked to see if they had life jackets and fire extinguishers. Governor Jindal had asked officials to inspect them quickly without bringing them back to dock. But the units sat idle for 24 hours before being allowed to return to duty.
The Presidents initial reaction was to send, of all people, Attorney General Eric Holder and create the perception that the evil oil company would be punished. He then issued a 6 month blanket moratorium on drilling operations in the Gulf based on the recommendations of a Department of the Interior report. The experts responsible for the report would later deny they made such suggestions after seeing how the report was represented. This rigs employ about 7,000 people and they in turn support another 21,000 on shore according to the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association. In addition, deep water drilling accounts for 80% of the oil and 45% of the natural gas produced in the region. Some experts estimate the damage to the economy would far exceed the costs of the spill itself.
Earlier today U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman shot down President Obama’s moritorium stating
“An invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in the depths over 500 ft simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country.”
If the judge had not acted the rigs and supporting industries equipment and personnel would be off to fields in Brazil and Indonesia leaving the Gulf economy and that of the nation to suffer what Obama considers a golden opportunity to push a cap and trade agenda that would only benefit his supporters and grow government at the expense of taxpayers.