Like everyone else I know, I watch in agony and disbelief as the oil from BP’s destroyed Deep Water Horizon well continues vomiting crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. It has been for the past 60 days—TWO MONTHS now! BP tells us the end is in sight—in August? Tell me, do any of you still believe anything BP’s talking heads have to say?
As bad as it is, I must tell you that this isn’t the worst oil spill ever—aside from the Exxon Valdez mess in Alaska, it’s only the best publicized. I guessed there were worse ones out there, since the Media was touting this one as “the worst in U.S. history.” Selective journalism, tsk, tsk. In case you are wondering, here is a list of the five worst oil spills on record, according to Mother Nature Network on-line:
1. The Gulf War = 360,000,000 gallons (about 100x the current BP spill)
2. Ixtoc 1 = 138,000,000 gallons
3. Atlantic Empress = 90,000,000 gallons
4. Nowruz Oil Spill = 80,000,000 gallons
5. Exxon Valdez = 10,800,000 gallons
We don’t yet know where the BP spill in the Gulf will finally stack up.
That this has become a political football should surprise no one. First of all, let me remind all of you that our troubles concerning federal support of Big Oil began many decades ago. Most of us never knew (or have forgotten) that the Bush family made its fortune in Texas oil, and always believed it was in its best interests to rubber stamp anything the petroleum companies wanted. You’ve heard of de-regulation? There was never much federal Reg-ulation to start with, and oil companies pay very little of the cost of doing business—WE pay for it, in the name of keeping the costs of oil exploration (and doing business) low. They pay no taxes, so you can see why this disaster is such a big deal—I mean aside from the actual disaster itself. It should not have surprised anyone that Elizabeth Birnbaum, the recent head of MMS (Minerals Management Service, the government agency charged with supervising oil companies operations) was so cozy with the oil companies (there are multiple accusations involving her and various employees of the agency) that she was forced to resign. None of this is new, and it is all inherited baggage from several previous Presidential Administrations, Democrat as well as Republican.
BP has been an especially notorious offender where worker’s rights and safety are concerned. It accounts for 97% of the violations OSHA has handed out over the past three years, amounting to a whopping total of 760 “egregious violations. In comparison, Sunoco and Conoco-Phillips each had 8, Citgo had two, and Exxon had only one during that time (OSHA). Most of us never heard about the explosion at the BP Texas refinery in March, 2005 or the leaks at their Prudhoe Bay pipeline almost one year later.
So, while some of us are cheering that President Obama secured $20 billion in an escrow account to help people and businesses hurt by this disaster, what is Rep. Barton (R) of Alabama saying? We owe BP an apology for such a shakedown? I thought I was going to vomit. This fund was put together so people could get the money BP owed them in a timely manner, without having to spend years in court haggling over whether they even had any claims. Remember the Exxon Valdez? After initially agreeing to pay all the costs associated with damages and clean-up, Exxon went to the courts for 20 years to fight it. When duly-elected representatives in this country are uttering such complete and asinine drivel, do they wonder WHY the people place no trust in them anymore? When you hear words such as these, there should be no question in your mind who this man calls his constituents—and it ain’t the people of Alabama who voted for him.
As horrible as this disaster is, I have to say that BP’s CEO Tony Hayward has made it seem even worse. Who could possibly be a more incompetent representative for his company than this unconcerned, self-indulgent, supercilious clown? The only thing he genuinely cares about is whether he will lose money—or maybe his job. If BP had been truly alarmed by the extent of the destruction, the company management (including Mr. Hayward) would have been down there in the trenches from the very beginning actively doing everything possible to contain this mess. They didn’t even have a real back-up plan in place (theirs was a rubber-stamped version from the Exxon Valdez spill, as evidenced by the fact that they planned to save endangered seals and walruses), plus the company representative named to call in emergencies had been dead for five years. There weren’t any relief wells in place, as is required in many places throughout the world, and only in the past few days has BP begun drilling them. Yes, Mr. Hayward, if you had been down there in your coveralls getting your hands dirty scooping up tar balls or cleaning pelicans, I could possibly forgive you—but you weren’t, were you? This week-end you were off to the Isle of Wight to watch your $450,000 yacht compete in a race. At least BP had the sense to finally put an American in charge of their claims process. Mr. Darryl Willis comes across like he cares, saying he volunteered for this assignment, because he was born and bred in Louisiana. Well Mr. Willis, if BP had come clean about the extent of this mess from the very beginning and called for all help possible, most of us would be lining up at your gas stations, rather than boycotting them! I sincerely hope your track record is an improvement over what we’ve seen so far.
So, I live way up here in Washington State (as do most of my friends). Like you, I’ve watched the daily newscasts with the “blow-by-blow” details and felt heartsick over the loss of wildlife, their habitat, and the complete collapse of a way of life that depends on fishing and tourism in the Gulf States. I’ve felt totally helpless in terms of giving any meaningful help in this situation. I mean, today we are actually planning on rescuing somewhere around 100 endangered manatees? Nobody ever figured it would come down to rescuing individual animals of this order. I don’t suppose we’re worried about saving sharks (then again, we probably are), but what about the coral beds, birds, turtles, dolphins, fish, and shrimp?—It boggles the mind. What on earth can I do? I know it almost sounds trite now, we’ve had so many unbelievable disasters this past year, but we CAN send money to organizations on the scene that are doing the work to clean up the Gulf and save wildlife. Here are a few responsible organizations that I personally endorse for donations:
The Louisiana Gulf Response Network (http://www.lagulfresponse.org/):
In the wake of the BP Oil Spill that is threatening our coast, local, regional and national conservation organizations are coordinating volunteers to assist in local, state and federal recovery efforts in Louisiana.
Our organizations - including
the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program (http://www.btnep.org/home.asp),
the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (http://crcl.org/),
the National Audubon Society (http://audubon.org/),
the National Wildlife Federation (http://www.nwf.org/), and
The Nature Conservancy (http://www.nature.org/)
- are established, active advocates for the preservation and restoration of coastal Louisiana.
We are organizations with a history of on-the-ground work in Louisiana, and we are combining efforts and experience to implement an effective volunteer response and make a real difference in the BP Oil Spill recovery efforts.
