Mea Culpa

Some thoughts on the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill

The currency of television news (and most news outlets) is emotional sensationalism. It isn't that I don't "care" or "feel bad" or wish that those people didn't have to deal with their hardships. But the constant bombardment of the "drive-by media" to the senses of all these tragic cases, actually desensitizes people to their own emotional realities. In general I think "Don't Panic." is much better advice than "AHHHH!!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!'

It is best to question whatever story starts to take shape after a big event. What everyone thinks right now is that BP was a big fat lazy greedy oil company. They took shortcuts. They took unnecessary risks. And as a direct result several workers were killed, and we are facing the WORST environmental disaster ever. Most people would also agree that Obama has botched the federal government's response. BP must be punished and made to pay up.

All of that maybe true. But there will always be more to the story. Why was the Deep Water Horizon registered to the Marshal Islands? Why were we drilling so deep? Why do we need so much oil in the first place? Why are there so many conflicting government regulations that tied the hands of people in the early days of all this? How does this spill compare to all of the industrial oil spills in human history, not just how big it is compared to the Exxon Valdez.

The short of it right now is that BP has the best chance of fixing this. If they get demonized to the point of bankruptcy, who is going to fund the $20 billion dollar slush fund? When did Obama and Congress become the Judicial Branch of Government? They haul the CEO before congress and strong arm him out of $20 billion? Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Here is what I really think: Our own over-cautious paranoia about environmental protection is more to blame than the CEO of BP.

The US has been so paranoid about the Environment that we have pushed oil exploration farther and farther offshore quicker than we had the expertise and technology to handle those depths. Oil companies are stigmatized. They have suffered brain drain at a time when their work is almost as sophisticated as the Apollo project. Over-regulation by the US makes it impossible to operate maritime vessels under a US flag, and companies are forced to use rent-a-registry countries like the Marshall Islands.

Because of our limited domestic oil production capacity these companies have to take greater risks in oil exploration. When global crises like the default of sovereign debt in Greece threatens to destabilize the entire European Union, Israel is at the center of another firestorm, Iran now very likely to have a nuclear weapon, and (in case anyone has forgotten) we are involved in the longest military conflict in US history; someone at BP decided to give the green light when the safe thing to do would have been to stop and listen to the concerns of the engineers and workers who knew there were problems.

Should that person face a criminal investigation and have to answer for what was done? Absolutely. If he is found guilty of a crime by a jury then let the judge throw the book at him. But to demonize the entirety of BP and haul the CEO in front of some show trial on Capitol Hill? I think that is a disgrace. For Obama to talk about finding out "Who's ass to kick?" even more so. For the president to directly set the amount of damages to this $20 billion punishment? Who is going to distribute this aide? How is it going to help? Will it lead to more corruption?

I think our short sighted sensationalist approach to environmental protection set the stage for this mess. Our short sighted sensationalist approach to world events provided the fuel, or lack thereof. And our short sighted sensationalist approach to the aftermath of the blowout is only making it worse. But by all means lets crucify the company that actually might be able to do something to fix it.

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Jeff