I am trying to look at the current British Petroleum (BP) situation in the Gulf of Mexico objectively. This is hard for several reasons. The first and most obvious reason, in my opinion, is the maddening fact that every form of mass media in this country seems locked into labeling this as a spill or leak. The apparently endless contamination of oil being pumped in the Gulf is not a spill or leak. 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day over a period of 45 days and counting is a flood. If the flood of oil pouring into the Gulf averages 15,500 barrels a day, that equals almost 700,000 barrels of oil so far. A standard barrel of U.S. oil is 42 gallons. That’s almost thirty million gallons of oil and it is not slowing down to any significant degree. If you are not going to refer to it as a flood, at least call it what it really is. A human induced catastrophe.
It has been stated that BP has the best equipment available to try and end the flood, but that equipment is inadequate to deal with a problem of this nature and magnitude because up to this point, the oil companies were not regulated to the degree that they should have been. Let’s face it folks, Big Oil is the most powerful entity in the United States. Money equals power and there is no doubt that Big Oil has the most money. As a result of this status, Big Oil has been allowed to regulate itself. This is the equivalent of giving a 3 year old child a bag of their favorite candy, leaving them alone, and expecting them to maintain their own personal hygiene in lieu of consuming the contents of the bag.
As for as evaluating how the current Presidential Administration is dealing with the resulting mess, it is easy to point the finger at the current President and complain that he is not addressing this problem aggressively enough without considering all of the factors. To make the statement, “The President should be angrier about this!” is akin to saying that the average person should employ anger and aggression to settle every conflict or problem that they encounter in life. If this is your method and/or philosophy, then I have some bad news regarding the probable status of your overall mental wellness, or lack thereof.
I do believe that President Obama should have appropriate federal agencies take oversight control of all operations related to the effort to end this scenario, use whatever government resources that are applicable, and ensure that BP promptly pays the entire bill. I also believe that federal criminal investigators should have been brought in sooner to determine if criminal prosecution is applicable now or in the future. I am taking into consideration that if the previous Presidential Administration was still in control, it is highly likely that a criminal investigation would not be conducted at all.
It is inexcusable that BP just paid out 10 billion dollars to its shareholders. I don’t care if you own the stock. Playing the stock market is just another form of gambling and sometimes the dice come up snake-eyes my friend. The residents of the states of Louisiana and Florida should file a multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit against BP and the deciding jury should be made up of pelicans.
BP and the government are not the only guilty parties. I am guilty, as is every U.S. citizen that utilizes a vehicle or conveyance that is powered by fossil fuel. I love my car and can’t live without it. As a nation, it is painfully redundant to declare that we are too dependent on oil and those who provide it. I am not naïve enough to believe that this is going to change anytime soon, but are we prepared to accept the eventual consequences of our actions. Even more important, are we prepared to have our children reap what we have sown.
