We need action, not excuses, in the Gulf of Mexico

 

I've walked the beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana.  I've swam with dolphins there.  I've walked the beaches of Mississippi, and nearly stepped on a stingray there.  It floated up out of the sand and glided off from where I was about to place my foot.  I've also swam in the waters off of Pensacola Beach, and have never seen clearer water or whiter sand, though I've been told there is such a thing somewhere.

Now the gulf oil spill threatens all of that.  It threatens the fisheries, the beaches, the tourism industry.  Just a few years after Hurricane Katrina did billions in damage from the coast inland, the oil spill is threatening to do billions more in damage along the coast and off the shores of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.  Some say the oil could drift around Florida itself and start heading up the Eastern Seaboard.

There is no doubt that British Petroleum and it's contractors who were involved the errors which caused the Deep Water Horizon disaster should take responsibility for the situation.  If they do not, then they should be forced to take responsibility...to a point.  Here's where I will come into direct conflict with the rabid band of finger-pointers who wish to effectively burn BP at the stake:

BP, and it's contractors, can only take responsibility for the situation as long as they remain financially capable of doing so.  I listened to a press conference this morning with Admiral Thad Allen and Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, and a question was posed to them as the whether BP should forfeit the oil from the relief will being drilled as a method of stemming the flow of oil into the gulf.  As if the oil should be taken away from BP in some form of punitive punishment for causing the spill in the first place.  Well, the fact is, and Robert Gibbs correctly pointed out, that the costs to BP for the remediation of the gulf oil spill are going to be far greater than the profits from the sale of any oil collected during the remediation process.  As long as that well keeps gushing oil into the gulf, the "meter is running", and costs are going to continue to skyrocket.  BP is going to NEED that oil to help pay for their share of the cleanup.  It will do absolutely no good if BP, or it's contractors, are forced into bankruptcy.  Unlike the U.S. Government, BP cannot print it's own money.  It cannot sell bonds to China.  It cannot simply tax it customers for any budget shortfall it incurs due to this disaster.  If they run out of money, the game is over for them.  Who is left holding the bag then?

Which brings us around the Federal Government's responsibility for this mess.  For all of BP's direct fault for the oil spill that continues in the gulf to this day, the U.S. Government DID sell the leases involved.  The U.S. government DID approve the drilling.  And the U.S. Government DOES get a good portion of the proceeds through such oil production in the form of taxes and fees on that oil at every level of production, from the exploration, to the extraction, to the refining, and to the final sale of the finished product.  Uncle Sam has his hand in the till all along the way, and grabs cash to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars per year from the oil biz.

Thus, to what extent is the United States government culpable in this?  It pretty convenient for politicians to start pointing their fingers at everyone but themselves when disaster hits, after those same politicians have been lining up with their hands out to oil companies for decades, demanding a portion of the proceeds.

Given that such a large amount of money is involved in the production of oil in the United States, and given that the United States government receives such a huge portion of that money, why is it unrealistic to think that the U.S. government should appropriately share in the burden of clean up when something goes wrong?

Rather than pointing fingers at British Petroleum and it's contractors for the gulf oil spill mess, the Federal government should be placing every resource into position to assist in the cleanup efforts.  The U.S. Military should be on hand for logistics, equipment, and manpower, as they have the expertise in that area.  The U.S. government should be getting itself out of the way of the states in order for the National Guard to be called in, as they have the expertise in logistics and have needed manpower and equipment as well.  After all, this oil spill IS a national security issue, to the extent that the damage caused has the potential to harm and already weak economy, and will certainly harm the economies of several important states.  It also has the potential to alter domestic energy policy in a way that will further increase or dependence upon foreign oil.  At the same time, the people of the effected areas want to be involved as well.  It's their beach.  It's their economy that will suffer.  Government should be helping, not hindering, the volunteer effort that is "champing at the bit" to help.

President Barack Obama, rather than looking to place blame, would do well to merely take responsibility for the situation, and offer the full co-operation and assistance of the U.S. Government in this matter, as a partner, and a leader, rather than as a standoffish politician looking to score points .  We should not be seeing scattered work crews wandering around here and there on gulf coast beaches, with no central co-ordination, spending more time under the shelter of portable cabanas than out sifting the sand.  If for safety reasons, only 20 minutes of each hour can be spent doing actual cleanup, then there should be three times as many workers on that beach, so there are people involved in cleanup every minute of every daylight hour.  Simple things like that will go a long way towards actual, physical cleanup, which is likely to go on for month, if not years, and simple things like that will go a long way towards increasing public faith in both the Federal government, and BP, in their efforts to save the gulf coast from further harm.

Rather than attempting to vilify and demonize BP in feeble attempts to make government look good by comparison, there should be an all out effort on government's part to step up the responsibilities government takes on when they allow oil exploration and production to proceed, and get paid handsomely to do so.

Rather than continuous defensive press conferences, the people of the United States need to see, above all, action.  Where one level of the clean up effort is lacking, another should step up and help where needed.  And President Obama should be there through it all, giving direction through his top leadership people.  Rather than Interior Secretary Salazar announcing that he will keep the his "boot" on BP's neck, he should be announcing that our government will offer every assistance in this remediation and clean up effort.

The gulf oil spill is a disaster that should transcend politics.  It should not be treated as mere political theater.