A year after the worst oil spill in U.S. history, dozens of dead baby dolphins are washing ashore in the Gulf of Mexico; oyster populations are devastated, crippling a multi-billion dollar industry and the tens of thousands of jobs that go with it; and Gulf residents continue to complain of lingering health problems that they believe were caused by the BP oil spill. Despite what you may read in the mainstream media, the oil has not gone away.
After sinking more than a mile to the bottom of the Gulf, the Deepwater Horizon claimed the lives of 11 men working on the rig and untold thousands of Gulf marine mammals, birds, shrimp, shellfish and other animals. You would think a disaster of this magnitude would cause us as a nation to stop and reflect on why we were drilling in such deep and treacherous waters to begin with -- especially when we were drilling without an adequate safety net, as the world saw while we watched 4.9 million barrels of Louisiana light crude gush unheeded from the crippled drilling pipe well into the summer.
You would also think a struggling region only beginning to rebound from the natural disasters of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina would have the robust support of an entire nation seeking a way to prevent manmade disasters from devastating the same area all over again.
However, we know a year later that regardless of the human errors involved, this disaster could have been avoided if the oil industry had made the same investments in safety and containment that they unhesitatingly made in research and development for more exotic oil reserves. We also know that the blowout preventer BP relied on to stop the spill jammed when we needed it most. Adding insult to injury, that same design flaw could be attached to dozens of other blowout preventers proposed for use in the Gulf.
CBS News recently found that, not counting the BP disaster, there were at least 6,500 oil and gas spills, leaks, fires or explosions nationwide in 2010 -- an average of 18 per day. We need much better regulation of the oil and gas industry and stronger enforcement standards if we are to drill in the first place. Millions of Gulf residents are still reeling from the oil disaster a year later. BP has not made them whole; their lives are still turned upside down, and the natural resources of the Gulf have been decimated by oil that continues to wash in.
We will not escape in this lifetime the effects of such a tragedy. Oil that contaminated 580 miles of marshes and coastline will never be fully clean, and the species that call the Gulf waters their home will continue to be threatened. If this disaster wrought any good, it is the spotlight it shed on a dysfunctional and corrupt oil industry that has plundered our Gulf waters for too long. Pleading ignorance is no longer an option; we must take action to ensure that an industry with such a potential for destruction is held to stricter standards.
Congress needs to act to prevent this disaster from happening again. The $75 million liability cap on offshore drilling rigs needs to be eliminated entirely. If a company drilling in the Gulf cannot afford to clean up a potential oil spill, they should not be drilling there at all. There must be funding to support more rig inspectors to ensure every oil rig drilling in the Gulf is safe and doing everything up to code. The 30-day limit for the Department of Interior to respond to applications for exploration permits should be at least doubled. Thirty days is just not enough time for federal regulators to assess complicated permit applications and the newly-required worst-case oil spill scenarios.
We cannot allow another tragedy that leaves children without their fathers, wives without their husbands, and parents without their sons. We cannot tolerate another debacle that results in massive closures to fisheries, putting fisherman and those who depend on the tourism industry out of work. We cannot ignore the unknown numbers of dead birds, whales, dolphins, turtles and fish.
Only Congress can enact laws that safeguard Americans from oil spill polluters, and that provide needed resources to the federal government so they can properly oversee high-risk ocean drilling. Unless they take these and other important steps recommended by the President's Oil Spill Commission, our lawmakers in Congress will continue to leave you, me and our oceans defenseless.
Originally appeared in OnEarth Magazine.
Tyson Slocum: BP Oil Spill: It Could Happen Again
It would mean so much to me if you could read my fan mail letter that I sent to you via post ages ago, however I think I sent it to a fake adress! ;( It would mean so much to me if you could read it now. ;) - http://tl.gd/67u9di
You want to make a significant impact on the state of the environment? Demand accountability for what has happened to Nigeria and other countries so destitute that the oil companies know they can take advantage of them - and really, all of us.
Get involved in the ways that you can, do what you can > "Be the change you want to see in the world."
Twitter: laura_b_87
I am glad that there are people like you who are doing SOMETHING on this.
Thank you, Ian :)
There are a lot of people researching and working towards renewable energy, and we could do well to promote and participate in energy use education, for example how to minimise our water and energy use, as well as how to reduce fossil fuel consumption so that these become the norm. These spills also act to highlight how we can promote and share the value of wildlife.
The oil giants are dependent on us. Even though it feels like a small contribution, if we move away from using their products, and put our energies into supporting alternative technologies as well as more considerate use of finite resources, then collectively we can have an impact. All it takes is faith and a belief that what we are doing is right. Whilst of course we should not turn a blind eye to the devestation spills cause, we should also not turn a blind eye to ways we can turn the tide and build a better future that isn't dependent on the approval of oil giants or governments. let's just get on with it folks!
NO whitebeaches in our future. Not for years to come.
Non-sequitÂur! Hurricane Katrina and hurricane Rita were not 'manmade disasters'! I posted this earlier but my comment was censored.
Hey, I'm just saying...
We have oil wells going in Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Alaska and California.
We hav massive amounts of oil in the Bakken oil fields of the Dakota's and Canada is pumping them and sending the oil to China. Why are we not drilling on dry land or in the shallow coastal water.
Why are we paying $4.00 a gallon for gasoline????