In case you’ve been in a coma over the last few weeks, we’ve had a bit of problem on the Gulf Coast. While the oil leak that developed after the Deepwater Horizon rig blew up is indeed a disaster, this tragic event is unprecedented and its causes complex. As is usually the case when it comes to a complex issues, the MSM has spent a lot of time finger-pointing without much of an idea what they’re pointing at.
For example, a May 6 AP story entitled “Feds let BP avoid filing blowout plan for Gulf rig” featured this lede:
Petrochemical giant BP didn’t file a plan to specifically handle a major oil spill from an uncontrolled blowout at its Deepwater Horizon project because the federal agency that regulates offshore rigs changed its rules two years ago to exempt certain projects in the central Gulf region, according to an Associated Press review of official records.
Sounds ominous, and while those carefully chosen words are perhaps technically true, they are also meaningless.
Did BP file a plan that “specifically” imagined an unprecedented, uncontrolled blowout from Deepwater Horizon of exactly the kind we have seen? Any answer would be a pointless splitting of hairs. Did BP, like everyone drilling in the Gulf, have plans in place to respond to a major oil release in the Gulf? Of course they did. They have to, it’s in their best interest to do so and the proof in the pudding is the speed at which BP responded as the disaster unfolded.
Don’t take my word for it, consider instead what Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen, who’s in charge of the federal response to the disaster, told the Houston Chronicle on May 5, the day before the AP story ran:
Allen said BP has gone beyond the spill response plan it filed with the Minerals Management Service prior to beginning drilling, mobilizing large numbers of ships and people.
Aside from all the finger pointing, an important point about the Deepwater Horizon tragedy has largely been lost among all of the justifiable concern expressed in the media: deep ocean, off-shore drilling is going to continue around the world, whether we like it or not, and it’s going to continue in the Gulf of Mexico. Russia and China have signed deals with Cuba to tap the Gulf’s riches and, since we don’t actually own the Gulf there’s nothing we can do to prevent that outside of our Exclusive Economic Zone which extends 200 miles into the Gulf in most places (less off of parts of Florida).
It should also be noted that oil seepage is a natural phenomenon, one which plays havoc with the environment in many places around the world. According to the National Research Council, natural seepage accounts for about half of all oil discharges into the oceans, while oil exploration and extraction contributes about three per cent of the total. All told, the NRC’s best estimate is that natural seepage releases over 350 million gallons of petroleum into the environment per year. That’s not to minimize the environmental damage that the spill in the Gulf has caused, but it does put it in a bit of perspective.
Deep ocean drilling is a relatively new technology, one that has been developed for a variety of factors, including the moratorium on off-shore drilling, improvements in exploration techniques and, quite simply, because that’s where the oil is. In the wake of Deepwater Horizon, pundits and policy-makers are going to continue to debate the wisdom of going after this invaluable source of energy, but that’s not really the point.
Somebody is going to get that oil, it’s only a question of whom. The question that should occupy our time is not whether we should “drill, baby, drill,” but what can we to drill even better and safer in the wake of this terrible accident.
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