Superpower America Proves 'Powerless' in the Face of Oil
"More alarming than BP’s
futile attempts to cap the well is the impotence of a superpower that can do no
more than offer up prayers, curses and stricter laws. The most powerful navy on
the world's seas has neither the resources nor the know-how to help
America."
Americans have now been forced
to look on as the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster exposes the impotence of their
government. Policy and environmental agencies have failed, thanks to campaign
contributions. Meanwhile citizens no longer even trust that Obama will get the
situation under control.
Since April 20th, boiling-hot
crude has bled from the well head at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. No one
knows how many liters of Louisiana Light are gushing from the hole at a depth
of 5,000 feet [about 1500 meters]. Estimates of how much vary between 50,000 and 530,000 gallons a
day [200,000 to 2 million liters]. But as everyone should know by now, deep sea
oil drilling is so incredibly dangerous that it's almost a game of chance. All oil
company safety and rescue plans are designed for much shallower depths.
But more alarming than BP’s
futile attempts to cap the well is the impotence of a superpower that can do no
more than offer up prayers, curses and stricter laws. The most powerful navy on
the world’s seas has neither the resources nor the know-how to help America.
Some call the wreck of the Deepwater
Horizon rig the "Chernobyl of Big Oil." Others are reminded of Apollo
Thirteen's aborted moon mission in April 1970. But comparisons with space pioneers
are misleading.
The chronology of a catastrophe
The oil companies have no wish
to push further the frontiers of humanity - and they are under no obligation to
do so. Pushing exploration to the limits of technical feasibility into ever
deeper waters (and beyond what can be controlled in the case of an accident),
with ever higher costs and greater risk, serves their pursuit of profit - nothing
else.
Governments that grant
licenses, carry out oversight and collect royalties, have an obligation to keep
in mind the public good. What U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen calls the "tyranny
of depth," is a self-elected, man-made tyranny. No one is obliged to bow
down to it.
A casualty of the great 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil crisis.
After the U.S. congressional
hearings, one thing is clear: The government didn't fulfill its oversight
responsibilities - be it as a result of laxity and negligence brought on by
political scheming, or by the sheer incapacity of the authorities to comprehend
deepwater drilling in it in all of its technical detail.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
The agency responsible for
managing the natural resources of the United States, the Mineral Management
Service, treated BP and its lesser [Transocean] with blind trust. The Mineral
Management Service tolerated the fact that the Deepwater Horizon rig operated
under the low-budget flag of the Marshall Islands. BP and other oil industry
giants regulated themselves. It was generally accepted in the industry that is
was cheaper to risk injuries and criminal penalties than to invest in safety
systems.
The utility of campaign
contributions is obvious. President Barack Obama, affected by the hearings,
admitted angrily that oversight had "failed, failed terribly." He would
make sure that the "cozy relationship" between government and Big Oil
have to end. Good luck.
Americans now find themselves
staring into the abyss of the Mississippi trench and the authorities' bottomless
pit of failure. You don’t have to believe in conspiracy theories on
overthrowing the system to detect a chilling similarity with the casino
mentality of the bankers on Wall Street.
