June 24, 2010

BP Oil Spill

It has been over two months since the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill started and it is still gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, there were plenty of flaws that led up to the environmental disaster and the management to contain the oil spill has been slow. I’m not going to explain the whole scenario. Instead, I am going to explain what BP and the Obama Administration has to do.

1. Allow state authorities to coordinate the cleanup effort 10 miles offshore to the coastline. BP has so far controlled everything and they have not been effective thus far. Also, the states have a huge economic interest to maintain their coastline since it is one of the main parts of their economy. 

2. Allow the media to access the work site with protective clothing that the workers are also using. This has to be done in order to preserve one of the great rights in this country: the freedom of the media. 

3. Make BP contribute to the $20 Billion fund immediately so that the checks can be sent to the people who have been affected either directly or indirectly can survive. 

4. Include health problems connected to the oil spill to be part of the compensation spent for the innocent humans who have been affected.

5. Allow independent government funded companies inspect new deepwater rigs all over the nation or within one hundred miles of the coastline of any part of the nation before they continue their operations. There are many flaws that led to the downfall of the Deepwater Horizon. Many of those flaws are incorporated into the shortcuts they used.

6. Destroy the Minerals Management Service (MMS) and fire the people who are in charge of that terrible government agency. The Obama Administration needs to remake and rebrand the MMS into a new agency that is not corrupted with a new purpose to maintain strict regulations.

7. Hire everyone who has the equipment to skim the oil after health and safety training. There are plenty of fishermen and fisherwomen with boats who are not able to do anything since of the fishing ban due to the oil spill. You have to utilize them! 

8. Stop using the dispersant, Corexit. This has been proven dangerous during the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. Even the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) has requested BP to stop using Corexit, but they have not yet complied. The main purpose of the dispersant is to prevent the oil from getting onshore and avoiding further public relation nightmares. This is just like hiding the evidence! I agree dispersant can be used, as long as it does not cause environmental damage to the flora and the fauna of the area. 

9. Research more effective ways to prevent and fix tragedies like this. The oil industry has reached more effective ways to drill for oil, but the oil recovery plans have been in the dark ages because the oil companies do not foresee tragic events like this. You just need to look at the oil spill plans to see that the oil industry is incompetent to care. Currently, we need oil to make the economy function, since nearly everything is connected to it in one way or another. In the near future, I hope we stop using this form of energy and switch to more renewable sources of energy.

10. Promote more funding for renewable sources of energy. This disaster has proven that we cannot delay investment into green energy for any longer! Research and development pays off in the long run when you look at the whole picture.

These are some suggestions to BP and the Obama Administration regarding the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  

If you have any suggestions or comments, then please post them up on this page.