The fire this time: The Gulf of Mexico disaster

By Max J. Castro
majcastro@gmail.com

The result of these converging factors—the mad rush for oil and the irresponsibility of BP and of the laissez-faire Bush-Cheney administration—has been the death of 11 men, ecological damage of an unknown but massive scale, a threat to the livelihoods of thousands of fishermen, and a potential devastating impact on tourism along a vast coastline stretching all the way to the east coast of Florida.

The explosion and sinking of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which has resulted in the spillage of vast quantities of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, would not have taken place if the declining global reserves of petroleum were not forcing oil companies to extract oil from ever more difficult and remote environments.

Our civilization runs on oil, and the United States is by far the world’s most voracious consumer of the commodity. Oil companies like BP may attempt to rebrand themselves (Beyond Petroleum) but this has not stopped them from going to extraordinary lengths to extract oil, including from extremely deep waters such as those of the Macondo well, which is now defiling the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It is a case in which the desire and the technology for extracting oil has far outpaced the capacity to prevent or mitigate the environmental consequences. This means that, as oil supplies diminish, not only will the cost of gasoline increase but the environmental damage resulting from our oil addiction will also rise. Vast tracts of Canadian land already are being devastated by shale oil extraction, and there are many other examples.

This reality in no way dilutes the responsibility of the actors in this tragedy. For years, the Bush-Cheney administration, run by two oil men, declined to require the oil companies to equip offshore oil rigs with devices that could have prevented the tragedy, devices of the kind that are mandatory in such countries as Norway. BP, for its part could have decided to install the devices without being compelled, but it too declined.

The result of these converging factors—the mad rush for oil and the irresponsibility of BP and of a laissez-faire Bush-Cheney administration—has been the death of 11 men, ecological damage of an unknown but massive scale, a threat to the livelihoods of thousands of fishermen, and a potential devastating impact on tourism along a vast coastline stretching all the way to the east coast of Florida.

It would be good if Gulf disaster wakes the American public to the importance of environmental issues. Recent surveys have found that Americans place environmental problems near the bottom of the list of national priorities. In the last 40 years, many of the most visible signs of pollution have been abated. The quality of the air has improved and many bodies of water have been cleaned up. This has led to a certain complacency. Out of sight, out of mind.

Yet the environmental problems that we face today are less tangible but more serious than those of four decades ago. Global climate resulting from greenhouse gases continues unabated and threatens massive harm to ecosystems and people—especially in poor countries. The fouling of the seas, the decimation of fisheries, and the extinction of entire species are just a few of the trends that we are facing unless we act quickly and dramatically.

Perhaps they key item on the vast environmental agenda facing the world is the need to move away from an oil and coal-based economy to an economy based on clean energy. This is doable but it would require overcoming the vast amounts of cash and the hordes of lobbyists that the dirty energy industry can mobilize to prevent Congress and the president from undertaking a radical new approach to energy. As an example, the legislation now being prepared for consideration by Congress is only a small step, albeit in the right direction, and even its passage is uncertain.

Without the leadership of the United States and other developed countries, convincing China, India, and other emerging nations to refrain from contributing greatly to global warming will be virtually impossible. The Gulf of Mexico disaster should not only silence the idiotic chant “Drill, baby, drill” repeated so often by Republicans from Sarah Palin to John McCain, it should spur Americans and other citizens of the world toward a new environmental consciousness appropriate for the twenty-first century.