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June 12, 2010 If you were from another place and time, and had the distasteful pleasure of observing society here on Earth for the last couple of decades. Then you would probably think humanity was trying to kill itself off and take the entire planet along with it, after witnessing the whole BP oil scandal in the Gulf of Mexico. There have probably been thousands of articles and news stories written about the abysmal oil disaster from all over the world. And still, a lot more need to be said. T o get right down to it, people especially Americans are angry. It’s often said that one doesn’t care about a particular situation or problem, until one day it finally shows up on their door step. In the last couple of months, the incident has coined many nicknames. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the BP Oil Spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the Macondo blowout. But the good people of Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida simply call it devastating. BP’s suspected negligence has unfortunately sealed the fate of the environment and the economy. And along with everything else that it has managed to destroy, lives were violently taken away as well. More than likely in catastrophic events such as this one, innocent people are unexpectedly swept up in the chaos. Once the smoke clears of the hyped up media reports about this that and the other, it circles back around to the real life stories. On April 20 the Deepwater Horizon’s on board explosion claimed 11 lives. Nine crew members who were reportedly on the platform and two engineers died. Among the dead were Jason Anderson,35 of Midfield Texas; Aaron Dale Burkeen, 37 of Philadelphia, Mississippi; Donald Clark, 34 of Newellton,Louisiana; Stephen Curtis, 39 of Georgetown, Louisiana; Gordon Jones, 28 of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Roy Wyatt Kemp, 27 of Jonesville, Louisiana; Karl Klepping, 38 of Natchez, Mississippi; Blair Manuel, 56 of Eunice, Louisiana; Dewey Revette, 48 of State Line, Mississippi; Shane Roshto,22 of Franklin County, Mississippi; and Adam Weise, 24 of Yorktown, Texas. The families are the ones who are right now suffering the most from all of this. And they will undoubtedly miss them more than words could ever express. But fortunately closure maybe provided from some of the survivors who are now speaking out publicly on national news programs about what really happened on board of the Deepwater Horizon. And the stories are as expected, simply horrifying. Men and women scrambling for their lives on a flaming vessel on the verge of blowing up. In the recent interviews on CNN, each survivor choked back tears as they told their own personal versions. Seeing their fellow employees die in such a manner and trying to escape, really gave the entire world a crystal clear description about what was going on at that point and time. In fact in an exclusive interview on 60 Minutes with a survivor, all the blame is said to be squarely on the shoulders of BP. Mike Williams, a Deep water Horizon oil rig survivor told 60 Minutes that the explosion which eventually sank the rig wasn’t a freak accident at all. Actually it was a problem that had been discovered prior and soon after started building for weeks. As Mr. Williams explained, a problem with a rubber gasket which is a safety device that prevents blowouts was damaged. The issue was then presented in a timely manner to BP management. And that’s were an impetuous decision was made that ignored the damaged gasket because it was thought to be minor which proved fatal. Now according to legal insights, Mike Williams’ testimony will be key to the investigation into the BP oil spill. This story sounds all too familiar where a large company arrogantly neglects the safety of its own employees and the general public as well. Its own financial gains seem to outweigh any logical or common sense decisions concerning moral and ethical issues. Amazingly the recent statements made by the CEO of BP Tony Hayward, who has been the face of the company thus far, only added to the perception of how the public think large companies feel about certain issues. In one press release he tried down playing the whole incident by saying the environmental impact of the oil spill would be modest. Another time he asked what did his company do to deserve what had happened? And last, the infamous statement he made that is all over the internet, where he said that he wanted his life back. Those comments were viewed by the world as insensitive and cocky. The families of the deceased oil workers want the lives of their loved ones back as well. But of course no amount of money that will eventually be shoved their way by BP could ever make that happen. On April 22, the families of two missing workers filed lawsuits in a federal and state court in Louisiana against BP, alleging negligence and failure to meet federal regulations. Now there are roughly 130 lawsuits that have been filed so far in association to the oil spill. The majority of those lawsuits are by out of work fishermen and tourist resorts that are losing business. The oil company reports that 23,000 individual claims have been filed, and 9,000 of those have already been settled. There also have been claims from lawyers of the survivors who say they were kept in boats and on another rig for several hours before being brought back to shore. But once back on land, they were boarded on private buses and taken to hotels by security. No family members, press, or lawyers were allowed. There it was alleged that they were then questioned by BP representatives and given forms to sign before leaving. Of course the claims were denied by the company. More charges and civil penalties can also be brought under a variety of environmental laws, including the Clear Water Act, the Oil Pollution Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Each contains penalties that can reach tens of thousands of dollars per violation, with each passing day often constituting a new violation. The doleful images of oil covered birds, dead dolphins, and massive oil in the waters makes it almost certain BP and others involved will face charges under one or more of those laws. So BP and its associates better brace themselves, because more and more lawyers are now huddling up and knocking on their door. Currently the oil spill has managed to stretch from Louisiana’s Breton and Chandeleur Sounds, on the north east side of the Mississippi Delta, to the beaches of Pensacola, Florida, threatening a nearly 200 mile coastline filled with resorts, ports, and communities. Scientist from the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and experts from universities along with other institutions estimated that 20,000 to 40,000 barrels or 840,000 to 1.7 million gallons are gushing crude into the Gulf daily. We all have heard the devastating effects that the oil spill has had on the environment and economy. As of May 30, dead animals collected from the spill included 500 dead various species of birds, 230 sea turtles, and 30 dolphins. The oil could harm fish directly, and microbes used to consume the oil would also add to the reduction of oxygen in the water. It could take the ecosystem years and maybe even decades to recover from such an infusion oil of and gas. The lagging economy did not need another black eye. But that is just what has happened. The states of Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida have all suffered financially, specifically in the fishing and tourism industry. The initial cost estimates to the fishing industry were $2.5 billion while the impact on tourism along Florida’s Paradise Coast could be $3 billion to date. Thousands of people are now without jobs and their very livelihood has always been dependent upon the Gulf’s natural resources.
For some reason giant companies still don’t get it. They along with people that have lots of money live in their own fantasy world. With this latest blunder made by BP, it has only put our environment in harm’s way once again. And ultimately speeded up the inevitable of almost insuring the extinction of the human race as we know it. This problem by no means will be able to fix itself overnight. Ocean and wildlife experts have confirmed that many times. The planet is slowly deteriorating from the damage that is never ending all over the world. From the greatest to the least infraction to our environment, it all adds up in the end. And right now the end isn’t looking so good for us.
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