BP Oil Spill & Planning for the Future

The oil spill from the Deep Horizon is devastating the economy and environment on the Gulf Coast. BP has demonstrated that they were not adequately prepared to handle a spill of this magnitude as they claimed. BP has, also, shown that they did not have the technical knowledge to stop the oil from spilling into the Gulf. We cannot afford to be caught sleeping at the switch again.

This is not the time to play the blame game; we need to learn from our mistakes and fix the problem. The problem is that we do not have anyone that can take charge of the situation with the expertise needed to stop the leak. It would be great to have someone like John Wayne in Hellfighters step in and fix our problems. Wayne played Red Adair who made his living putting out oilfield fires after accidents. Well, there is not a Red Adair to fix deep water oil spills.

It would be great if BP was an expert in stopping oil spills, but that is not their business. They are experts in finding and getting oil out of the ground. That is their business. After the Gulf War, Boots & Coots was called in to put out the oil fires and control the wellheads in the aftermath of the invasion of Kuwait. This was their specialty. Boots & Coots offered a high level of expertise in this exact field. Let's apply this same principle and specialized expertise to deepwater accidents before another Deep Horizon happens. We need experts that specialize in stopping oil leaks in our waters, separate from our federal bureaucracy and the interest of the oil companies.

I propose a Deep Water HazMat team (DWHM). A DWHM team will be an independent organization that specializes in stopping oils spills in our waters. These experts should be compiled from multiple disciplines, such as environmental, offshore drilling, mechanical engineering and additional fields. Like a HazMat team, they would be deployed to stop the leaks if the oil companies are not able to in a short amount of time.

There is no point in coming up with a good idea if you can’t pay for it. The American taxpayer should not pay for the DWHM team. It should be the price of drilling in our waters. The oil companies that want to drill off our shores should pay into a fund that would pay for the DWHM team.

We shouldn’t be wasting our time right now talking about alternative energy solutions of tomorrow. It is more important that we deal with the reality of today.

The reality is we need oil and we will continue to need it for a long time.

The reality is that we will need to continue drilling off-shore.

The reality is accidents like this will happen again.

We need experts, so we are prepared for the future. This is how we should prepare for our future.