BP Oil Spill Still Flowing 80 Days Later

Apparently BP can't do much right except fail. At failure, BP excels! 80 days after the explosion of the Deep Water Horizon oil is still escaping from the well head. The last hope rests with the two relief wells being drilled in an effort to kill the original well. We can expect, if history is any example, that once BP succeeds with stopping the leak that they will expect to be touted as heroes and Saviours of the Gulf; all of the lies, cover-ups and efforts to impede clean-up and relief efforts will magically evaporate and life on the Gulf Coast will go back to normal. Wrong. What stands out instead is the callousness and disregard for the impact to the environment and livelihoods of the residents who live there.

Residents of the Gulf Coast have long memories. If BP thinks that they'll be able to quietly slip into the background they're wrong. Expect new legislation and stricter regulations on off-shore drilling and forget about any chance of allowing drilling off of Florida's coastline. Florida's health and well-being depends on a healthy tourism and fishing industry and there's no room for error from oil companies. The other oil companies can thank BP's fiasco for giving all gulf drilling companies a black eye — maybe they should file a claim with BP. 

Economic impact aside, BP has also made enemies of animal and nature lovers. The images of oiled birds, dead dolphins and sea turtles will haunt BP and other oil companies for decades. Animals may not have voices but their advocates do. The long term effects of the oil and dispersant dumped into the Gulf are yet to be known. Already the impact on endangered species and those species of special concern have been devastating. The oil companies are wrong if they think that they can continue to operate as haphazardly as they have done in the past. The free ride is over.   

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Dear BP ‒ Oops Doesn't Cut It

It has been a month since the sinking of the Deep Water Horizon off the coast of Louisiana and still toxic oil continues to spill into the Gulf of Mexico poisoning our waters. Yesterday thick vats of oil slopped into the delicate marshes and bayous of Louisiana killing everything it touched. Where was BP's grand plan to stop it? Oh wait, that was the same Dog & Pony Show that kept reassuring everyone that the oil would be contained, it would never reach shore, no animals would die in the making of this disaster, and the fishing and tourism industry would not be affected. Newsflash BP: Reciting a Mantra of Lies Doesn't Make it So!

Plausible Deniability

BP has tried to distract the public with finger pointing about who is ulitmately to blame for the explosion of the Deep Water Horizon on May 20th ‒ at this point it no longer matters whether it was BP, TransOcean or Haliburton. What matters now is getting the well head sealed and cleaning up the colossal mess that has turned the Gulf of Mexico into a vat of poison. But where is BP? That's right, out spinning more yarns to pull the wool over the eyes of the public (for you Brits that's Southern speak for crafting masterful works of fiction that sugarcoat the truth.)

While sea turtles, dolphins and oil covered pelicans turn up on shore, BP keeps repeating the mantra that “while unfortunate, they are not oil related.” So, you expect the locals to believe that they all just stopped off at the Quicky Lube for an oil change because its something that they like to do for fun? Sorry, we're not buying what you're selling. However, if the Powers That Be at BP would like to join us for a locally caught seafood dinner I'm sure we can whip up some sort of tasty sauce to cover up that nasty non-oil related film that the fish have swam through and ingested.

Compensation From BP

So by now the question begs to be asked of BP: What are you going to do for us now that the fishing and tourist industry is ruined? Are there grand plans in place to replace all of the marine life that is dying off in the Gulf of Mexico? Can you put a price on an endangered sea turtle or West Indian Manatee? Have you ever seen a Diamondback Terrapin in a Louisiana Marsh and did you have a spare to replace the ones that are dying? Can you replace the experience of walking amongst thousands of tiny clicking Fiddler Crabs on a hot summer evening if there are no crabs left to see?

Furthermore, BP, have you truly realized the impact on the fishing villages along the coast? For many fisherman, fishing is their life. If the boat doesn't run, their families don't eat. They can't just go out and get another job because not only does it take time to learn new skill sets, there aren't a lot of alternative jobs in a fishing town. This isn't big city life and it is close-minded to expect them to just pick up and move to where there are other opportunities. These are their homes!

Finally, there's the rest of us that live, work and play in these small communities. Is BP going to be sending all of us checks in the mail to make up the difference in the higher prices that we will now have to pay to buy seafood that has to be imported because fishing in the Gulf has been impacted? Are they going to pay for vacations that we have to take somewhere else because we can't go to our own beach? Will they be building us a giant aquarium where we can go free of charge to see the marine life that we used to be able to see swimming in local waters? Most importantly, will they be cloning endangered species and putting them back so that future generations can see them as well and not just remember them from pictures and stories? Yep, that's what I thought...

Photo by: USFWS/Southeast