38 Days And Counting

On April 20, a BP oil rig more than a mile under the surface of the Gulf of Mexico exploded, and as of today, 38 days later, oil continues to spew into the Gulf. This already looks certain to rank as one of the worst man-made disasters in our history, and we still don't know how long it will be till the flow of oil is stopped. The environmental impact is likely to be severe, with hundreds of miles of beaches damaged and up to 40% of our country's highly sensitive wetlands (mainly in Louisiana) in jeopardy of being destroyed. Many types of wildlife are already being affected, with the worst yet to come. The spill will have a severe economic impact on the region, with great harm done to the fishing & seafood industries as well as the substantial tourism industry of the gulf region. Worst of all, hurricane season is beginning. A large hurricane could dump the oil on our cities or move it up the Atlantic coast. This is a tragic and heartbreaking situation for our entire country, and especially for the residents of Louisiana who have already suffered so much from Hurricane Katrina in recent years. We need to remember them in our prayers.

Who is responsible for this? I don't think we need Obama and his administration to remind us on an almost daily basis that it's BP's fault. I think we all know that this oil spill was caused by a failure of BP's oil rig, and that BP is responsible for figuring out how to stop the spill and paying for the cleanup of the Gulf. It is my understanding that while the overall oil industry has an excellent safety record over the past 40 years, BP's safety record over the last decade or so has been less than impressive. Apparently they failed to perform environmental impact studies, failed to have a viable disaster plan in place, and chose to forego replacing old equipment and parts in order to save on costs and pad their profits. But there's certainly no reason to think that BP is dragging their feet now. They know their profitability and reputation -- and even their survival as a company -- depend on stopping this oil spill as quickly as possible. They are doing everything in their power -- but it's not so easy when there is no prior plan in place and you are dealing with an oil gusher that is more than a mile underwater.

But BP is not the only one responsible for this. I believe the federal government is just as responsible -- if not more so. First of all, the government allowed this situation to happen in the first place. The government allowed BP to drill in the Gulf without getting the permits required by existing law for drilling that could harm endangered species. Obama's Interior Department gave BP an environmental exemption back in April 2009. The government did not require BP to have a plan in place to deal with a potential spill. Safety warnings about drilling in the Gulf were repeatedly ignored - the National Oceanic and Atmospherica Administration sent a letter to Obama back in September 2009 warning that the Minerals Management Service was underestimating the risks and impact of an oil spill. I know Republicans have a reputation for being cozy with big oil, but all of the above failures occurred on Obama's watch, and Obama was the number one recipient of BP political contributions. My readers know that I'm not a fan of big government regulation of private industry. In general, I think the government regulates far too much and greatly oversteps its proper bounds. But I do think the government has a legitimate right to regulate activities that pose significant safety and environmental hazards to our country, especially when it is occurring on federal property (as this did). When you have a drilling operation thousands of feet below the water which causes oil to gush out automatically, it should be obvious that a malfunction could have a severe impact. Obama is now calling for more regulations and inspections of offshore oil drilling. That makes no sense, because adequate safety regulations were already in place and were ignored.

Secondly, the government's response to this disaster has been horrible. A plan to deal with an oil spill like this has been in place since 1994. The plan, created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, called for barriers called fire booms to collect the oil offshore and then burn it off. If this plan had been followed, up to 95% of the oil might have been contained. The problem was that the government was so woefully unprepared they didn't have a single fire boom on hand at the time the oil spill first occurred. Obama's administration acted as though they didn't have to do anything -- it was BP's fault and they would fix it. This spill was in federal waters and the government bears responsibility too. It is inexcusable that it has been more than a month and the Obama administration has done virtually nothing. Obama didn't even give a speech about this crisis until 9 days after the spill started, and it took him 12 days to make his first visit to the region (and only visit until political pressure forced his second visit today). Louisiana officials asked for permission from the federal government to build temporary sand barriers to keep the oil from creeping into fragile wetlands on May 11th. More than two weeks later, they still have not gotten a response (the feds are conducting a "review"). The governor of Louisiana is furious, and rightly so. The EPA has dithered on BP's use of toxic dispersants underwater to prevent oil slicks -- first they approved them, then changed their mind after BP had already released them into the water. Even to this day, federal officials have still not decisively acted to put boats and equipment into the Gulf waters to try to contain and burn off the oil. Local officials were forced to do a lot of it, with some boats and equipment going unused. The White House has been quick to point fingers at the oil companies, but has been painfully slow at making any decisions or showing any leadership. They have a lot to say about future regulation, but nothing to say about what they're doing NOW to stop the spill. Throughout most of his press conference yesterday, he appeared cool and detached instead of angry and involved. He couldn't even tell reporters whether or not Elizabeth Birnbaum, the director of the Minerals Management Service, had resigned or was fired, and he couldn't even bring himself to thank the hundreds of people working around the clock to contain the oil spill.

Finally, it's important to understand what this says about reliance on government. Time and time again, the federal government has proved its inefficiency and inability. Our country's history over the past 80 years is littered with government failures. Spending and earmarks are out of control, the national debt is skyrocketing, Social Security and Medicare are broke, our borders are a war zone, and our bureaucracy seems unable to rouse itself to deal with major crises. Our government does few things well and has taken on way too much already. Yet, in the midst of all these government failures, we have a president and a Congress that keep wanting to give government more and more power -- over health care, banks, auto companies, student loans, the financial industry, the energy industry, etc, etc. This Gulf crisis is yet another powerful reminder of why our Constitution specifically limited the powers of the federal government, and why we do well to avoid putting our trust in said government.

So what needs to be done going forward?

1. All resources should be focused on stopping the spill and containing the oil in the Gulf. The government and BP need to work together and avoid blame-shifting until after this important work is done.

2. Care needs to be taken to ensure existing laws and regulations are strictly followed. Oil companies should not be able to get exemptions from required regulations or permits, and both the government and the oil companies should have contingency plans ready in case of disaster.

3. This spill should not be used as justification to stop drilling - either on land or offshore. We need oil, and if we don't produce it ourselves we will have to import more from OPEC countries. Overall, the oil industry has a pretty good safety record, and one spill should not lead us to ban all drilling. The solution is not to stop drilling, but rather to ensure that it is done safely. Let's remember that environmentalist legislation is partly responsible for this spill. Part of the reason we are drilling more than 5,000 feet below sea level in the Gulf is because the environmentalists have managed to pass legislation excluding the Pacific coast, most of the Atlantic coast, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling. Drilling on land and just offshore is far safer than deep water drilling. If the BP oil rig had been in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, for example, the leak would have been stopped within hours (and there would have been virtually no people or animals around to be affected even if it hadn't).

4. Apparently some members of Congress have proposed legislation that would quadruple the taxes on oil companies to make them "pay for the mess they caused." This is extremely misguided. First, it is unfair to make all oil companies pay for BP's mistake. Second, this tax will just be passed on to consumers in the form of higher gas prices. If oil companies are unable to pass it on to consumers in the form of higher prices, they will probably be forced to lay off employees or stop hiring, which obviously damaged our economy. Additional taxes are not a solution.