So about that oil leak in the Gulf? … kind of messed up eh? Well, since everybody else has weighed-in on the disaster unfolding then I thought I’d give it my two cents as well:
I’m pissed. We had a great vacation lined up for the Redneck Riviera in less than two weeks and now that is up in smoke… or more accurately, oil. Family, friends, sand, pools, food, etc….POOFFF!…Gone! I can’t tell you how disappointed Jennifer & I were about having to pull the cord on this trip. Our family trips to the area several times a year and we are really concerned about it’s future. However, even as angry as I am about the situation in the Gulf I think I can still be level-headed and use some commonsense when examining the totality of the disaster.
You see… I’m a strong believer in the “Shit Happens” theory… or more accurately “Shit Will Happen”… or more precisely “Shit Will Happen Regardless of Numerous ways of combating said Shit”. It’s just fact and commonsense. The oil leak is not the result of one man, one company, or even one company + one government. It’s a combination of many, many things. Sure… likely there was a handful of people at BP that knew something was wrong way ahead of the disaster. Mabye some of those decisions were criminal in nature. I hope if they were criminal then they will be punished accordingly. However, people make bad decisions all the time with deadly, disastrous results. It happens everyday. Granted this event is bigger than most, but at the end of the day it’s unfolding just like every other bad situation…. with tons of bad decisions leading up to the situation, several bad decisions after the situation, and likely several, several bad decisions to be made on the horizon. It’s how humans operate. We are greedy. We are prosperous. We are adventurous. We are risk takers. And above all…. We screw up all the time. Our faults have just as much to do with who we are as our successes.
So, the above is basically what I think about the disaster in general. Now let me delve into the backlash or as like to call it the “Index Finger Marathon”. You can’t turn on the TV without someone blaming the BP CEO, BP in general, our Gov’t, former President Bush, President Obama, etc. for various parts of the disaster. It’s really stupid and aggravating. The whole exercise serves only those in the political or public relations arena. And now of course, we have the drums of people shouting “Boycott BP”. Great. Just great. Boycott BP and put the local mom & pop gas stations out of business? Make people in the town of just two or three gas stations now have only one or two options and therefore drive up the cost of living? Put thousands of indirect jobs in jeopardy? Real smart. Give me a break. If you’re supporting this BP boycott in any form, then you have no idea how the oil industry works nor do you have any concern for our future PERIOD Every so-called “Oil Giant” like BP operates the same way. They are a massive network that relies on thousands of subcontracting companies and their millions of employees to pull off what BP envisions. Boycotting BP affects millions of people (most of whom don’t even work for BP) who have absolutely ZERO to do with the disaster. It just baffles me that people can’t see that?
So, what are we suppose to do? Well, like any problem we do our best to solve it. We’ll stop the leak (eventually), clean-up, and move on. Hopefully, we will do it without handicapping ourselves with over-the-top, additional drilling regulations. What most people I’ve talked with fail to take into account is that oil companies, even BP, don’t want shit like this to happen. Look at the cost BP is incurring due to this disaster. Now with a straight face … tell me that BP isn’t doing all it can to stop it? Tell me other oil companies and related subcontractors aren’t taking notice of the costs of this disaster? Tell me all the Oil Giants aren’t having meetings to discuss this unfolding disaster and making sure their own operations are as fail safe as possible? The truth is that we don’t need anymore regulation. Our government should ensure that BP and/or other companies responsible for the leak clean it up at their cost (something we are already doing by the way as it’s required by law). In my opinion we should also be looking at drilling closer to shore in shallower waters as well. It’s blatantly obvious that nobody on the planet currently knows how to solve a problem like this miles under the sea. It only stands to reason that shallow waters would allow more access to address a situation like this unfolding in the future.
And I’ll end with this… join the “Index Finger Marathon”… boycott all you want… add hundreds, maybe thousands, of new regulations… ban additional drilling in the area… do all this and more. However, don’t ever think that this will eliminate the risk of another disaster. Shit Happens! …and it always will.
