Oil Spill Lacked Vital Government Response

The April 20 blowout at an offshore British Petroleum (BP) oil rig located in the Gulf of Mexico was nothing short of a disaster. A fire exploded on the rig, killing two people, collapsing the rig and causing it to bleed at the rate of 40,000 gallons a day. The scale of this spill quickly exceeded the amount that was leaked during the Exxon–Valdez disaster in 1989.

Environmentalists were enraged and the public was shocked by the lack of response. Many people did not find out the extent of the damage until a few days after the explosion. News regarding the spill continues to pour in, as more dead sea life is discovered washed-up on beaches. The question on everyone’s mind is: why did the government let it go so far?
The lack of governmental response is disconcerting; the government should be obligated to contribute monetary resources to fixing problems such as this one. In addition, the government should have regulations and stricter policies regarding offshore drilling. Considering the technology we possess in this day and age and the lessons we should have learned from the Exxon–Valdez spill, this sort of disaster should have been prevented, or, at the least, dealt with quickly.

The first mistake made by the Obama administration was not recognizing the disaster. The administration was content with letting BP deal with the spill using privately funded resources. BP claimed that they had the situation under control and the government trusted them. This naiveté may have caused further damage. The government should have gone in and assessed the situation in order to determine if BP was capable of handling this problem itself. Whether or not BP thought they needed help is irrelevant; if they were worried about losing credibility, they should have put the interests of the globe as a whole before their reputation.

If the government had taken the time to assess the situation, they could have determined the level of support needed to clean up the mess. They could have also understood the problem more clearly, and understanding the problem is key to solving it. It wasn’t until May 5 that the White House jumped into action, by this time, the Coast Guard increased the estimate of the leak to more than 200,000 gallons of oil a day. At that point, irreparable damage had already occurred, so the government’s efforts to set up booms to contain the oil were almost ineffectual.

In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Coast Guard approved the use of a dispersant to break up the oil. Scientists and environmentalists are now questioning the use of the dispersant and claim that this untested chemical soup may cause more adverse effects than the spill itself. This dispersant should have been tested before it was used under approval of the government. It is the responsibility of the Obama administration to ensure that clean–up methods will not exacerbate the issue. Considering that the world economy is so reliant on fossil fuels, it is vital that we have techniques to combat spills and other disasters of this nature.

BP is still searching for a way to plug the leak. There are reports that they may use old tires and tennis balls to stop the flow of oil. Many people wonder why BP’s emergency valves didn’t engage and are questioning whether they ever worked in the first place. The government should be responsible for ensuring that emergency precautions are up to date and functioning. There should also be legislation requiring check ups for emergency equipment. The government should not trust an oil corporation to have the best interests of the environment in mind. Proper emergency precautions could have prevented the loss of two human lives and countless marine animals.

Money is not really the issue in this case. Over 30 billion dollars has already been spent trying to clean up this spill. If we invested this money ahead of time in the form of testing and emergency equipment, there is no doubt that if a spill occurred, we would be better equipped to handle it. Hopefully the government will finally learn a lesson or two and realize that in catastrophes like these, swift government intervention is not just helpful, but required. As previously mentioned, prevention is the best medicine; so the government should be actively working to prevent future oil spills.