The BP Oil Spill One Year Later

Today marks the one year anniversary of the BP oil spill and I hate to say this but deepwater drilling is no safer now than it was then and the US government has already been handing out new permits.  That's right we're giving companies permission to drill again even though we don't fully understand what led to the 2010 spill nor have implemented any new rules that makes drilling safer.

What We Know

As you recall on April 20th, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded killing 11 rig workers and spilling an estimated 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.  It took 85 days before this well could be capped and for oil to cease spilling into the ocean.  This hurt many local Gulf residents who were unable to fish those waters, many of whom earn their entire year's salary from just one season.  This also resulted in a decline of tourism to the Gulf region as many of the beach areas were contaminated with oil washed ashore from the rig.

On April 30th, 2010 President Obama placed a moratorium on offshore drilling projects until an evaluation could be made to determine what caused the Horizon rig to explode and to draft new safety regulations prior to issuing new offshore drilling permits.  According to a report released by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling there were many factors that led to the explosion of the Horizon rig to include defects in the blowout preventer, poor cementing method, and a general breakdown in safe drilling practices due to a rushed timeline. 

What's Happening Now

Oil is still effecting the ecosystem with recent reports showing that as many as 406 whales and dolphins have washed ashore, many fish are developing bacterial infections and lesions both on their skin and organs.  According to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries the state shrimp supply was down 37% and oysters were down by 49%. 

And while the Gulf region is still recovering the US Government has issued 11 new deepwater drilling permits in the past few weeks.  The government is issuing new permits even though Det Norske Veritas (DNV) recently presented a report to the US Interior Department stating that the blowout preventers used on drilling rig to you know, prevent explosions, are flawed by design and shouldn't be relied upon to prevent blowouts.  Bureau of Offshore Energy Management Director Michael Bromwich was recently interviewed on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show and was aware of the DNV report and even stated that he never thought blowout preventers worked and even though he can't explain why more rig workers working in US waters are injured or killed than those who work in European waters for the same drilling companies he thinks the new regulation that requires drillers to be able to contain a spill in 17 days (wow, only 17 days!) is good enough.  Oh and as far as the 17 day containment method, its never been tested, the companies just have to say they can do it.

You Better Sit Down For This

BP has been spending money to help clean up the oil spill and was required by the US government to set aside $20 billion for a victim compensation fund.  These expenditures have netted BP a loss of $4.8 billion for 2010 and they've decided to write off $9.9 billion in taxes due to their losses on their US tax return.  So even though they rushed the drilling project that led to lax safety measures and resulted in a rig explosion that killed 11 people, ruined an ecosystem, and hurt the local economy they are essentially expecting US taxpayers to cover $9.9 billion of the bill.  The victims will help compensate BP for its losses that resulted from the oil spill.

 Where Are We Now?

Its been 365 days since the worst oil drilling disaster to happen off our shores and Congress still hasn't passed any laws that require stricter safety regulations for deepwater drilling, in fact many Republicans have submitted bills to help speed up the permit issuing process without addressing safety.  Nothing about drilling in the Gulf today is any different than it was on April 20, 2010 but somehow we are issuing new permits and expecting different results.  If a nut on an airplane tries, and fails, to light his shoe on fire then everyone in the country is required to remove their shoes for security screening prior to boarding an airplane indefinitely; but if 11 people are killed and a local economy is ruined because a few safety regulations need to be implemented our government takes no action....because a certain group feels that corporations are the victims.