Some Records Should Not Be Broken

It's time to Break It Down!

Shortly after midnight, Friday, March 24, 1989, Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. The result, one of the most devastating man-caused environmental disasters on record, gained instant notoriety as a cautionary tale of the potential ill effects of mixing oil drilling and Oceans.

The tanker is estimated to have spilled an estimated 10.8 million gallons, or 250,000 barrels of oil. Eventually, the oil covered over 1,300 miles of coastline, and more than 11,000 square miles of ocean. It was the largest spill ever in US waters, at the time.

By contrast, the recent Gulf Coast spill, which occurred as a result of an explosion on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, April 20, 2010, has been spewing an estimated 210,000 gallons per day…for 35 days now. That’s 7.35 million gallons, so far. Capping the spill, which is, ostensibly, goal number one, has been complicated by a number of factors; not all of them technical. Yes, figuring out a way to formulate and execute a solution for a problem ongoing at the bottom of the Gulf is a major challenge. Yet, those responsible for devising the solution have also contributed to the trenchant nature of the problem.

The equipment at the spill site, which is located 50 miles from New Orleans, is owned by Transocean Ltd, leased by BP PLC, and is operating in an environment overseen by the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS). It is clear, the three parties have had difficulty getting and staying on the same page.

There has been finger pointing between Transocean Ltd, and BP PLC. Moreover, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a week ago, the beleaguered MMS is slated to be split into three branches, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, and the Office of Natural Resources Revenue, which will move into the Interior Department’s budget and management division. In addition, Chris Oynes announced his retirement as head of the oil and gas drilling office in the Minerals Management Service. Surely there are those whose lament is, “Too little, too late.”

While this is not exactly a case equivalent to Nero fiddling, an environmental and ecological threat that is nearly a week into its second month does cause significant concern. Much of that growing concern is represented by the palpable angst of offshore drilling proponents, as well as that of supporters of scaling back Wetlands protections. These twin interest groups had made substantial headway, even convincing President Obama to voice support for their positions. In light of the continuing Gulf Coast saga, POTUS has been seen stepping quietly away from the slippery slope of that precipitous ledge.

Too frequently, lost in the relentless waves of media coverage about the spill, its size, and the length of time it has gone unabated, is the chilling fact that eleven men lost their lives in the aftermath of the explosion that led to the spill. These “human statistics,” in death, bring an element of urgency to this drama that simply cannot be conveyed adequately through discussions, video of the disaster, and even recounting the fish, fowl, and flora destroyed. Call it the humanization of the tragedy. Millions of gallons of spilled oil, and even a burning oil rig do not convey the same starkly dark reality as the rendering of the “human death toll.”

We do not know yet the full magnitude of this human and environmental tragedy. We are assured it will be worse than we know today. In all likelihood, it will surpass the fallout from the Exxon Valdez. While current offical estimates are pegged at 5,000 barrels/210,000 gallons per day, some already suggest the flow could be as much as tenfold the more conservative official estimates, or 50,000 - 70,000 barrels/2,100,000 gallons per day, which would equate to at least 73,500,000 gallons over the past 35 days; already more than 7 times the volume cited for Exxon Valdez. No matter which estimate serves as the standard ultimately, in an intrusive and discomfiting way, the events of April 20th, remind us, that “Some Records Should Not Be Broken!”

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com. A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Eco/bp-oil-spill-national-significance-obama-administration/story?id=10509844

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/30/louisiana-oil-spill-2010_n_558287.html

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/science/earth/04enviro.html

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/25/gulf.oil.spill/index.html?hpt=T2

http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream3&hpt=T2

http://www.cnbc.com/id/36872198/Scenes_From_The_2010_Gulf_Oil_Spill

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/oil_spill_approaches_louisiana.html

http://photo.newsweek.com/2010/5/oil-spill-timeline.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126721481

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/21/oil.rig.explosion/index.html