More Than One Oil Spill Villain

By Klaus H Hemsath

The media have been reporting excessively on the BP Oil Spill Disaster. Barely any coverage has been devoted to three all important questions; who is responsible for this manmade catastrophe, who has been an active accessory, and who has been caught napping?

BP is obviously the company that owns the leaking well and is clearly responsible. BP will try to put some of the blame on its contractors but cannot escape full liability and culpability.

But second in line are also all those politicians, who have been promoting and supporting the drilling for oil and gas in the coastal waters of the USA. In their rush of reaping the financial benefits from oil drilling, they contributed to the hubris of declaring that oil from coastal drill sites will save the US from having to address the real challenges of skyrocketing fuel prices and compounding ecological damages, which are caused by fossil fuel burning.

Oil spills and escalating greenhouse gas emissions are inflicting irreversible damages to the one and only Earth humans can inhabit. There is undeniable evidence that oil leaks are damaging beaches, coastal wetlands, estuaries, and are harming wildlife in ways nobody has experienced, yet. The direct impact of the BP oil leak on the livelihoods of millions of citizens living near coastal areas in the Gulf has created a media storm.

The very similar, but much slower acting effects of continuing fossil fuel burning are neglected or denied outright. The huge and immediate damages of the oil leak are getting the full attention of politicians, media, citizens, and businesses. The globally more damaging but slower manifestations of fossil fuel burning and its accumulating external costs are still being neglected, belittled, or ridiculed by a large percentage of world citizens.

Continuation of fossil fuel combustion is tolerated and politically supported. The reasons are basic. Extending the use of fossil fuels puts a lot of money into the pockets of a small sector of society; corporate predators compile outrageous profits, huge salaries and bonuses are paid to top executives, and continuing employment opportunities for a minute fraction of employed workers are prolonged.

The unconscionable remunerations paid to top executives create reckless operators, who are gambling away the competitiveness of the American economy by taking extreme, short-term risks without any regards to shareholders, to corporate investors, to customers, or to low level employees. A side effect is the total neglect of the international competitiveness of these corporations and of the US.

It is obvious, that drilling accidents in coastal waters and especially in very deep waters cannot be prevented. Federal administrations, their regulators, and an unethical US Congress have for decades shirked and sidestepped their constitutional oversight responsibility. The highest priority of the Federal Government should always be to "provide for the common defense, [and] promote the General Welfare".

Reckless endangerment of its citizens has been tolerated by administrations and by US Congress for far too many years. The federal government has sold drilling permits and has collected substantial royalties. Previous governments elected to establish a bloated bureaucracy that predictably became the handmaidens of a predatory industry. Instead of using a percentage of these royalties for protecting its citizens from reckless endangerment by drilling activities, US Congress looked on, established close ties to oil industry lobbyists, and neglected to protect its citizens from excessive harm.

Previous administrations and US Congress should have demanded that a dedicated Oil Spill Disaster Emergency Service (OSDES) be established. Making such a specialized service part of the US Coast Guard would have made the most sense.

The mission of a newly established OSDES should have been: Protect the coast of the USA from damages caused by oil leaks from oil wells on lands in US coastal waters, from oil spills from vessels traveling in US waters, and from spilled or leaking oil, which approaches the exclusive, economic zones of the United States of America from the sea.

This special emergency preparedness service must have at its disposal two technologies that US Congress has shamefully neglected. The US must protect its seaboard and must have leak containment domes and very fast, high capacity oil skimmers at its disposal. This emergency equipment must be able to reach a disaster site in less than twelve hours with oil skimmers and the containment dome has to arrive in less than two days. Drilling in deepwater locations should be allowed only after this type of equipment is stationed in properly distanced locations on the seaboards of the United States. The costs of such emergency equipment can be counted in tens of millions of dollars. Economic damages from any deepwater oil spills can easily exceed tens of billions of dollars and is paid mostly by US taxpayers.

Funding can be derived from a special fee on all drilling activities in US controlled waters. This fee must also cover liabilities from oil spills for every US drill site. After all, smaller oil exploration and drilling companies are incapable of responding to an out of control, highly productive, leaking well and will never be able to meet liabilities for resulting economic damages for even the most moderate oil spill.

In "Clean Energy for Centuries" Dr. Hemsath presents a comprehensive plan for ending Global Warming and Climate Change. A new book "Petroleum Substitutes from Biomass" is in progress. For fifty years he has developed, designed, and installed advanced energy technologies as scientist, process engineer, inventor, Corporate CTO, CEO, entrepreneur, and author. He holds more than 60 US Patents. Visit http://www.thermalexpert.com for information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Klaus_H_Hemsath
http://EzineArticles.com/?More-Than-One-Oil-Spill-Villain&id=4568531