I've been keeping all my thoughts on this bottled up, so it's time to get it out of my system...so here are some thoughts on the BP spill and the public response…
I spent a whole morning earlier this week reviewing testimonies from various agencies who are about to testify in front of various committees of Congress to let them know of its activities in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. I’ll admit that sometimes testimonies do over state the importance and extent of what’s actually happening, but what’s very apparent is that every agency who has a part, any part in responding to and mitigating the horrendous oil spill that has taken place, is working very hard on this particular issue. No one is sitting around, everyone is running around. For some agencies, the oil spill is now the most important item in its daily agenda. A large number of staff and large amount of resources are being redirected to the spill, rightfully so…but for those who complain that the government isn’t doing enough, please do not forget that there is a limited amount of resources that we are given to run our agencies. The rest of the non-oil-spill world still needs to run, you know? Is this the best? Maybe not, after all, it is a spill of unprecedented severity. Never has it hit so close to home nor has a spill ever been spewing so deep in the ocean (5000 ft)…but everyone is trying their best.
Every time I see an article saying that the Administration has not been doing and is not doing enough to respond, I want to ask these people how much they really know about what is really going on with the spill and what efforts are really taking place. Can they tell me how much money the government has spent on response and mitigation so far? Can they tell me what they think is the “correct” amount? Can they tell me how many federal employees and contractors have been sent to help down at the Gulf? If they cannot, then I am not sure that it is fair that they complain about the lack of action on the spill.
BP is not exactly on my good side right now, in fact, I think they are evil. I wished that tighter safely regulations were implemented and enforced. I feel extremely sad for the 11 people who died; these people have families and I can’t imagine their grief. I feel bad that the ocean continues to be polluted in such a devastating way. Having come back from Cancun with clear blue water, it pains me to imagine what it would look like if crude oil was spewing all over the place. But while it is easy to point fingers at BP or at other oil companies, what keeps crossing my mind is whether the public has ever thought to blame themselves. With regards to implementation and enforcement of safely regulations, I would say that the government, the public, and the oil companies share the responsibility for what happened. Why the public also? Because our world is driven by supply and demand. As users of this resource, we are of course responsible for things that happen in obtaining these resources. In a more ideal world, environmental cost (air pollution, people who get sick because of bad smog, etc) should have been added to the cost of buying the resource (i.e. gas, etc) but we don’t live in an ideal world, yet. As of right now, most people mindlessly fill up their gas tank and if any kind of thought crosses their mind, it is “why are gas prices so high?” I doubt many people have ever thought about where their oil comes from and the social and environmental issues that they cause every time they fill up their tank.
Through this gigantic oil spill, I hope that people begin to understand the real price of energy. It isn’t just the price it takes to drill, pump, transport, and process gas…the true costs include accidents and other impacts incurred via this whole process. If you’d like to drive, to use energy, but maybe not have this guilty feeling, perhaps you can drive less, carpool, take public transportation, and voice your support (write your Representative and Senators) for renewable energy, energy efficiency, for stronger regulations on oil and gas leases and operations. Perhaps before it was a case of not knowing but now we know, and if you choose to do nothing, then for sure, you are to blame. It doesn’t take a big spill for us to realize something really crappy has happened…let’s not forget about all the very apparent evidence that climate change is happening…we are all a part of it. Ignorance is bliss but having the knowledge empowers us to do something about all these issues and to be responsible, so let’s do something about this.
For more information about the Deepwater Horizon Incident and the government's efforts: please check http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com
:) Special thanks to Justin for helping me review this!
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