Humans are the risk in drilling: Pensacola News Journal Editorial

http://www.pnj.com/article/20100404/OPINION/4040312/Editorial-Humans-are-the-risk-in-drilling

PNJ.com
Pensacola News Journal
Editorial: Humans are the risk in drilling

APRIL 4, 2010
The Orlando Sentinel recently took a close look at the Australian drilling rig that blew out last August in the Timor Sea, leaked oil for more than two months and dumped millions of gallons of crude.

It’s a cautionary tale for Florida.

Supporters claim drilling is much safer today because of new technology, redundant safety procedures and government oversight. All true. But the rig in the Timor Sea was one of the most modern in the world, and the Sentinel found that the main problem behind the accident likely was: human error and bad judgment.

They trumped all the technology and safety procedures.

Supporters also say the rules in the Gulf of Mexico are even tighter than those in Australia, and that appears to be true. But human error has never been eliminated from any human endeavor, and bad judgment is always one decision away.

The Timor rig spilled millions of gallons of oil. Fortunately, it was 150 miles off the coast and winds and tides kept the oil away from land. Unfortunately, the Sentinel reported, the slick still covered 22,000 square miles and polluted a rich marine area marked by coral and sponge reefs, whales, fish and birds. (Last October, Indonesian fishermen reported finding dead and oil-contaminated fish in their fishing grounds.)

The article indicated that the spill wasn’t caused by poor or failed technology, or a natural event like the hurricanes that regularly damage Gulf rigs. In the end, it looks like simple human error. “I just made mistakes,” the rig’s senior supervisor testified in a government inquiry.

Similar “mistakes” in the Gulf of Mexico could put oil on a lot of Florida beaches.

Special thanks to Richard Charter