http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/oped-not-enough-lifeboats/

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Not Enough Lifeboats by Tony Munoz, Editor-in-Chief, MarEx Newsletter and the Maritime Executive Magazine

Forty-nine days of “top kill,” “junk Shot,” controlled burns, dispersants and hi-tech domes and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is still a calamity of immeasurable proportions, which is still continuing to devastate the environment and economies of the Gulf States. For the White House the spill has been yet another test of competence and leadership, and the glaring truth is there are not enough lifeboats for everyone.

There was so much excitement in the offshore industry after the 27-year congressional moratorium on offshore drilling ended on September 29, 2008. While the pro-oil Bush administration did nothing after the end of the moratorium, it would take the anti-drilling Obama to lift the ban on March 31, 2010. The offshore industry embraced the potential renaissance. But, the OCS stimulus potential simply exploded and melted into the bottom of the ocean on April 20th.

This “Energy Pearl Harbor” has shaken every American and many throughout the world. In the last few days, LSU’s Pelican subsea vessel witnessed at least a 400-foot underwater plume of thick oil sitting on the ocean floor that goes on forever and NOAA has sent its research vessel, THOMAS JEFFERSON, to hopefully provide us the truth about the impact of the spill undersea. But, what is clear to everyone is that neither BP nor the oil industry had anything even closely resembling an emergency response plan for drilling at 5,000 feet. For years the oil industry has touted the deepwater technologies, which had evidently outstripped government regulators’ ability to understand and deal with the realities of a possible catastrophic oil spill event.

Then, of course, there are rumors about the purported cowboy tensions between Transocean workers and BP superintendents about the pace of drilling, which could have led to many mistakes. These tensions were so evident to all the workers that Transocean Tool Pusher, Jason Anderson, one of the eleven men that died in the explosion, spent his last trip home getting his affairs in order. He told his wife Shelly he was so concerned about the safety practices of BP that he drew up a Will and began offering advice to his wife about how to raise their kids. While Transocean filed a petition to limit its liability to $27 million, BP, who spent a record $15 million last year for Lobbyists in Washington, will feel the full impact of the event, because nobody wants to see BP limit its liability.

As the oil spreads 100 miles across the Gulf coastline devastating businesses and wildlife, Americans are appalled by the unneeded suffering. However, this brings me to another point; Louisiana’s governor, Bobby Jindal, who last year said there should be as little federal government interference as possible because the American people can handle anything is now begging for federal interference for money, supplies, and assistance to create barriers islands to protect the state’s wetland. And, what about all the folks that screamed and shouted about the socialistic president that federalized the financial institutions, car companies and health care, these are now the same people screaming for him to do something in the Gulf of Mexico crisis. It’s a catch 22 Mr. Obama, damned if you do and damned if you don’t, it’s just the same American political climate that has grinded congress to a halt of ever getting anything done up there.

For all the devastation being inflicted on wildlife and businesses in the Gulf, for all the uncalculated billions (?) that BP and its associates may be on the hook for, for all the offshore operators and shipbuilders whose futures may hang in the balance, for the workers cleaning and skimming crude in the ocean and on the beaches whose future health may become another casualty, and for Obama who may or may not be competent enough to fix the problem because he entered the fray way too late, there are simply not be enough lifeboats.

But, like Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who is the designated incident command leader, said, “Replace BP with what?

The Gulf Coast spill is far from over, and there is so much more pain and suffering yet to come. While the Russians may be snickering in their vodka at us, they have suggested putting a nuke 16,000 feet into the well to cauterize the hole. Something, they did in the 60s and 70’s five times with an 80 percent success rate.

Well, we need to do something, because we just had lunch at the OceanEnergy Conference in Fort Lauderdale, where Matthew Simmons, the renowned energy investment guru and author of “Twilight in the Desert”, spoke and said, if we let it bleed out it may take 25 years because there is more oil in the hole than even BP expected. He also said, what this country needs is a good education on alternative wind energy, and as far as the offshore industry is concerned there are 3,442 active rigs in the Gulf and many are over 30 years old. The federal government will require inspections and upgrades, which will be another boom for the energy support industry.

Déjà Vu All Over Again

While this is day 49 for the Deepwater Horizon debacle, its day 34 in Akwa Ibom along the Niger Delta, where another offshore spill is still adding millions of more gallons of crude to the ocean environment. In an already devastate estuary, an oil rig operated by a subsidiary of ExxonMobile is polluting the seas and tidal marshes in a country that admits there have been at least 2,000 major oil spills. Nigeria has tough sounding “paper tiger’ environmental laws, but their enforcement is by a government totally corrupted by big-oil. And, let’s not forget about the “ABAN PEARL” natural gas exploration rig that sank 23 days after the Gulf of Mexico event. On May 13th, the rig sank for no apparent reason, but Chavez said on his Tweeter account that all the gas connections had been disconnected and all 95 workers were taken off safely.

Note: The MarEx has covered this event since the beginning and we will continue to do so and let our readers have access via OPEDs. So, if you want your comments heard, please send your messages to tonymunoz@maritime-executive.com

Thanks to Richard Charter