The Oil Conundrum

I wanted to write an article earlier about the oily disaster that’s plaguing the Gulf of Mexico and the surrounding coastal states, but I had a hard time finding something to say that hasn’t already been covered by every news anchor and political pundit in America. The United States’ worst environmental disaster continues to surprise me as to how much worse it can actually get: just when you think nothing more can go wrong, it does.

For those people hibernating in bear caves, I’m talking about the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico which led to the destruction and eventual sinking of the entire rig itself. Eleven people are presumed to have died in the explosion, which was caused by a buildup of methane gas. This event wouldn’t nearly be as bad of a problem if the blowout preventers, which are located miles below the ocean surface and which had a leaky hydraulic system and failed batteries, actually worked. Instead, oil has been flowing (gushing, pouring, spilling, etc.) into the Gulf. More than seven million (7,000,000) barrels of oil have poisoned the Gulf’s waters and its ecosystem. To put that in perspective for those not familiar with oil barrels, that’s approximately 298 million (298,000,000) gallons of oil. Line up 298 million milk jugs filled with crude. Tens of thousands of barrels (between 1 and 3 million gallons) of oil are venting into the Gulf each passing day. Get the picture? “Disaster” is not a hyperbolic word choice.

The depth of the leaking pipes makes them extremely difficult to fix, cap, or seal. Attempts to use underwater robots have been plagued with failure: first when the robots couldn’t manually trip the blowout preventers, and most recently when a robot which was attempting to cap a pipe actually knocked a piece loose, causing even more oil to spill out. Fail much?

The oil spill has destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of Gulf residents who rely on the ocean for their bread and butter, and has hurt tourism for Gulf states, whose beaches are usually crammed with people enjoying the summer. Now, with tar balls, oil sheens, and dead animals washing up on shore, no one’s looking for fun in the sun.

I’ll save you all the details of British Petroleum’s response; I’m sure you’ve all heard about it by now, except for the aforementioned cave-dwellers. Suffice to say, their response has been clumsy at least and criminal at worst.

Even more puzzling is the Obama administration’s response. The Coast Guard and other branches of the armed forces have been helping with the cleanup effort, but the administration rejected 70 offers of international assistance from 23 countries, including Iran, of all places. Until a week or so ago, Obama basically responded to all offerings of aid with a “thanks, but no thanks” sort of response. One given explanation was that the Dutch oil-cleaning ships did not clean the water to American standards of cleanliness. Quite frankly, this is no excuse to reject aid when we so clearly need every possible helping hand that is extended our way. It’s really that bad.

Obama finally kowtowed and allowed the Dutch equipment to be used, but still refuses to use Dutch ships or Dutch workers. What on earth is he so afraid of? Any act, law, or provision that’s clogging up the cleanup and relief effort with bureaucratic big-government red tape could surely be suspended, even temporarily, with one of those nifty executive orders that Bush and now Obama seem to be so fond of.

Instead, the Obama administration has busied itself with billing and questioning British Petroleum and its corporate heads, as well as placing a six-month moratorium on offshore drilling, a move that has already cost many jobs on the 33 drilling rigs affected. While one may think that such a moratorium would be prudent, considering the scope of this debacle, such a decision seems to ignore the fact that BP has boatloads more safety and environmental violations than other oil companies. The source of the problem is pretty clear. While this does not necessarily mean that the current disaster is a one-off (to use Janet Napolitano’s favorite counterterrorist term), it does mean that a six-month moratorium on all drilling from the federal government may be unnecessary. On the other hand, if a state such as California decides to nix offshore drilling, that is an entirely appropriate response. Such is a state’s right. Just don’t expect the rig workers to be happy.

Obama’s bipartisan national commission to investigate the incident and all offshore drilling projects is stacked with environmental advocates, which means that they advocate for expanded government power in order to protect the environment. We know you’re trying, Mr. Obama, but you still stacked the deck with people that are going to tell you what you want to hear: that America needs to un-invest in petroleum and embrace clean energy.

The funny thing is that such a sentiment is almost right. America does need to embrace cleaner, more efficient means of producing energy. It is one of the most worthy long-term political goals to which we as Americans can strive to achieve. In the meantime, however, it is paramount that the United States weans itself off of its dependency on foreign oil by tapping what resources we have here on our territory. When we use foreign sources for our petroleum needs, our enemies, ideological or otherwise, usually get paid. Combine that with pollution and this most recent hellish situation in the Gulf, and it is clear as day that the United States must decrease its appetite for oil. We can actually use a two-pronged approach when it comes to renewable energy and utilizing domestic energy sources; it doesn’t have to be one or the other.

So far, though, Obama and his allies have predictably used this crisis to push an agenda which only focuses on that vague notion of renewable energy. The fact is that clean and renewable energy are still in their infant stages of development. Nuclear energy is as efficient and clean as we can currently get, and even that produces some horrible waste products. Solar, hydroelectric, and wind energy are great for powering small units, not large cities and important infrastructure. Fusion energy is but a glimmer over the horizon of time. So when Obama tries to create “green” jobs and somehow pursue a cleaner energy source, he and his administration end up costing taxpayers an awful lot of money for an energy panacea that is not yet ready to be exploited.

We’re not saying that we don’t want cleaner energy, Mr. President. We want you to get that leak plugged in whatever way possible, and we want you to pursue sensible energy policies, not green dreams. Stop the crony-style capitalism that gives favors and breaks to big, wealthy oil companies that shirk their responsibilities and stop cherry-picking industries to attack. This is not the time to pursue an agenda.