Proper legislation could have prevented Gulf spill

The recent BP/Transocean oil drilling platform explosion, and resulting gigantic oil spill, makes me sick. For weeks now, I've been avoiding the news out of fear that my environmental idealism would slowly sour to cynicism.

Knowing there was nothing I could do but retch, it didn't seem worth the time and emotional effort. But, lo and behold, I was dead wrong.

This is an environmental disaster of epic proportions. It's also not the first major oil spill, or the first failure of government regulation, or the first oversight of a profit-driven corporation. Learning about the causes and consequences of Deepwater Horizon's explosion and collapse is critical to helping us discover the appropriate balance between rising energy demands and the health of our environment and economy. Energy and climate legislation is inching its way up the Congressional docket, and the first tangible effects of global warming and ecosystem collapse are waking us from our ignorant slumber.

It's widely agreed that the explosion was related to a cementing operation that BP and Halliburton operators had performed days previous. The purpose of the operation was to fill the space between the hole and pipe in order to stabilize the well and prevent leakages.

In 2007, the U.S. Minerals Management Service released a report that this technique was the single largest factor in Gulf of Mexico well blowouts since 1993, and was at least partially responsible for 18 of the last 39 blowouts.

Halliburton, the cementing contractor for BP, used the technique on a Timor Sea rig that suffered a blowout last year. The former head of regulatory affairs for the U.S. Mineral Management Service, Elmer P. Danenberger, publicly stated the poor cement job was probably the blowout's primary cause.

The problem is a disconnect between bureaucracy and policymaking. Congress is the ultimate arbiter of deep sea drilling regulations. Congress decided that the oil companies were doing a fine job choosing how to avoid blowouts on their own. Congress was wrong.

They made such a devastating mistake, in eschewing further drilling regulations, because they listened to the advice of those with a profit motive. The financial impact of the spill to BP and Transocean is not insignificant until you compare it with their windfall profits.

The federal government has placed a $75 million cap on damages paid for these types of environmental disasters. Even if Florida, Alabama and Louisiana are able to wrestle more from the companies, and even if some of the 20-some citizen suits against the company for financial damages are successful, the payout is still nothing compared to BP's $14 billion replacement-cost profit in 2009. That same year, the company spent $15.9 billion on lobbying. Their overall profits are up 135 percent this quarter.

The Deepwater Horizon explosion is one of a series of preventable mistakes made by multinational oil corporations. As a result, the coral reefs, mangrove forest and sea grasses of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem are in serious danger.

Thousands of coastal livelihoods depend on the health of this ecosystem. Proponents of deep sea drilling often tout the benefits of "energy independence" and criticize the harsh environmental practices of oil exporters.

In reality, companies like BP, Transocean and Halliburton have no allegiance except to their own profit margins. As U.S. citizens, we should demand our lawmakers listen to those who know best – the government bureaucrats and scientists who saw this kind of disaster coming. Given the impending oil crises, the alternative is havoc on ocean ecosystems.

- Beth Mendenhall is a senior in philosophy and political science. Please send comments to opinion@spub.ksu.edu.