BP: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

My thoughts are a bit all over the place today, so please bear with me. While checking in on Facebook, I learned that BP has admitted to purchasing key search terms on Yahoo and Google in an attempt to control the spin on this disaster. My comment attached as a shared the item in order to pass it along was, "Like oil the evil begins to float to the surface."

I followed a "Boycott BP" thread yesterday that ended in comments. There were folks who were actually defending BP, saying they're paying the price for this as well in the cost of all that lost oil and the lost rig, etc. I wonder how folks can be so clueless.

Others have posted philosophical pieces that remind us to search ourselves before we point fingers at BP--the idea being that our huge consumption needs have created BP and are therefore somehow responsible for this spill as well.

However, while all the philosophizing, all the finger pointing, all the analysis continues so does the gusher. Gallon upon gallon, barrel upon barrel, in numbers that are beginning to be too large to adequately comprehend, this spill, this meltdown, this monstrous leak is spreading death to the Gulf of Mexico. I came across the widget that is now placed at the top of this blog. It will remain there while the gusher continues.

Here in the Upper Peninsula folks have been fighting what I believe to be a futile battle to keep Kennincott from building a sulfide nickel mine. The company has put forth all kinds of assurances how this will not destroy the Yellow Dog River watershed. Pictures from other sulfide mines tell a different story.

Here too there are those that support and defend the mine in the name of job creation. They blind themselves to the short term job gains - this mine is not expected to produce for decades, but rather is having its estimates measured in years only. As such, I can't help thinking that this is a gross form of prostitution.

Why should we be against prostitution after all? Shouldn't we defend it in the name of jobs creation? Will we allow anything so long as we can justify some slim economic gain?

I suppose this brings me back to Deepwater Horizon/BP. In the months prior to this catastrophe, President Obama had begun a call to expand off shore drilling. No surprise that he has quieted down about that for now. Scattered over the internet are numerous calls to end off shore drilling, using this incident as proof that this practice must be stopped.

I am decidedly pro-environment. However, when I consider the situation honestly. The problem in the Gulf is not "off shore drilling." The problem was/is lax regulation. The problem continues to be inadequate means for holding corporations responsible for clean up.

Here in the Upper Peninsula - the actual surface disruption to be caused by the sulfide mine is very minor. The presence of the mine itself is not the problem. The problem is potential contamination. We fear the destruction of an ecosystem by contamination and we fear that the company will be long gone leaving us to foot the bill.

British Petroleum (we will continue to learn) cut corners to increase profits. They were able to do this because of incredibly weak government regulation. They were able to justify the risks because the current legislation regarding financial responsibility for clean up is so inadequate.

I am reminded of an urban legend I was told about speed limits and enforcement in the state of Montana. At the time of the federal mandate to implement a 55 m.p.h. speed limit or lose highway funding, Montana lowered the bar on their fines...down to $5. Apparently folks would simply keep a stack of $5's on the dash so they could pay their fine for speeding and be back on their way. In other words, the fine was inadequate to incite the correct behavior. Speeding continued so that folks could drive as fast as they wanted.

We have no idea of the long term ramifications of this disaster. It is not a stretch to say that BP's response will be inadequate. Whatever settlement they reach, we will be paying for the clean up and there will continue to be inadequate funding for education, for health care, for the aged, for the poor. The wars for oil will continue - no one talks about how Iraq is really about the oil any more - in fact, we hardly talk about Iraq anymore at all. Lest you forget, Afghanistan is to be home to an important natural gas pipeline so we have access to the massive natural gas reserves in Turkmenistan.

Finaly, our consumption will not abate one drop. The calls are to boycott BP as punishment. The best boycott would be to park our cars and stop buying the gasoline completely. The best boycott would be to not purchase airline tickets. The best boycott would be to stop the massive consumption of plastic waste. Sadly that will not happen.