Recently, NBC reporter Tom Costello interviewed BP Exploration and Production Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles on the “Today” show concerning the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Specifically, he asked Suttles for what his response was to the rapidly circulating info that oil spill cleanup technology is woefully behind the times, making the oil spill cleanup painfully inefficient. . ”There have been so few big spills,” he said to Costello, “and events have not driven the technology change.”
The right cleanup technology is only made by BP with an oil spill?
The lack of foresight by BP on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill – or lack of enough motivation to invest in preventative oil spill cleanup technology methods – is clear. What is also obvious is the financial effect the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has had and will continue to have on BP and the economies of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. NBC New York reports that BP has already spent $1.6 billion on the spill response and related claims. Projections for future costs and liabilities extend to the $60 to $70 billion range, although the final figure will depend upon what exactly is the full extent of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill damage. BP’s loss in share price isn’t even considered in this. Their market capitalization has fallen around 50 percent. It’s easy to imagine BP CEO Tony Hayward barking “I need money now”, but all the local economies need it even more. The cost to local economies which were very damaged by the oil spill will even reach into the billions of dollars, experts predict.
I get to be the Gulf of Mexico walrus
It would seem that dealing with any oil spill isn’t a priority for BP. They would have been prepared for this spill otherwise. According to the Associated Press, the 582-page regional oil spill cleanup plan for the Gulf of Mexico region and a shorter document addressing the specific Deepwater Horizon event are littered with “mistakes and erroneous assumptions.” Among these are a whole bunch of incorrect contact info for consulted marine life specialists (one of whom really died in 2005, four years before the larger document was filed). But not being able to contact sources is perhaps for the best, as BP is claiming that the walrus is found there. Walruses don’t live in warm water like within the Gulf of Mexico. In a weak defense, Doug Suttles claimed the document specifically labeled for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill addressed “all impacted species,” rather than ones that really inhabit the region. This is illogical on BP’s part.
Have to have oil spills to advance technology? Try doing the math, BP
According to Wikipedia (which is hardly a super-secret source of information), there have been 49 recorded oil spills worldwide given that the year 2000. 24 of these happened in the US. If that amounts to “too few oil spills,” then BP needs to go back to school for a healthy dose of perspective and basic reasoning skills. Look into the Rachel Maddow video below if you need help, BP – she points out some of the major U.S. spills that have occurred on a map.
Citations
NBC New York
nbcnewyork.com/news/breaking/BP_has_plenty_of_money_to_pay_spill_damages-96366344.html
NOLA.com
nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/06/as_bp_promised_the_walruses_ar.html
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_spills
