The media today is a twitter with hoots and calls about “OMG! Why is freakin’ BP still in charge out there”” in relation to the oil spill.
Hence the title of this post. Who do YOU propose to send?
The Feds? Please… Peel me a grape, why dontcha…
Yes, the Coast Guard has some expertise when it comes to spill response. They were all over the waterways after the hurricanes down here, pointing a the oil sheen and telling people THEY needed to do something, or absent the people who were responsible for the spill/leak/whatever, assigning a company paid by the government to apply mitigation efforts to contain the spill. I know this because MY little boat was in the middle of a circle of oil booms after Hurricane Ike. But did the Coast Guard actually DO anything themselves? No. And that’s not a reflection. I am not disparaging the Coast Guard in any way. They interpret rules and make sure they’re followed. By others. Using tools supplied by others. And others have to pay.
Take that a step further: NO government agency besides the military or law enforcement has functions they perform that involve getting hands dirty. They make rules. They disseminate rules. And they send people out to enforce rules.
Right now at work I am in the midst of a morass of government regulatory mandates because a government agency, to wit, OSHA, is breathing down everyone’s neck about certain safety aspects of electrical work. OSHA is not going to do the work. They’re not going to TELL me how to do the work. They aren’t going to tell you what it looks like when we’re doing our work correctly according to their regulations. They ARE going to come in and “Monday morning quarterback” with meticulous enthusiasm, though, if we have an accident, so I have to make sure that “i’s” are dotted and “t’s” are crossed in our procedures.
That’s what government is GOOD at. (Or BAD. depends on my state of mind.)
So BP is the top of the pyramid on this oil spill. Bunches of thousands of gallons of oil are squirting into the Gulf of Mexico, and nationally, a lot of drawers are tightly wadded over it. And they think the GOVERNMENT should push BP out of the way, replacing them with “government experts” or whatever.
So I have a question: Who is the GOVERNMENT going to use to mitigate this spill? There are no experts on this sort of thing in the government. BP might be writing the book as they go, but I will guarantee that there’s nobody in the government that has anything close to the magic bullet. To expect them to do anything useful here would be like expecting an FAA air traffic controller to solve the problems with the space shuttle because he has control over the airspace through which it flies.
The real expertise is already out there in the Gulf or in the offices in Houston and elsewhere, and it’s NOT carrying the employer ID of a Federal agency. If the Feds take over from BP, they’ll have to tap the same pool of expertise that BP is already drawing on, and seeing as how it’s the Federal government, they’ll pay MUCH more and manage it MUCH worse.
The one time the DC commies really should nationalize something, they won’t–cause the gravy train’s too rich and the job is too hard for their stupid, incompetent brains and silky smooth and soft, never-worked-a-day hands. Others have drilled and continue to drill and operate wells at or near the depth and technical difficulty of BP’s without significant incident. I submit that they simply have a more responsible corporate culture and demand compliance from their contractors. Chevron, I happen to know, is extremely strict in its safety and environmental requirements. Sure, accidents can happen on any project, but there are accidents and then there are “catastrophes that are bound to happen sooner or later” if the fundamental rules and procedures for safe operation are ignored. BP and Transocean have, by their conduct, forfeited the privilege to work in the U.S. Their assets (and I mean all of them) need to be seized and made available to other operators who can immediately attack and kill the blow-out. I suspect there are folks at Chevron, Shell, Exxon, Wild Well Control, McDermott, Schlumberger, etc., etc., who have some pretty good ideas and know-how to shut this thing down, but don’t have the corporate coffers or access to get ‘er done. With all the assets of BP and Transocean available, it should be do-able. Has no one noticed that every proposed “fix” offered by BP involves it getting saleable production from the well? I agree no federal agency or bureaucrat can or should be in charge of the fix, but neither should the dim-bulbs who caused the blow-out and whose profit incentive is greater than their care for the U.S. Gulf Coast. When the Corpse of Engineers needed to clear the Mississippi of wreckage after Katrina, they contracted with private salvors. No reason the feds can’t do the same here.
I guess that’s why the Feds gave them a safety award – because they’re so unsafe?